This will be our house during the trip! Exciting! The tent is a Maggiolina and is very comfortable.
On this picture, Frida has just arrived to Alfredo at Piva Auto in Milan! Brand new Defender 110 with new engine 2.2 Ford Puma.
Then we had to build the interior of our new transportable home.
First the measurements of the car….. Frida seen from above:
…and Frida seen from behind:
Drawings of storage space behind the front seats:
Here the blacksmith has started fitting the aluminum structure which will hold the second spare tire (the stick in the center) and our boxes with stuff…
Here with the second spare tire in place and with the structure almost finished, just missing the plate in front…..
This is the finished aluminum structure with a large net to hold our baggage in place…. In the space between the alu-shelf and the back door we will mount a small removable table and make two seats so we can enjoy our breakfast kasha and espresso even if it is raining 😉
And here we have put two small seats on either side.
Here Frida with the tent mounted on top….behind the tent there is a small roof rack for extra diesel tanks etc. With the tent in front, the roof stuff makes less noise when driving.
Here you can see Marco’s home-made covered veranda for the back of the car.
Here the back of Frida fully loaded.
And finally, Frida ready for departure to Rotterdam!
Half Way
Slightly more crammed but still quite ordered! What the car looks like after 9 months of travelling.
Cleaning Frida! All our belongings outside and then a good cleaning!
What was the best thing we bought along the way? Probably this gas stove from Medellin in Colombia! And our friend Jorge gave us the gas bottle. Another very good purchase was the awning, which we bought in Seattle, USA, after 1 very wet month in Canada. 
New tires on Frida, GoodYear Wrangler! What a pleasure to drive the gravel roads with the new tires! In Chile we found it easy and relatively cheap to get good quality new tires.
whereistheyak
Whereistheyak's Blog 
March 10th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Looks good. Keep us posted and have a great trip. Mikkel
April 24th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Seems well engineered. Please keep us posted on how the sharp and clean interior of the car transforms with time and milage..
September 6th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Ciao Ragazzi, avevo letto un vostro articolo sull’eco di bergamo se non sbaglio e stasera leggendo i vari post su on-ice mi ha incuriosito il vostro, leggermente diverso da quelli che solitamente vengono inseriti. Bel viaggio davvero (considerando che anche io sono un appassionato del Def, ma ancora non ne posseggo uno 🙂 ). Continuerò a seguirvi good trip. Ale
September 8th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Ciao Alessandro! Grazie mille per i complimenti! Con il blog cerchiamo di trasmettere le emozioni della nostra avventura a chi no può viaggiare o per invogliare chi ci sta pensando su…proprio come te! E poi con il DEF è tutta un’altra cosa 😉 continua a seguirci e spargi la voce 🙂 ci sono anche ns articoli su l’Eco di zbergamo
November 7th, 2012 at 4:21 am
Greetings. I just found your blog. I love your trip. I’m an American living in Quito, Ecuador with my family. I drive a 1998 Defender 110 and love it. Anyways, I’ve got a great LR registered mechanic. Let me know if you need to stop and see him. We’ve also got a spare room in our home if you need a bed for a night or two. If not, we would still to meet you personally to hear about your trip. We are also considering doing a similar trip around South and Central America in the future and would love to hear more about your experiences.
November 8th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Hi Rusty! A pleasure to know that also in Ecuador there are Defender fans! We just came back from Galapagos and we are running South to climb Cotopaxi and Chimborazo…thanks for your kind invitation, but I think we’ll have to make it in another life 😉 in the meantime, if you need info on the trip continue following us on our blog or write us directly to aanund06@yahoo.it!
Cheers,
Marco and Malene
March 30th, 2015 at 3:32 am
Hi. A small Russian and American family living in Switzerland, we are happy Def 110 owners, searching high and low for a smaller rack to fit the rear roof, like you have. Is yours custom made? We are patterning our setup on yours, and would be grateful if you could steer us on this one equipment requirement. Merci, David & Xenia. BTW, it is great fun reading, enjoying your travels.
June 22nd, 2015 at 4:51 pm
Hi there! Sorry for the very late reply! We have not been checking lately.
We bought the small roof rack at africaland.it. It is a small italian company, very reliable, so you can order over the internet and they will deliver. The website is only in italian, but you have to look for the “portapacchi”(http://www.africaland.it/ppdef.htm), ours was the model AP070R (“con sponde” = the edges/borders on the sides). You can write them an email in english to ask or order, the email address is on their website.
Good luck and enjoy your defender 😉
Marco and Malene
May 25th, 2016 at 8:12 am
Wow! Just found this. My 110 Defender is also called Frida and looking to have some adventures similar to yours but on a smaller scale. Will read through your trip but well done!