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New Legend 4X4 | Where Legends Are Made
NEW LEGEND 4X4
Words Tommaso Mogge / Photos New Legend
Like the most tormented philosophers, car people often found sitting with the head clasped in their hands, trying to identify what is really the most profound representation of driving pleasure. We find ourselves struggling with a steering wheel every day, from the simplest commutes to those long-awaited weekends of freedom in which all that matters is not to let the clock dictate the times and rules of our journey. There is the thrill of speed offered by a sports car with a sinuous shape, the luxury provided by a refined sedan, or that desire to explore new roads and adventurous places, just like the ones we dreamed of as children, in which all that mattered was to immerse in our small but boundless world, a fiction that over the years would necessarily have given way to the reality imposed by adulthood.
There are those who cling to these feelings and do not intend to let them go for any reason, a bit like in the case of Sean and his wife Heather, who in 2003 bought a small spare parts store for International Scout and within just three years realized that this would have been the path to follow in order to share their passion and dedication with an increasing number of enthusiasts. In 2006 they moved the business from the Californian Bay Area to Ames, Iowa, where New Legend was born, something we can consider as the reference point for restomods based on the unforgettable Scout, the off-road vehicle produced by International Harvester from 1960 to 1980 and often considered among the forerunners of modern SUVs and rightly adored by those who in their blood have the need to leave the inhabited centers and breathe the wildest nature.
The goal of Sean and Heather is to dust off a myth, an icon, to give a second life to an object that has been treading on rough roads and paths for over sixty years, managing to combine the practicality of a hard and pure off-road vehicle with refinement and almost endless custom interventions. After all, starting from well-defined models we get to create an object tailored to the tastes and needs of the various customers, thus managing to create something unique as it is able to reflect the dreams of people who do not intend to extinguish that spark they carry with them from childhood.
There are essentially 3 series that New Legend offers, all while keeping faith with the intention of producing a vehicle with the utmost attention to detail, but not necessarily too much expensive. Also because let’s face it, a true off-roader should not only be a beautiful object, but the ultimate tool to travel those challenging roads that will take us to places we did not think were part of this planet. The use in the city – in everyday life – is not forgotten, but it is when the asphalt leaves room for gravel and the traffic noises are only a distant memory lost in the silence of a valley or a desert that the relationship with a New Legend confirms that there are thousands of directions for this kind of happiness, but just one single path that everyone will have to take for it. And it will be rough and with a lot of fun.
Among the series we were talking about a few lines above, we have the Runner Series, with prices that starting at $ 95,000 including a light restoration of the original car body, suspension upgrades and particular attention to the engine and transmission, all while remaining as faithful as possible to the original “donor”. The Retro Series starts at $ 159,000 and as an intermediate step concerns a complete conservative restoration that aims to bring together the sensations and the vintage image of the 4X4, with useful measures for a better coexistence in everyday life. At the top of the list we then have the Legend Series, starting at $ 205,000 and offering the possibility of building your ideal vehicle from scratch, taking advantage of an original and perfectly restored car body together with a modern chassis and interior that can thus give life to an object able to maintain a well-defined identity, yet offering unparalleled handling and off-road capability. After all, New Legend is not a simple builder or restorer of vintage 4X4s, but a very specific way on how to take those less obvious roads, precisely those able to write beautiful chapters of an automotive passion that with the style and taste of the good old days make our time behind the wheel a better experience.
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