Our Tour Vehicle – ‘Excalibur’

Nature Trail’s choice of tour vehicle is a 1995 Range Rover ‘Pegasus’ P38 HSE – a classic top of the line luxury four-wheel drive in British Racing Green duco. The P38 model is a classic named after the legendary Lockheed P-38 Lightning piston-engined fighter-bomber aircraft used effectively against the Nazis and Japanese during WWII. Read More.

And so we dubbed our P38 Range Rover ‘Excalibur’.

Manufactured in the UK by Land Rover at its main Solihul manufacturing plant situated in the English West Midlands, our own P38 is equipped with factory 4.6 litre V8 auto petrol engine and a 4-speed Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen automatic transmission with both high and low range transfer case.

This particular car has been specially decked out for commercial touring for both on-road and soft off-roading.

We’ve recently had ‘Excalibur’ fully restored, the engine rebuilt and all under the hood and undercarriage by Sydney Land Rover specialists, and fitted out for touring by select automotive specialists – exterior and interior – upgraded with current best-in-class digital technologies to suit countryside and remote touring.

We choose American Cooper brand HEAVY DUTY ALL-TERRAIN S/T MAXX 4×4 radial tyres all round including a 5th of the same as spare pressured up as backup in the rear.

‘Soft Off-Roading‘? Well, ecologically we stick to maintained vehicular tracks, we always reconnoitre a reliable comfortable route and check the conditions beforehand. This is our adherence to safety at all times and to a quality tour delivery to ensure our tour guests return on time happy as promised. By the way, it also minimises our cleaning afterwards and avoids the risk of costly breakdowns and rebuilds so frequently endured by the more adventurous 4×4 off-road types.

Steve decided to purchase this particular car off a bus driving mate Glen in August 2019. Glen is fastidious with his cars so it was an excellent purchase. This is Steve’s second Rangie; his first one being a 1989 Range Rover Classic. This particular P38A was received in excellent condition with less than 200,000 km on the odometer, no damage and no signs of any use in salt water. The problematic factory airbag suspension had been supplanted with coil springs all round, enhancing the car’s performance reliability significantly.

The car had been used by a previous owner on a Southern Highlands rural property for towing a horse float and for driving a small short white-haired dog for walks, and little else. So it has been babied throughout its ownership life.

Over a subsequent four month period, Steve undertook a number of repairs by Range Rover mechanical specialists, as well as detailing and applying accessories and modifications to set it up to be more suitable for commercial touring.

In August 2019 we manage to purchase a four wheel drive vehicle to suit our touring needs. It is a premium 1995 Range Rover Pegasus HSE V8 4.6L which we have modified to carry up to four passengers in comfort and style.

It was only a few months from us servicing and repairing the car that the bushfire emergency that shutdown the Blue Mountains December 2019 through February 2020 and the Virus Pandemic from February 2020 brought a widespread economic shutdown of the whole country. This effectively shut down our business because all tourist travel and visitation was banned by the Australian Government.

So during 2020 we undertook a considerable investment in having major repairs done and kitting the car out with contemporary electronics and passenger comforts to enhance commercial touring.

It’s British Racing Green and we call it ‘Excalibur’.

Range Rover Club of Australia (NSW)

In November 2019, Steve decided it would be advantageous to join the Range Rover Club of Australia (NSW) in order to learn more about the model P38 and its peculiarities, and to learn more about its use off-road with like-minded owners, and to share Range Rover owner knowledge and experience. By December, club membership had paid off already.

However, during the governmental imposed travel and social lockdowns through the years 2020-2022, the Club prohibited meetings, so we were forced to end our membership.