A very special Landy — Rust Magazine

Words+Photos: Mike Blanchard

Jim Koenigsaeker is a died-in-the-wool Land Rover fan, having owned them for many years. A retired press photographer, Koenigsaeker went from covering local news in the Midwest to shooting for the Associated Press, covering the White House and important world events like the Olympics.

Since retiring, he has been doing philanthropic work in East Africa. He spends several months each year helping to found and fund schools and doing anti-poaching work as well as photographing traditional ways of life that are being pushed out by massive new infrastructure projects. It may be a cliché, but in Africa vintage Land Rovers are still valued tools in a harsh environment.

For Jim Koenigsaeker, his Land Rover is a little bit of Africa here in California.

At home in Northern California, Koenigsaecker can be seen tooling around in his ‘65 right-hand-drive IIA. By inclination he looks like the old East Africa hand he is, transplanted to California for part of the year. He is one of those folks who prefers stylish vintage vehicles. In addition to the Landy he has a clutch of vintage motorcycles tucked away in his garage. But the Land Rover is special; it provides a daily bit of connection with Africa.

“I’ve been really lucky to have some really fun adventures in East Africa, and the Land Rover has always been my sidekick. Been there for the adventures. Same here, of course. I’ve driven a Series IIA across the U.S. and across Africa many times. These vehicles, they all have such character, such personality, and I can honestly say I’ve never been left stranded by one in 20 years of using one as my primary vehicle.

“Not that they don’t have constant problems. They always seem to get me home. I’ve climbed Mount Kenya a few times and they use these old Series IIAs, and a few series IIIs, to shuttle people up to the high camp, and it’s just the most beat-up, rundown collection of Land Rovers, and you can’t even believe that they’re still able to move, but every year I return and they’re still chugging up that mountain, dropping people off at the high camp and chugging back down. It’s crazy. There’s not much holding them together. They’re rusted out, beat-up, been rolled down the mountain a few times.”

MB. So tell me about your truck.

“Yeah; well, you know, it’s like a Franken-truck. There’s parts from lots of trucks on it. You know, some of the parts on that truck I’ve had on trucks for 20 years.”

MB. What’s the story behind it?

“So I had a Land Rover in Africa and I had one here. It was the one I drove to California when I moved out. It was a IIA. I lived in D.C. with it and drove cross country in it. I met my wife and we had Zoe and we thought, ‘We should sell the Land Rover. We need money. We should buy something practical like a Volvo.’ You know, stupid.

“I sold that Land Rover and then my wife and I always regretted that. And eventually this one popped up, and I kinda liked it because it hadn’t been restored. So many of the ones left here have been over-restored.

"I felt like it takes the character away when you overdo them. So I’ve tried not to over-restore it. I keep it mechanically sound.

“Along the way, when I go to Africa I’ll bring parts back. I’ve got to show you a couple of the parts just for fun while we’re talking about it. For me this truck is as much sentimental as anything. I like the idea of having the truck here so when I go to Africa it feels like part of me.”

Koenigsaecker proudly circles the Land Rover to show me the very rare Royal East African Automobile Association badge on the grill and the Aero Club of East Africa members’ sticker on the windshield. He has mounted a beautiful eight-day clock out of an aircraft on the left dash above the metric water temp/oil pressure gauge. A vintage spotlight graces the left A-pillar.

“A lot of friends have done work on it. I’ve got the original motor sitting on a shelf in my garage. This engine is period correct but it’s been completely rebuilt by Rusty. Christo took care of a lot of the rust on the bulkhead. Everybody helped. It’s been fun. It’s a pretty good truck right now. It’s reliable.

“It has an X Plate, which is interesting. The story I’ve been able to track down from Land Rover is that X Plates were all factory trucks. If you look at this truck closely you see some really unusual things about it, which I liked.

“It has an Australian military chassis, which is super rare. What I believe happened is Land Rover shipped over some of these IIAs in the late ’60s/early ’70s to try and get the motors to pass emissions so they could import the Defenders for those few years they imported the Defender.

“It went to Detroit. That’s where they were doing all the testing back in the day. So it was a factory truck shipped over for emissions testing and then abandoned.

MB. So now it’s more or less a member of the family.

“Yeah, it’s a daily driver; the kids love it, my wife, dog loves it, running errands, running around.

MB. Have you had any notable trips or adventures since you have had it?

Koenigsaeker, having target practice with the Kenyan Anti-Poaching squad, uses the hood of his Land Rover 90 as a bench rest.

“I’ve done the Mendo Recce. You know what a recce is? It’s a British thing: go out in the woods. There’s a nice group that still does one up in the Mendocino forest … well, up until the fires recently. Great group of guys, lot of fun.

“I’ve moved a lot of people with it. Ha! I’ve also got the Sankey trailer, the original trailer for it. You know how it is when you own a truck. With the trailer you can get quite a bit of stuff in it, on it, around it. I’ve learned you can pretty much move a med student in one run.”

“I’ve done some hunting with it, of course. Up in Red Bluff, I did a little pig hunt with it. Of course, I use it to haul motorbikes, to vintage trials events. That’s another reason I have the Sankey trailer. I use it to haul the Bultaco and the Greeves.

”Despite enormous neglect in recent years, every time I go to start it: ‘Hmmm …’ and then down the road we go and usually I get home.”

After a morning checking out the IIA, we met up a couple days later to get the truck in the dirt. The spot is a dirt section of the old stage route that ran from Sacramento to Shingle Springs. The late fall California landscape echoed (a little) the plains of Africa. Out on a dirt road you feel the romance and history of Land Rover. Just driving down the road you feel like you are on an adventure.

But this truck is no paper tiger. As we pulled into a wooded area Koenigsaecker downshifted and put the Landy through some rutted and humped side trails.

The Land Rover acquitted itself well, pulling through with confidence. Several guys with modern vehicles paused to check out the old campaigner and wave as we passed. The Land Rover, looking good in the setting sun, covered with dust in its natural environment, still bringing a smile. Some would say that the basic, no-frills character of the IIA is a bit too spartan, but for a man with Africa in his blood, an old Land Rover fits like a glove.