I like your thinking Mike, when I bought my restored +8 in 2002 it was equipped for touring to some degree by Kevin the chap who rebuilt it, though I think he only managed one trip to France. Kevin had added a tool/spares box under the bonnet and had two trays built into cut outs behind the seats either side of the diff. Thus the car came with a raft of spares, fuel pump, ign amplifier head gasket spark plugs and a set of HT leads, exhaust bobbins ss Screws, nuts, bolts, exhaust bobbins, clamp Gum Gum, rad weld spare fan belt, Araldite and more...
Like you when we were touring outside the UK we expected LR spares to be readily available in most cities, which added to our level of confidence though such was the simplicity of the old carb fed +8 and Kevins rebuild capabilities that we only ever needed to fit a fan belt once while in France and while in Spain required to replace a moulded rubber fuel connector, fortunately I had added a length of rubber tube to the kit of spares which created a suitable temporary repair till we arrived home..
Now that the Rover V8 is old hat, as you described in your German experience, it seems even Melvyn is finding it difficult to source the correct oil pressure switch for my 1985/6 +8..How time flies..
