In 1959, a young Australian by the name of Philip Kohler was working in Northern Rhodesia. He decided that he would return to London, but wanted to do so by Land-Rover so that he could fulfil an ambition to undertake a solo crossing of the Sahara desert.
For the next three years, he drove his 1959 Series II 88″ Land-Rover from Cape Town, South Africa, up and across the continent – exploring and photographing the wonderful landscapes and cultures as he went, as well as finding work with Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox on filming for Hatari! and The Lion along the way.
He completed his mission to drive across the Sahara desert, and returned to London towards the end of 1962.
From there, he continued with a career in film, working as location manager on titles such as The Empire Strikes Back, a total of nine James Bond films, Full Metal Jacket and The Killing Fields.
He never got rid of the Land-Rover though – in the back of his mind, he always wanted to have it at his disposal in case he wanted to retrace his initial journey, and according to his family, he was wedded to the Land-Rover until the day he died.
After Philip Kohler’s passing in 2015, I was very lucky to have been given the opportunity by his family to take ownership of the Series II, return it to the road after a 20 year hiatus and was tasked with the job of preserving its history – including the wonderful sign-writing on the outside of the tub and hard top that had been added during his African adventure.
The Series II is now in daily use and plans are being made to finally take it back to Africa.
transafricalandrover 