I just would like to clarify Mandell’s role at Victitec. He is a qualified FABRICATOR and FITTER. As well as always being there to check if I (Stephy) need help in whatever I am working on. 😊

No matter what comments you receive from all the Armchair Overlanders, positive, negative, stupid or informative, you guys chose the right people for the job, completing you little butch house on wheels to your own requirements... Can't wait to see you on the road again. We will see each other again on the first weekend of November at the Landy /Outdoor Expo in Grabouw, Western Province... Remember, everybody is welcome, whether you drive an Uno or an Unimog... 🇿🇦🚙🚚🚜

1:54 So proud of my uncle and his crew helping them❤❤❤

Took my daughter to Cape town airport and visiting friends and family in Somerset West yesterday and back on the road heading home just before Sir Lowry's pass and there on the left-hand side Ponsteyn whoa how exciting for them being on u-tube . Mosselbay fan

Cette "belle" française, sait tout faire, quelle chance de vivre avec une telle femme et son mari la mérite bien !. Bravo à vous deux, adorable couple. Papy.

I’m so glad your build is going well, and love the addition of all the craftsmen’s names. These videos your travels are all about making human connections.

Looking good guys!!

Wow, your vehicle looks better than everything else I saw before in my whole life! Happy Land Rovering!

I can’t begin to think of how much all this is costing…and this is the second time you’ve rebuilt the 130! Polish forestry truck to grizzly then duel cab to big cab. I had Big Cab 130, ex NSW National Parks.

Watching from Mosselbay South Africa. Love your story

Il va être beau ce defender.... enfin ce grizzly. Le jour où vous revenez en France je serais très heureux de le voir en vrai (vous aussi). Merci pour ces bons passés.

Awesome work guys! Loving watching this rebuild 😀👍🏻 H x

That flatbed is a work of art!

Vulcan steel did all the laser cutting for my Gull wing project during COVID. Amazing quality and customer service.

THANK YOU FOR VIDEO

So proud of Tauriq , my friend at Vulcan Steel that helped you guys. Enjoy your stay in beautiful Cape Town. Hoping to walk into you guys soon. 😂

HI GUYS...it was nice meeting you at the sea point pavilion....love your videos...

Keeping it interesting well done :)

Good stuff!!

Craftsmen (and at times woman) at work. Looking good! 👍🏻🙏👍🏻

It’s looking sooooo good!!!

Great video, I really enjoyed watching the team

Good luck

If the wheel door opened downwards it would help lowering and putting back the wheels. Like a ramp.

Bonjour à vous deux. Toujours aussi plaisant de voir la transformation de votre Defender. Bravo de réaliser votre projet jusqu’au bout malgré les embûches. Vous trouvez toujours des solutions à tout. Bravo je vous admire car vous êtes une source d’inspiration. Merci à vous pour ces excellentes vidéos. 🙏🌺👍🌈🌞

Like the progress!

What a great work! 👌🏼

It looks stunning, love all that metal work!

Wow what a spectacular job they are doing on this new setup . Looking so great . Thanks again for sharing your wonderful new build with us all your over landing friends . Cheers from Steve Stott in Sutherlin Oregon U.S.A.:) :) 🌍👊🏼🍻👍🏼😁

Wow, that flat bed looks like it could carry 40 tons

Very glad you guys are doing well and the truck looks great.

13:13 this means you have 3 different metals which will all have galvanic corrosion, if any paint will fail. Alu + stainless will destroy the alu and so as well to steel. Stainless is also not ideal for anything that flexes. #fatigue life.

Great progress and enjoying the journey with you guys. Keep the good work up

Looking great dude I really dig that storage locker. I hope they fix that big dent in the left door though. Maybe the camera makes it look worse than it is but that panel should be fixed up without harming the paint.

Very nice to see it coming along. I love unique and custom builds!

Beautiful welding

C'est vraiment un superbe projet, bravo à vous deux d'avoir toutes ces idées et cette motivation pour aller au bout!!👍👍

Sorry for the so beautiful smile away in yhe sky

The quality of the work looks amazing, design and build looks like it going to be a good one.

I am loving the new build videos, thank you..

Que c'est beau tout ça ! Dommage d'avoir du couper le châssis ... mais c'est pour la bonne cause ... Très pro Victi i tec

Amazing transformation and job done! Quel boulot !! Ok la carte grise ne va plus tout a fait correspondre mais bon !!! Ca me donne des idées mais pas simple en France !!! Bravo !!!

LOVING this build! I am so stoked for you both!

Absolutely stunning craftsmanship going on here! To watch this being crafted and fabricated is pure pleasure. You guys must be thrilled to bits with Bear’s transformation and buzzing to continue your adventures!! Been watching and following you from the start, long may it continue. Stay safe on your travels guys 🙏 And keep up the great content. I think I can safely say, you are living the dream of a lot of your subscribers

You should solid mount the rock sliders to the chassis, rather than the body. That alloy cab will buckle if your entire vehicle weight ends up on the slider.

super

This is going to end up being one very expensive 130. But sometimes you have to pay to get what you want.

I am deeply impressed by the craftsmanship of the people !!! I'm a blacksmith myself ;-)

Bonjour stephi, je suis Ulrich, et je vous suis depuis le début de vos aventures. Félicitations pour la transformation de Bear. Je suis cette transformation avec attention car je dispose aussi d'un déf 130 en France. Peux pouvons nous correspondre en MP pour connaître plus de précisions. Amitié déf.

Love these build videos guys, we’ll done. Looks like your water will be heated by the exhaust as well

What a excellent job Guys, I hope you come trough Namibia once the build is done.

Hi Steph and Leigh, VicTiTec is a Great Company and they do a great Work. They use top quality tools as well. 👍

Lots of work going into this and it’s looking great 👍. My only concern is the amount of attachments to the chassis, that is, too many. LR do not fix trays to all those load points, only the rear cross member and the forward outriggers, the rest are load bearing only, ideally with rubber isolation. Hopefully it won’t be an issue with torsional differences and fatiguing the aluminium/welds.

That’s some incredibly beautiful craftsmanship right there. And what a fantastic video Stephy. So nice to watch :-)

Incredible build quality. Marty from Perth

Those were some nice, strong mig welds on that rear cross beam 👍

How exciting to see youneig after 8 weeks! You two must be exited to hitnthe road with your brand new home. Your vision is finaly here💯

All coming along nicely 😊

Great stuff guys.

Very 😊nics Project

I’m so excited to see the final result as if it was for me. This will be an awesome vehicle. I hope you come to the US so I can see it in person. You guys are awesome!!

this has been a lot of hard work for you and the team :D amazing

fab episode - what a tremendous amont of hard graft both of you are putting in ! Kudos from Aix en Provence 😊

The project it will be fantástic.

Ya it looks fantastic coming on nicely

Super travail de cette équipe. J'ai hâte de voir la suite. Biz à tous les deux. 😚 😘😍

Hi again from Cairns!

This is awesome

Looking good.

most excellent!

awesome guys 👍👍👍

So good, really enjoying the transformation! I'm on electrickery this week, hopefully back on the road in a couple months 🤞🏻

awesome

excellent job

Where can we contribute to Stephi's shoe fund? LOL Love this build!!

super, tres belle aventure mecanique.

They’re good fabricator and builder.

Leigh, just a point from my side, obviously a bit late now... When the Land was fairly stripped down, why didn't you treated it for rust at the same time... Check the rear cross member on top @14:50 with the visible surfaces rust showing, or is it red mud 🤔 Anyway, hope to see you guys at the *SA Land Rover Expo at Elgin/Grabouw*, first weekend of November.

👋🏻🤠🇫🇮

Quelle qualité de travail autour de Grizzly ! Vous êtes bien entourés pour ce projet d'envergure 👍 Une sacrée aventure de réaliser les rêves de Leigh 😉 Prenez soin de vous. Amitiés de Corse, où,à l'occasion le GR20 vous attend 😉

Fantastic rebuild but please don't fall into the trap where the fancy vehicle becomes more important than the journey. My 32 year old Defender has just had its own makeover at Duncan's place. 13 hours at $22 US ph by an excellent mechanic (Danie). All of the damage fom the earlier trip now repaired and ready to contine my SA adventure. My point is that whilst the vehicle looks scruffy it is very ready and the money saved will be spent on travel.

When money is no object, the possibilibies are almost endless.

C'est du super boulot et pleins de bonnes idées. Ça doit coûter très cher toutes ces transformations....

Love watching the build, would be great to know the costs at the end

Hi are you both still in Cape Town?

How are you protecting against galvanic corrosion ie when steel and aluminum come in contact?

With such a mix of metals could Galvanic corrosion be an issue on this build?

le boulot accompli est impressionnant!!!! hate de voir la fin!!! avez vous une idée du cout total du projet?

Good job. Can't wait to see end result. Hope SA doesn't disappoint you

They appear to be hard bolting the flat deck directly to the chassis, no rubber or spring dampers... either the land rover chassis is extremely rigid and does not flex or someone made a mistake and the flexing of the chassis will flex the flat deck breaking the welds. 🤷‍♂️

why is the flat bed so tall? seems like it's just raising your COG?

C'est malade la transformation on veux toute savoir combien HOWWW MUCHHH plz

Is the transformation cheaper than in France?

Great progress, looking good!! One thing I’m not convinced about are the chevron shaped cutouts in the main beams. They are meant for weight saving in low stress areas but I fear that the accumulated dust, dirt water and mud will offset any gains made. On top of that they don’t appear to have any access or drains fitted. I’d use full beams.

Did you check for legal issues related to modifying the chassis? Bear is registered in France, IIRC, so I guess French laws would apply. In the UK, for example, it's illegal (without inspecting and re-registering the vehicle) to modify a chassis. Many enthusiasts DO modify LR chassis' and it won't be a problem unless the vehicle is in an accident, or comes to the attention of the cops, and then the owner might find they're in trouble. I understand that the mod's to the rear crossmember won't undermine the chassis in any way but they ARE an easily visible part of the chassis so a pedantic cop, in any country where chassis mod's aren't permitted, might take issue with it. Sorry to make a negative comment but, if you weren't aware of the issue, hopefully it'll allow you to verify it IS legal in France, where the vehicle is registered. The conversion looks amazing and the quality of work is the best I've ever seen. You guys have one of the best overland vehicles on the planet and you're using it the way it should be used. If there was any justice in this world, you'd be "brand ambassadors" for Land Rover and they'd be arranging for red-carpet treatment in every country you visit.

As much as I am enjoying the welding porn, I can't wait to see everything back on the road again!

But u dont have air condition like my lc78

They should have sold the Landy and bought a second hand bimobil.Maybe theyre getting sponsored....trouble is they wont tell you even if they are..... perhaps understandable .

Just get a real truck. Why do you still keep on with these land rover junk. Do you just have that much money to spend? Just get a good truck/tool.

Looking good guys. Amazing transformation. ❤️🇦🇺🦘