Thinking of Buying Classic Land Rover

DJD

I am thinking of heading over to the UK to buy a Land Rover Series III. Would be planning on getting one that is over 30years old for tax/vrt reasons. My
Does anyone have any advice on what to look for when checking one out?
Thanks in advance

Merrion

I've owned two (a standard IIA and a 6cyl IIA special) and they both died of chassis rot.

Basically the bodywork is aluminium so doesn't age at all, but the chassis is mild steel and rusts like asprin in acid rain...spend 90% of your looking time underneath :-)

Buy one of the Ex MOD ones - they were suprisingly well looked after. Also, free wheeling front hubs a major boon.

RobbieMc

I know this is an old thread, but Go for it. I drive a 78 109" and I'm buy and even old short wheel base this week.

What was said about the chassis is correct, but my 109" is ex-MOD and bar a few little spots on the rear chassis, is very sound. Waxoil will become your new best friend.
Try get one with an overdrive, as 4 gears on the motorways is no joke.

BeardyGit

Waxoil can also be your worst enemy, as anyone here with experience of old 'classics' will tell you. Waxoil applied to a clean, rust free (relatively), well maintained vehicle will help lots.

Waxoil applied to a rotten, badly patched, poorly cleaned chassis will cover up dirt and rot that would otherwise put you off. Ignore what anyone says about how often it's been applied, how well maintained it is etc.

Instead, get in there with a B.F.O. Screwdriver and a F.B. Hammer and see if you can poke holes in it easily. Any chassis that's up to service will easily withstand a bit of a knock with the hammer and a poke with the screwdriver. I bought a Range Rover and ended up scrapping the body due to the ammount of rot that was covered up with lovingly applied waxoil.

Any landrover owner who refuses to let you do this is either inexperienced, and therefore his opinion counts for nowt, or he's experienced and hiding something possibly much more sinister than he lets on.

Get in there and have a root around in the footwells too, and check the A pillars on the bulkhead, along with the top corners, beside the windscreen mounting hinges. A little rust is okay, but anything that you think looks bad IS bad in most cases.

Read lots, and go shopping with your eyes wide open. There are more ****heap landrovers on the roads today than there should be. And sadly, even more crooked feckers flogging them off to new owners than there should be too.

Drop over to the lads in www.CLRI.net for more advice and guidance. Quite a few are members here on boards, but the old farts who know most stick with their online hiding place....

RobbieMc

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Read lots, and go shopping with your eyes wide open. There are more ****heap landrovers on the roads today than there should be. And sadly, even more crooked feckers flogging them off to new owners than there should be too.

Too true my friend, there have been many a person caught out by the cowboys and Eurotrash sellers out there. Don't even get me started on this :mad:
Dead right, for the best info head over to the http://www.clri.netsite.

Eric318

Beside all the good mechanical advice, mine will be on a different angle.

Make sure you take all measures needed to experience life as a single man as whatever female is sharing your life (wife or girlfriend) will unavoidably leave you.

This is the fate of a Land Rover SIII owner. The ride is too harsh for their tender buttocks or their frontal assets + you will spend way too much time under the car's hood or chassis to keep it running.

It's either the Landie or the girl mate...

101sean

Owning a Land Rover can be classed as 'unreasonable behaviour'!
Happily divorced for 20 years with a string of Land Rovers in my past, currently own 2 and looking for a third.:D
Still strangely single

carchaeologist

101sean wrote: »

Owning a Land Rover can be classed as 'unreasonable behaviour'!
Happily divorced for 20 years with a string of Land Rovers in my past, currently own 2 and looking for a third.:D
Still strangely single

What does your 1975 Land Rover 101 Forward Control gun tractor look like,it sounds interesting?!:)

101sean

Only 3 or 4 in Ireland. 2688 built, about 1000 survive.

Hifive

Sean,
That gun tractor is a fantastic looking machine. More road presence than almost any other vehicle on Irish roads.
Love the shovel and axe. Hope you don't suffer from road rage:D
It must be quite an experience to drive. Is it basically a land rover chassis underneath?
Mark.

101sean

No, it's pretty much unique parts inc chassis. The engine and gearbox are early Range Rover (V8!!!), very little else is common to others, even the wheels are 6 stud instead of 5. The owners club has a big spares and remanufacturing list, membership is essential.

It is huge fun to drive with the most grins per mile of any Land Rover. It happily cruises at 55-60 in overdrive and will do a very scary 80mph, does around 14mpg which is pretty good. I attend shows towing a missile reload trailer.

2 or 3 for sale in UK at moment if anyone is tempted Going rate for a good one is around £3500

carchaeologist

Nice!!I like that!Still on army plates,
is it irish registered too?

101sean

I have civvy plates as well, they stick over the miltary plates with black velcro so I can remove them at shows. I got a 75 TS xxx plate after an four month wait!

Another benefit of a military Land Rover is that you get waved through toll booths and Garda checkpoints

Looking to acquire another vehicle later, possibly a lightweight or SWB converted to V8, although I've also had a longtime hankering for an Austin Champ :cool:

carchaeologist

101sean wrote: »

I have civvy plates as well, they stick over the miltary plates with black velcro so I can remove them at shows. I got a 75 TS xxx plate after an four month wait!

Another benefit of a military Land Rover is that you get waved through toll booths and Garda checkpoints

Looking to acquire another vehicle later, possibly a lightweight or SWB converted to V8, although I've also had a longtime hankering for an Austin Champ :cool:

Nice one,why such a wait for the civvy plates,was it because its a millitary vehicle?
Is an austin champ like a jeep type vehicle if i remember correctly?

101sean

The VRO had trouble finding the correct code for it and there were communiction problems with Rosslare, there was thread on other peoples experiences last year.

Austin Champ was a designed by committee replacement for the wartime Jeep. Independant suspension, standard military Rolls Royce B40 petrol engine, waterproof electrics etc together with a major transmission design defect! In service from early 50s to late 60s, it was realised that Land Rovers did the job as well and at half the price.

Plenty of pics here - http://www.champ-sparesukltd.com/the_gallery.htm

Esel

Pic of the engine in the Austin Champ!

MercMad

When we all went to te transport museum recently there was an Austin Fire Tender, which I assumed was a Gypsy but perhaps it was a Champ?

Anyone know for sure ?

carchaeologist

esel wrote: »

Pic of the engine in the Austin Champ!

Is that an austin engine as fitted to other cars in the austin range of that time?

101sean

I think it may have been fitted to some big Austins; although a Rolls Royce design, many were built by Austin. There were also 6 and 8 cylinder versions used in armoured cars, lorries, fire engines etc.

PanhardPL

MercMad wrote: »

When we all went to te transport museum recently there was an Austin Fire Tender, which I assumed was a Gypsy but perhaps it was a Champ?

Anyone know for sure ?

The Fire Tender in Howth is an Austin Gypsy and fitted with an austin engine.

xbox36016

why?

MercMad

Slightly OT but the big Austin Princess used a 4.0 Rolls Royce engine.....................actually the Princess was the big wedding car thing, the other one was simply Austin 4Litre I think !

Very smooth engine !

carchaeologist

It wasnt the princess,te upmarket version of that had a 6 cylinder engine(the o series?),the car your thinking of is the vanden plas four litre R wasnt it,same size as a wolseley 6/110 and the austin cambridge?

101sean

Just been checking in my copy of "In National Service", which is the history of the B series engine, and the engine in the Vanden Plas type R wasn't a B series engine, it was an F60 that is more closely related to the Rolls V8.

The main commercial application for the B series was Dennis F7 fire engines.

This thread has wandered nicely off topic

macplaxton

carchaeologist wrote: »

It wasnt the princess,te upmarket version of that had a 6 cylinder engine(the o series?),the car your thinking of is the vanden plas four litre R wasnt it,same size as a wolseley 6/110 and the austin cambridge?

No, the 6 cylinder engine family in the big Austin Westminsters / Austin 3 litre / Wolseley 6/110 / VDP Princess 3 Litre was the BMC C-series.

The VDP Princess 4 litre R had the straight six Rolls engine.

The O-series came much later and is found in Marinas and Sherpa vans and some other Leyland stuff.

MercMad

Yeah thats the one the 4 litre VdP. It looked like the Wolseley, probably the same chassis but a bigger car, wings and 1/4 panels were longer !