By Marie Reyes Szczypkowski
Fair warning: This is a love story about a girl and her Land Rover.
I don’t remember the exact moment when or how the Land Rover brand ended up on my radar. It might have been that my mom always loved the Range Rover Classic, it might have been from watching the Dakar Rally and Camel Trophy with my dad. But I certainly remember when my particular Land Rover came into my life.
I was twenty-five years old. I finally had a job outside of the customer service world. I worked in an office building in Century City, I had a cool little badge to get into the building and to get into the parking lot. There was a front desk with security guards and you had to be cleared to come up to our office. Twenty-five year old me thought I was a big deal, a real grown up. So, of course I did a real grown up thing and decided to buy a car. Not a hand me down, not just something that I could afford, but something that I really wanted. I considered a lot of options. I was a grown up but I was also realistic, so I was looking at second-hand vehicles. I browsed for a bit and nothing really sparked my interest. And then there they were: the listings for Land Rover Discoveries and I knew in my heart that was what I needed. The week before I was ready to purchase, there were so many listings, so many color options, so many interiors, so many dealers! But, when the day came that I was ready to be serious, only one listing came up: a 2001 Bonatti Grey Discovery II with a Bahama Beige interior. It was waiting for me at Irvine Lincoln Mercury. The story was that the original owners were expecting their first child and traded in their Discovery for a Navigator. Their loss was truly my gain. I got behind the wheel and I knew that this truck was meant for me. In perhaps a not-so-smart move, I don’t even think that I tried to haggle. I took my test drive and I was sold. They could have all my money, that Discovery was coming home with me no matter what.
I had big dreams with this truck. We were going to live our best life. Bernard (as he was soon named) and I were going to be best friends and we were going to go on so many adventures. We were going to be the perfect mix of West Los Angeles fancy and a little bit of rugged adventure, everything that the Land Rover badge is all about (Or at least that’s what I thought). But remember when I said that I did a not smart thing and didn’t even try to haggle? Well, thanks to my big girl job, I could afford Bernard, but the cost of getting him ready for adventures…that was money that I didn’t have. So, we lived a cautious pavement princess life together for the next few years. We carried on. I drove to my wedding in Bernard. I decided to change my career completely and go back to school. I became a broke student, but I drove him to school and eventually to my first day of work and he was there for the beginning of my new career. He was the first vehicle we parked in the driveway of the home we bought. Then, gas prices kept rising, and suddenly 12 MPG didn’t seem like a good idea for a daily commute that was 60 miles round trip. We also had a few run-ins with some common Discovery maladies (Hello 3 amigos! Hello head gasket replacement! Goodbye money!) So, Bernard made way for an economical and sensible hybrid. I tried to take him out for a drive every now and then, but eventually as gas prices continued to rise, those drives became less frequent. And then before we even realized it, Bernard had set up permanent residence in my driveway.
Life continued, and I would look at Bernard sitting in the driveway. I felt guilty that we never became the adventurous duo that I had planned we would be. But I would still pat him on the hood, and promise him “someday”. My life took a lot of turns while Bernard waited patiently for me in my driveway. I grew in my new career, made new friends, had some old friends move away, we welcomed fur children into our home, and then one day I suddenly became a widow. When your world gets shaken up like that, “someday” starts to become more urgent.
With a completely different future ahead of me, my brother and I talked about what to do with the vehicles in my driveway. It seemed silly to be one person with 3 vehicles. But when we started talking about Bernard, I knew that I just couldn’t give him up. For several months, I thought about my plans for Bernard. I had a lot of big dreams, the major dream was entering an event called the Rebelle Rally, but the first step would be to get him running after 6 years of being the most handsome driveway ornament. To get Bernard running, I knew that I had to get in touch with the mechanic that took care of Bernard when he was my daily driver. But, whenever I would plan to make the call, something would come up and the call would get postponed. Finally, I came home one night and realized that I should just call him in the morning and get started on the plan to get Bernard ready for the adventures that awaited us. Call it fate, call it divine intervention, or even call it Bernard’s magic abilities, but the stars aligned and he actually got a hold of me first. (Thank you online dating apps)
We went on a few dates and then one night at dinner, he asked me what my plans were for Bernard. I said “Don’t laugh at me, but have you ever heard of the Rebelle Rally?” He didn’t laugh and he knew about the Rebelle. Now, if you know about the Rebelle, you’d know why I asked him not to laugh. The Rebelle is an 8-day off-road rally raid that covers 2,500 km of California and Nevada desert. There are no phones and no GPS. You and your teammate navigate the terrain with a map and compass and a few roadbooks along the way. I wanted to enter this world-class rally with a vehicle that was sitting (and not running) in my driveway for years. He very confidently said “OK, we can get you ready for that”. And with those words, I was able to keep my promise to Bernard.
We competed in the Rebelle Rally as rookies in 2023. In the year leading up to our rookie year, my navigator Hanna and I needed to do a lot of training. I had dreams of an off-road life with Bernard, but I hadn’t actually ever driven off-road or attempted to navigate via map and compass, and Hanna loved the outdoors but was also new to map and compass life. We were rookies in every sense of the word, but thanks to the amazing guidance of our instructors at Rebelle U, some sand dune training with Barlow Adventures, and some time off road with the boyfriend, we finished the rally with shockingly no mechanical failures. The initial goal was to complete the Rebelle and be happy that we finished, but as soon as we crossed that finish line, Hanna looked at me and said “So, we’re going to do that again.” We were hooked.
The 2024 Rebelle was just as exciting, but a little more eventful. We blew our front shocks thanks to a ditch and a rough road. We had to drive through some of Johnson Valley with blown shocks, but our amazing support crew at home worked quickly and drove 8 hours round trip to make sure that we would have a new set of shocks ready to be installed by the rally mechanics. It wasn’t just us, it was a rough year for a lot of other teams, too. The amount of silt present on the course did damage to the electronics in some of the newer vehicles. The silt affected us in a very different way and caused some issues with our doors. Mainly, our ability to open them. But, we were able to work around it, we cleared the silt from the locking mechanisms, and every now and then, I had to let Hanna out of the vehicle when her door refused to open. We also incurred a few speeding penalties (yes, the Disco in a Rally with Ford Bronco Raptors was the one who got the speeding penalty). Even with those issues, we still had a great time. But being a Rebelle is a huge investment. It’s a lot of your time and a lot of money. That year, when we crossed the finish line, the decision to sign up again wasn’t immediate. Hanna and I decided that we would put a little thought into it before we registered again.
I thought about it for a couple of days, and then signed up for 2025. I wasn’t sure if Hanna would be able to join me again. She has a career and taking the time off needed to participate in the Rebelle is no small feat. So, when Hanna told me that she would have to take the year off, I completely understood. The best part of the Rebelle is the community that you become a part of. I knew that I would be able to find a navigator, but it was about finding the right person who could step into that role and enjoy it. The Rebelle has a lot of newer rigs and a lot of factory sponsored teams. To decide to be the navigator in a 24-year old Discovery is not for the faint of heart. But luckily Jenn, who completed her 2024 Rookie year is up for the challenge. I’m excited to see what the 2025 Rebelle holds.
In the beginning of our life together, Bernard was the typical Los Angeles Rover. The miles we put on were road miles, we parked in front of fancy restaurants, we met with clients, and any dirt he had on him was likely from freeway soot. But now, we’re in a different phase of the Bernard and Marie Show. I don’t worry about little scrapes and dings anymore, because now I know that those are part of the great stories that I have. I know Bernard and all his quirks. I can tell if something smells off or if something doesn’t feel right. I’ve broken my front drive shaft (of course), I blew my shocks on the Rebelle last year, I’ve lost countless pieces of trim to the desert but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The best part of his journey has been that as we go on our adventures together, other people are seeing the charm and appreciating Bernard, too.
We’re living less of that city life, we’re a lot dirtier, a lot older, and we’ve got a lot more purpose. I think we’re at our best version yet, and I’m looking forward to many more adventures ahead.
