Yeah, I kid you not. Here in Eugene and other hip PNW towns and cities like Portland and Bend and such, there is no greater status symbol than an old Land Rover. It makes sense; the whole world is besotted with the outdoors and SUVs, so naturally the exotic granddaddy of the genre (a Willys Station Wagon is a bit too plebeian) is the most sought after and conveys the highest status.
I see a number of these plying our streets, often on warm summer evenings without the top, driven by guys about my age that are clearly well-to-do but trying hard not to make that too obvious. That would ruin the image. In another time, they would have been behind the wheel of a Ferrari or Porsche.
In another time, I would have been behind the wheel of one of these, as I had a deep abiding love for them going way back, along with a few other very utilitarian vehicles. I ended up with a ’66 F100, for its large bed to haul large loads, but if I’d stumbled into a pickup version of a lwb LR, it would still be in the fleet. Presumably.
Of course I’d be happy to have one today, image issues regardless. It would have to be properly battered though; this one is way to nice.
I doubt that the gnarly high-lift jack gets much actual use. But it certainly enhances the looks. And credibility and prestige.
I think I’d throw the spare on the roof rack, given that it’s a lot fatter than the pretty skinny ones that originally came with these.
Like this one, that I shot behind the Sports Car Shop, with very original-sized wheels and tires.
How oddly narrow, from today’s vantage point of ever bigger and wider tires. I had to check what size they were.
7.50 – 16s, Michelin radials in this case.
The big roof rack and ladder are the crowning touch.
I think it’s gone now, but for a couple of years we had a vintage LR “dealer”here that had a couple of dozen of these sitting around the shop, being restored or prepped for sale. Maybe it’s getting hard to find funky old ones to restore and sell?
As much as I love these old Landys, I’m still more in love with my xB than ever. It can conquer the wilds of Nevada and Oregon, but is vastly more fun and pleasant to drive on the city streets and highways.
Here’s Roger Carr’s superb in-depth CC on the Land Rover:
I’d rather have a classic Toyota Land cruiser anytime
Paul, thank you for bringing these to us.These always have looked neat to me since the late 60’s as a kid. The CBS television series Daktari featured one. Never understood the spare tire on the hood though. How the heck do you lift the hood (sorry bonnet) to check the fluids? Seems like a real pain in the butt, never mind the lack of visibility. A local gent here in Howell, NJ has about five of these in various states of repair in limbo on his farm. I’m inspired now to stop and speak to him!
I guess this is where the blue-collar, knuckle-dragging, patch-wearing biker comes out in me. As much as I enjoy Land Rovers (went thru a period for years where I wanted a classic Discovery, for the sake of my wallet I fortunately got better), just because of what they represent socially stops me from owning one. I don’t do wine and cheese parties. Try shot and a beer, preferably in a cheap enough bar that you’d prefer to not take your wife/girlfriend.
If I actually need an SUV, it’s going to be a Jeep. Period. Preferably an XJ Cherokee (I’ve had two – odds are if I ever own another SUV it’ll be a third). a CJ/Wrangler (never had the real need to own one), or a Grand Wagoneer (had one, loved it, couldn’t afford the gas and repairs).
It’s the same mindset that has me always owning a minimum of one Harley-Davidson in the garage for runs with the motorcycle club. The club doesn’t demand an American motorcycle, but I’d feel awful strange being on anything else.
A Willys Station Wagon? Love to have one, if only because your Land Rover crowd would turn their nose up on it. And I still enjoy what you did to that xB. If I had kept mine longer, I’d have gone in the opposite direction: Lowered suspension, heavy sway bars, wider tires, let’s autocross.
One of the most functional designs ever, to bad the crappy reliability let Toyota take over the market. Sure looks cool with the spare wheel on the bonnet, but after opening it a couple of times, the spare wheel goes to the back door (until you realise it restricts the rearward view). Had a series 3 diesel with overdrive, 16 gears forward and 4 rearwards, leafsprings rusted together so bumpy ride. Still miss it
Paul, I think the “Tuscarora Special” Land Rover would have the perfect blend of capability, originality, and finish for you. 🙂 It’s most likely still in that same spot…
These look quite good in blue though, not seen too often in that color.
I do love these, and it must be great to live in a place where they are not only aspirational vehicles, but where you still see them on the road.
Chalk it up to the CC effect, but just a few hours ago I wound up at an intersection behind a modern Defender 110 or 130. I’m not familiar enough with these to know exactly what model I was seeing, but it was a gorgeous deep brown (called “Sedona Red” I believe) and had a snazzy hard spare tire cover. All in all, it looked way too nice to do any of the work that these vehicles were originally designed to do, and for I know might still be capable of. Anyhow, whenever I see one of these modern Land Rovers, I am carried back to my childhood desire to own an original boxy one JUST LIKE they had on Daktari. The zebra paint being the number one draw there.
Knowing that would never happen, I begged my parents for the Cori Daktari gift set. That never happened either.
I spent some time with these growing up. So cool in theory but even 40 years ago they were a bad idea for actual bush work, particularly in the winter. It would be fun to have as a way to go down to the coffee shop and let people think I was a rich guy. But to go hiking more than 20miles from the house I’d rather have a Corolla let alone a RAV 4 or 4 Runner as any of those wouldn’t cause me any need for mechanical heroics just to get home.
I am going to try to not let the aging, affluent adult version of “the cool kids” ruin a perfectly nice vehicle for me. But it is all academic as I cannot envision any case to be made for one of these in my life. And if there were, I would probably go home-town and pick an International Scout. Which is another vehicle whose current popularity has cooled my interest a bit. Being a contrarian is no picnic. 🙂
I can agree with you there. For me, it’s not that I’m a contrarian or that something’s popularity lessens its attractiveness to me; it’s that when things become popular, the pricing on them starts to go through the roof, to the point where they no longer make any economical sense…and THAT dampens my enthusiasm.
For instance (and related to my Lexus GX article yesterday): I recently toyed with the thought of buying an older (2004-2006, perhaps) GX 470, to leave in a state I now frequently stay in. The draw is that I’ve always liked it and it’s so reliable, I wouldn’t need to spend time finding a local specialist to work on it…as I would with the sorts of cars I usually buy. And six years ago, when people thought they were just mall-crawlers in the vein of the Highlander and RX, a GX 470 would have been feasible. Now, however, we have two problems:
a) People have figured out that the GX is a Land Cruiser Prado, and therefore is a supremely capable off-roader
b) The pandemic has made the Toyota tax increase 70%-100% on older models. Hondas and Toyotas have always had robust resale values, but it’s gotten absolutely ridiculous as of late
That means that I’d be looking at the prospect of forking over $8,500 for a 250K-mile vehicle with torn leather, a cracked dashboard and paint damage. And, if it’s in the north, rampant rust on the frame, as well. I’ll pass.
Ah, but the agricultural, expensive classic car is often itself a form of conspicuous consumption. It won’t catch the eye of someone who’d sooner buy a Mercedes-AMG G 63, but for attracting the “right” sort of people, it whispers all the right words..namely that you have money and enough taste not to buy something so garish as a newer Land Rover. I’m sure you see a lot of that in the PNW.
It takes a ton of money to own a classic Land Rover and keep it impeccably maintained. It also takes knowing the right people, for parts and repairs. You’ll find that people in the space of owning specialty classic cars are also name-droppers. “Oh, do you know so-and-so in Boise? Yeah, he helped me find the last working PTU in the country, so I could install a Koenig winch on my Series IIA.”
Other such cars, when in good condition, include:
– Any 80s-and-back Mercedes-Benz, especially a wagon
– A 2000s-era Subaru Outback
– A VW Microbus (interesting, since that used to belong to a different kind of counter-culture)
– An SJ-chassis Jeep
– Any vintage or variety of Toyota Land Cruiser
– A brick-era Volvo, especially a wagon
– Any air-cooled Porsche
To that effect, I have a friend who lives in Connecticut. She bought her Subaru Outback brand-new in 2005. At this point, it’s the Ship of Theseus. She has spent untold sums of money basically replacing everything in it over the years and keeping it from rusting, far beyond the point where it made better economical sense to trade in/up…but of course she still has it. And she’s quite wealthy.
Going back to the Land Rover Series II that is the subject of our article here, I could see myself owning something like that as a toy, but wouldn’t be willing to endure longer than a couple of hours at a time in it. For daily duties, I’d have a newer Range Rover.
SWB had 600×16 tyres the LWB had wider rims and 750×16 tyres and different steer stops to cope with them, the spare does make the bonnet kind of heavy to lift but its not a jeep so you arent doing that very often,
IIRC this is the 109 ? .
In the late 50’s Uncle Bill had one, I remember it as gray in color and I don’t recall ever hearing about any mechanical maladies but then Uncle Bill was a very serious sailor so I imagine he did his own maintenance .
For a while ex British military long body versions were being sold off dirt cheap, imported to the U.S.A. and registered as older than they were, too many idiots bragged and screwed it all up, more than a few were confiscated and crushed as non D.O.T. compliant .
A clean 4X4 always makes me suspicious .
In the 1960’s we had a few American made 4X4’s, all beat to shit and fairly rusty to boot .
-Nate
Too short to be a 109 incher, the car featured is a 88″.
Thanx .
I wonder who’s still alive who’d know…….
-Nate
Like an old pickup truck, these pull at my heart strings from time to time. But then I ride in one on the freeway or maneuver one in a traffic jam and I remember just how noisy and uncomfortable they were. An old Ford car, in comparison, rides like a Rolls Royce (more or less) and could still haul a dozen sacks of Red-e-crete in the trunk or some 8′ lumber along an interior diagonal.
Prestige and hip-ness only go far.
Paul
Lots of misinformation here. There is very much still a Land Rover shop here in town (stop by sometime). The owner of this truck is not an investment banker; he worked for the local electrical board. He drives it year round, he does take it off-road and he works on it himself. If you just snap some pics and don’t talk to the owner you just might end up making up a crazy narrative.
– Ike
Ps: to dispel more myths propagated here
– these cars are very reliable and enjoy great parts availability (better than jeep, Land Cruiser and international
– the tire in the hood is pretty easy to lift if you aren’t injured or very old and there are two more spots to mount it. It’s not hard to see over either unless you are extremely short. Putting it on the rack would raise the center of gravity
-Toyota Land Cruiser didn’t have a low range when this was made and wasn’t widely sold in the US and so wasn’t really an option for most people when this was sold.
– you do not have to be extremely wealthy to own these – they occupy a spectrum of values from very cheap to very expensive. Dirt farmers in Africa own them and wealthy people also have them. The cost of ownership is very reasonable and the enthusiast movement is very welcoming and diverse.
Good to hear about the LR shop still in business.
I didn’t even remotely suggest that this owner was an investment banker. Are there any in Eugene? I said “well-to-do”. As in quite comfortable financially and able to enjoy a toy car or two in retirement. Which is why I said once upon a time he’d have been driving an older European sports car. That was my point: these Landys have become the equivalent of the vintage sports car as a retirement toy. And no harm intended; it’s nice to see folks enjoying their toys.
My point stands: in an outdoor-oriented and progressive town like Eugene where just about every second car is a Subaru, these are at the top of the SUV pecking order. Which it deserves, FWIW.
As to your comment about the Land Cruiser, it received a low range in 1960 and wasn’t sold here a few years after that. But what’s that got to do with the Landy’s current status? What year was this particular Landy built? And is it an original US import?
Good to know one doesn’t have to be “extremely wealthy” to own one.
Artists beaver away to produce an idea they have in mind’s eye, usually falling short, great art being rare: likewise designers. How galling it must be when an industrial and economically-driven need achieves greatness without consideration to aesthetics, such as occurred with the Landie! The economics dictated flat, bendable panels: supply dictated they be alloy: industrial survival meant Rover needed to produce something that would sell in reasonable numbers, and the result is a little sculpture that has not been equaled. Dare I say the shape is handsomer than the Jeep? It is to me, though in truth, the only obvious variation from the original Landie to the original Jeep is those enclosed front guards.
The history of the vehicle yet again brings up the spectre of European exceptionalism, or at minimum, that of the British then. The Landie was a good, tough, universal product, a tool with a perfect image, yet the very same stuff churned out as near-clones by Toyota or Nissan lasted twice as long, and for a long time have dominated in save-your-life conditions around the world. How was this lost? How could a country expert in high-speed diesels, for example, be so vastly over-taken in reliability by one that had no such background? (Later Landie diesels got less and less trustable just as the Far Eastern alternatives grew and grew in legend). By way of illustration, in the late ’70’s, the Australian Army ordered a whole bunch of coil-sprung110’s, but in a telling move, had them all fitted with four-litre Isuzu diesels…
In any case, the old ones may be beautiful objects, but the rich are welcome to the back-risking stiffness they provide – surely the only suspension compliance is provided by tyre flex – as well as the 60 mph top speed, the cramped and unadjustable driving perch, and a general level of amenity that a covered tractor would now well exceed.
No one ever went broke over-estimating the vacuuity of those who monied need external approval as their lodestar, and I hope any restorer of these sweet torturers is grwoing fat on the proceeds.
I own a 68 SWB & a 69 LWB, and wouldn’t trade either of them for a newer SUV. Part of the therapeutic benefit comes from working on them (& yes, they require regular maintenance – but so does any classic vehicle). Having the spare tire on the bonnet does provide a workout, though ( I joke to my friends that the harder part of the vehicle maintenance is if you forget to take the spare off first), & saves on the cost of a gym membership.
Paul,
The premise of your narrative is certainly that the car is the plaything of the trendy and wealthy – that it doesn’t get used or perhaps only in fair weather. On all points you are mistaken. One reason Land rovers are great is because they are classless – something that both the wealthy and the frugal or thrifty can enjoy in equal measure. Certainly there are owners that match your narrative more closely but best to not assume.
-Ike
Old Land Rovers, the ones before they began to call them Defender, always looked good to me. I also like the idea behind them, the sturdy-ness, class less, etc. However I found the biggest disappointment is in driving them. Very harsh, not much leg room. A neighbor owned a 109 for a while (I helped him finding it), the comfort difference between an (ex-army) Austin Champ and the Land Rover is staggering. Of course, comfort was never much of an issue for these cars but I could not live with one because of that.
I have a swb S3 with a 2.8 diesel nissan engine and parabolic suspension rides and pulls great on and off the road and parts dilivery of 2 weeks from the UK for parts not available locally I use it as a daily driver
Coker Tire says the standard OEM tire size for a 1967 Land Rover Series was 6.00×16.
I would have thought horses for courses, in the UK, virtually every part is available from companies like Bearmach who can supply enough to keep them running forever, a new galvanised chassis, no problem. The are like a big Mechano set to take apart and work on.
For me, there is virtually no other choice, except maybe the Austin Champ but if I were in the US it would have to be the Korean war style Jeep, was it the M38A1? , I love the look of that in army green but would like some doors
The M38A1 indeed ~ in the mid 1960’s we had a pristine 1952 M38A1 from Ft. Devins, F head engine and 24 volt electrical system .
I wish I knew where it went off to, at that time is was one more $50 Korean war surplus Jeep .
-Nate
Had one about 25 years back never gave any problems and was always ready to go I wood always be ready for a nother one any of the newer brands come near the old 1
These are pretty normal vichicles here in England. Been driving mine as a daily for the past 20 years. Easy to maintain and reliable. Not as cheap as they used to be but still reasonable in this country.
I guess you’re right about Series Land Rover’s in Oregon, I live in a cheaper part of Bend and there’s US spec (big turn signals and side markers) Series III 88 on my block, a few doors down fro the guy with the Ural sidecar rig. I actually have bit of a CC street since another neighbor has a 93/94 Ford Range and at the other end of the block is a GMT400 pickup in basic regular cab long bed form while I represent the cockroach brigade with our slightly battered 2003 LeSabre.