One of my longest, most enduring fantasies (other than a personal harem) has always been to own a classic Land Rover. I have looked and looked at them, I have even worked on them for others, but they were always just out of my price range. Until this deal came along.
I was looking through Craigslist one day when I saw an ad for free Land Rover parts. Most of them were Series parts so I wondered if he had a whole Series vehicle or two for sale. I called him up and asked and it turns out he had several project trucks sitting around. At the time, I was driving my 1948 Jeep but I got to thinking. Maybe he would take it in trade for a project Rover. After all, a running classic Jeep should be about worth a non-running classic Rover shouldn’t it? So I called him again and made him an offer. He said he had a good friend who wanted a Jeep and might be willing to work something out.
(The Jeep)
Well he worked something out with his friend to trade one of his project (parts) trucks away. We exchanged pictures (he lived in Eugene) and liked what we saw. I eventually took a trip down there and checked out the Rover. It was pretty beat, but it was a good candidate for restoration. So we set up a time where he would bring the Rover up on a trailer and do our business. The friend came along to test out the Jeep as well.
When they arrived, the Rover was just as he described and pictured it. But it was missing the sill panels and the side steps. I could not remember if it was when I had looked at it though, so I let it pass. The Jeep was running a little rough and needed a few things too but the friend liked it. So we swapped. The Rover did not have a title, instead it had paid importation papers from Canada and a bill of sale from the former owner to the guy I was trading with. The numbers on the importation papers matched the body VIN plate, which was loose, and maybe not even to it, and the frame numbers were different. The man promised that it was all legal and registrable and that if we needed anther VIN plate he could just make one on his CAD laser engraver. I wanted a Rover so bad that I let all this sound OK to me.
The Rover had been a Canadian spec version so it had originally been left hand drive and had the 2.25 liter four cylinder engine. But somewhere along the line someone had put in a Ford 302 V8 using a two inch thick, torch cut, solid steel, homemade adapter plate. I later learned that one of the axle shafts was broken as well, but spares had been included. An original engine had been included as well but without a cylinder head. The man told me he was going to find one as soon as possible (he never did).
One problem was that the bulkhead had been cut for the Ford engine and a crude tunnel cover made. It might sound like a good idea to the uninitiated, but keeping the Ford engine was out of the question. The extra power was way to much for a Rover drive train. Land Rover Series vehicles were built as a carefully balanced ecosystem. The weak transmission and axles were OK because it had a weak engine. Contrary to American driving practices, such a system works just fine for the ruggedest commercial driving. It’s all about the driver.
The more I got under the skin (literally) of the Rover, the more I found it needed. While the frame and body panels were straight and clean, the steel H beams that support the doors were pretty rusty. The door frames were very rusty as well. The wiring was a complete loss, the interior was a basket case, etc.
Since I didn’t have the money to fix everything at once (about ten to twelve thousand as I figured it) I was just going to take it one thing at a time over a long period. So I started with what would benefit my neighbors the most, the paint. I began to sand down the bodywork and prime it with self etching primer.
I didn’t get that far before the neighbors started to complain to the city about my non-running, non-licensed car. The city came out and told me that they could legally tow it out of my driveway etc. So I was forced to cover it with a big ugly tarpaulin. To me, this looked worse than the car, but whatever.
It took about a year for me to figure out that I was never going to complete this project. I knew that it was an unrealistic dream but it was hard to let go of. I knew it was far more realistic to just save up enough money to buy a better example, but it was hard. The man who had the Jeep sent me some nice photos of all the nice thing he had done to it. It looked great, but the Rover still sat there, looking virtually the same as the day I had received it.
I already owned a Discovery I and it did all of the stuff I really needed it to do. So I came to grips with the death of my dream. I called up a Land Rover restoration shop that was not too far away and asked them if they needed a parts truck. I ended up selling it to them for about half what I had paid for the Jeep. Oh well, you win some, you lose some I guess. The dream is not really dead though. I have a vehicle that can do most of what the Series truck could do right now. But it’s just not a classic Land Rover. In fact, I came very close to getting another Series IIa 109 in better shape just a few months ago instead of what I got. But it is just not practical at this juncture in life. One of these days though, it will be, I will find a way to make it be. Maybe with a 300 tdi engine…..
Authors note: as stated before this series is winding down. However I realized I had forgotten completely to include this vehicle. So for anyone keeping track, this one is a bit out of chronological order. Which means there are still three more cars left.
Non-licensed? Wouldn’t you just slap your plates on it when you made the trade?
Depends on the state…some let you transfer the old plate to the next vehicle, but others don’t. That does not mean the vehicle is properly registered, however.
But the registration is only half the matter. As Michael wrote, there was no title…and that’s required prior to issuance of registration. Being that it came from outside of the U.S., things get a bit more complicated…which is probably why the prior owner never bothered.
Correct
Dream meet reality, reality meet dream.
But I for one will continue to dream.
an excellent quote
I need parts for my ’65, and I’m close to Eugene too!
Yes, sometimes the heart can bind and gag the head and lock it in a closet for just long enough to buy a car. I have done this a time or two myself. Most embarrassing is that it is done while sober. Mine was a 61 Thunderbird. Other than needing massive work on the engine, transmission, body, interior, trim, glass and frame members, it was all ready to drive and enjoy. After coming to my senses, I told people that it was not so much a Thunderbird as a very expensive Thunderbird kit.
Got that t-shirt. For me, it was a 73 Superbeetle that had been seriously abused. Never understood the foam sealant that caused the cabin vents to rust out. The numbers off the main bearings had been impressed into the block, so I was on my way to a Gene Berg new engine project before reality intervened.
we have all done it i remember in my teens falling ,smitten and misty eyed with a 61 ford consul capri..yes it was sat at ripleys scrapyard in a field for over 20 years,yes it had not engine,bonnet,front grill[very very rare parts]front valance,bumper lights,interiour,rear bumper ,rear windscreen,wheels..lol plus was and is a very rare car haveing alonge with its sister car the consul classic 315 been only made for 3 years 61.64..lol..to quote from the film christeen..she could be realy tuff dennis ..back on the road in a year…awww young dreams eh
Makes me feel better, but our postman wont let me forget. He was a big fan of the Jeep.
Been there too. I got wrapped up in SVO Mustangs for a while, but all the good deals were on cars that were pretty well abused. After collecting 3 non-runners just to get one on the road I stopped and came to my senses.. A clean driver quality SVO is still only around $5k and that was about what all three of these cars would have needed each to make right so off they went.
Of course then it was on to the next big thing, an 88 Turbo Coupe.. It’s a sickness I tell ya!
An old friend of mine went through a very similar Land Rover obsession about twenty years ago. Eventually, the had four of them and tried to assemble a runner out of them. What he eventually found out is that all of them were thrashed in exactly the same places. For example, he could not get a good cylinder head out of four engines but he had four good blocks. A new head was available but the price was stratospheric. Same went for the running gear and body. After a couple of years, several thousand dollars in parts he never used and countless hours, he abandoned the project.
His original justification for Land Rovers was high gasoline prices. In the end, he spent like $10,000 on four beaters than never ran. He could have fed gas to his Ramcharger for a long time for that!
I came within a hair of buying another. But I do still have the LR bug.
I understand said bug can only be cured by a religious awakening, kind of like an exorcism.
Holden engine swaps are an off the shelf job here to improve power and economy for old Landrovers that would have been smarter just swap in something else
10 grand is an XJ Cherokee and plenty of upgrades and maintenance. Wow.
But then you still only have an XJ
That’s the problem with so many of these old projects – they all have the same things wrong or missing, thus trying to make a good one out of two/three/four or whatever seldom works. For example, except for the new and almost new ones I had, every A-body Mopar I owned leaked water through the windshield wiper pivots, and most of them including the nearly new one sprung leaks in the heater cores. I thought I was done with A-bodies when I sold the 318 4-speed Valiant, but then the 1965 “Formula S” Valiant turned up, and then the 1976 Dart Pursuit. Now I think I’m done with A-bodies, and it’s been going on ten years, so I may actually be done with them.
> Contrary to American driving practices, such a system works just fine for the ruggedest commercial driving.
Contrary to Indian driving practices as well. There were literally *tons* of these vehicles here, mostly imported for the Army’s use, and auctioned off to private buyers afterwards. These vehicles have aluminium(?) bodies that were rust proof. That’s all that was good about them. The frames were extremely crappy, weak, poorly designed, and rust prone. Suspension was a bitch. Electrics, what electrics? The *worst* is the drivetrain. A very poor engine coupled to extremely fragile parts. They can’t haul their own weight for long. I don’t know what rugged commercial driving you had in mind. Basically, you have to buy ’em new, drive carefully, and then, if you’re lucky, you can buy another one. Or you can keep buying axles, suspension and transmission parts, at least until the frame rusts out under you. They aren’t even suitable for urban milk runs, due to poor mileage. But they’re incredibly COOL, and have been one of my childhood dreams to own! Dream, meet reality… Rugged drivers use Jeeps here, or the Mahindra or Tata equivalent.
No 4×4 lover’s life is complete without a Series Land Rover! Good to see you’re not an exception. 🙂
Oh, and the Army got fed up and switched to Nissan Patrols.
Similar here except the army has only recently made the change to G-wagens. Of course it helped that back in the 70-80’s they re-engineered the L-R to take a 3.9L Isuzu diesel, no doubt along with everything else.
There are a disproportionately small number of series L-R’s getting around, mind you some are gems. I met a guy years ago who had made one into a camper – pop top, amazing timber joinery cabinets etc. I think he had driven it out from Europe.
My strongest L-R memory is from about 20 years ago when I went parasailing. The tow vehicle for the parasail was an ex-army lwb soft-top Land Rover, I think with the 6 cylinder L-R engine (although it might have been converted to a 3.8-3.3L Holden 6-cyl which is pretty common). Apart from the actual ‘sail’ I spent a bit of time as the observer, which is actually the reverse of what you might think – the driver watches the parasailer to compensate for wind etc, while the observer is needed to tell him when the fence is approaching to bring the sailer down in time. We were in a several hundred acre paddock so there was a lot of room, a mile or two, but you have to stop eventually!
I want a Land Rover so bad ! Unlike my nephew… I cannot afford one ! LOL !! 🙂
I just love your car stories sweetie. 🙂
Nice to hear from you Aunty!
While in high school, my best friend (who had a collection of Series I IH Scouts) got the Land Rover bug as well. I drove 150 miles with him to take a look at one (1960s model IIRC), which was in slightly better condition than the one discussed above. Even back in the early 1980s, there were only a couple of places in the US which had parts, and they were wicked expensive. I seem to recall that replacement wheel cylinders were close to $100 each (when they were $10-15 for American cars at the time).
I told my friend to run far away from it, which wasn’t hard to do since we didn’t have that kind of money anyways.
I don’t blame you one bit, Michael, old Land Rovers just have something to them. Or heck even new-ish-old Land Rovers, as high on my list is to eventually get a Defender 90 with a diesel. Granted they cost about as much as unobtanium, so eventually I’ll have to settle for a poor-man’s Defender, a IH Scout.
Also agreed completely on the drivetrain. I always see drivetrain swaps in LR’s and other stout off-roaders and it occurs to me that the swapper didn’t get it. They don’t get that the purpose of the vehicle is not 0-60 runs, loud exhaust, or abundance of power. It’s purpose is to go anywhere consistently with enough power. I’ve oft considered a Cummins 4BT swap in my Dakota for that very reason, yet with low miles it doesn’t make much sense – yet.
Great post and one I can definitely relate to. One day I’ll have a nice LR, or even just a rough LR that’s MINE.
Great machine Michael I was party to a LandRover reconstruction a series 1 56 SWB ragtop a mate had 2 one runner with kosher plates etc stock as a rock and another that we collected on two trailers it became Vauxhall Cresta powered with panels and plates interchanges fat tyres rollbar solid bullbars RHS rear bumper it went really well and anywhere it was pointed. its a shame your one didnt progress and I think youll find thats a series 2 the 2a was later 68 onwards with the headlights in the front guards like a series 3 but with mesh grille not plastic.
All the rigs you have there are virtually unobtainable here. Makes me wish I lived in AU/NZ
Thats why shipping container were invented take a look at trademe nz landies abound and usually cheap did you see the mother and her young on the cohort. It surprised me you traded your Jeep that was nice ride.
I will thanks
An addiction to cars can be a bad thing. Just ask me and my best friend James. Each of us have owned two Ford Contours and of course we have each now have owned the Mystique. Problem plagued cars, but we can’t get enough of them!
Dad had a series 2a 90 (short wheelbase) as his work vehicle from the late 70s to the late 80s. He was a mechanic for the local Austin/Rover/Leyland dealer, and the Landrover was their breakdown vehicle (a role it shared with a ’73 Morris Minor van and a ’74 Ford Falcon ute). We used it a lot to get firewood because it would go anywhere, and despite the fact it was deafening inside, and flat out at about 90 km/h (it was the 2.25L 4 cylinder), I loved it. It looked great and had so much character with the spare wheel on the bonnet etc. When it was onsold to a private owner, Dad continued to service it. The biggest job (and biggest headache) was when he had to do some gearbox work on it. To remove the gearbox we had to remove the seats and the bulk of the floor (which all just unbolted!). I seem to recall Dad mentioning it contained a mixture of metric, imperial (both BSF and AF), and Whitworth bolts too… Oh, and it required different keys for the bonnet/tailgate/doors/ignition/fuel cap too. But who cares, they go anywhere and everywhere and look fantastic, nothing else matters!
2A SWB is 88inch wheelbase and yes if you dont have Whitworth spanners L/Rs can be a bastard no metrics though not at that age though metric and whitworth spanners nearly match up. BSW is common on older English cars my Hillman has a scattering in odd places especially in the gearbox which is a 30s design.
Yeah, I knew it was an 88, we just referred to it as a 90, as there was one less syllable lol. Also, the new ones in the showroom at Dad’s work at the time were 90 and 110 models, so I just applied the generic terms 90 and 110 to SWB and LWB models.
Thankfully Dad has all the necessary Whitworth spanners etc, so there was les cursing taking out the gearbox than there might have been. From memory the metric bolts in it weren’t factory, they’d been used later to replace some of the Whitworth ones. For me, helping Dad work on the Landie was a great way to gain an understanding of the basics of mechanics. Great, great vehicles 🙂
I envy you all down there!
The feeling’s entirely mutual Michael!
Trade you!
I learned to drive on one of these when I was 13. I think exposure at a young age made me always want to have a real SUV in my stable. My Grandparents had acreage in the foothills near Auburn CA and this was the work truck. It has an almost gone clutch and the 4 cyl would frequently foul its plugs. I got quite adept at taking them out, hitting them with the sandblaster and getting them back in. We just left it in 4 low all the time. I will always remember the oddball shift pattern and 2nd throttle on the dash for PTO functions.
Standard H pattern 4 speed shift on L/Rs reverse to the left and up are you sure that wasnt an Austin Champ?
Dad’s work had an Austin Champ too, but Dad rarely used it as it was the dealership owner’s boat launching vehicle. I don’t remember much about the Champ, except that by comparison the Landie was better-looking and tougher-looking. And, y’know, when you’re a kid, looks are everything!
nice!
Ive never got to play in a Champ Austin Gypsy Landrover Landcruiser Patrol Hilux etc but no Champ so far they have 5speeds forward and reverse which could prove entertaining at least.
Love it! Sorry you had to let it go, but I know how these can become a bit of an automotive albatross…
I happen to own a ’67 Series II NADA 109 – one of the 811 imported into North America back in the day. I first saw it in the back lot of a family friend’s house when I was eleven years old, in bits, in the woods – fifteen years later, that friend moved and gave me the old Rover as a gift. Or curse. Hard to say. All I know is the damn thing started up first try, and always does.
At any rate, I’ve gone through periods where I’ve driven it as a daily driver, and periods where it has sat in the drive as a bit of a non-runner. There was, for a glorious few months, a time when I had it, my series 1 Disco, and an MGB all running and driving… I was in British car heaven, but of course something like that could never last – Lucas would see to that. At the moment, both the Disco and the Series II are languishing a bit, I’m afraid, and the MGB has been replaced by a Porsche. Such is the way of English motoring.
The Series II certainly gets attention. Interestingly enough, it’s a bit of a babe magnet: girls just love it. Go figure. Also, many notes are left on it from doctors, etc, who want to buy it. They are rather rare-ish, after all. I took it to a British Car show once and some of the guys there recognized it from working on it more than thirty years ago (the rear crossmember, for example, was made in the Navy shipyards here)… So I suppose it’s been a fixture.
As it stands, it’s a bit of a heap, but the previous owner apparently drove it across Canada coast to coast more than ten times in its lifetime, so it’s certainly been there and done all that. I hope one day to strike it rich enough to get the old fellah right up to spec.
Owning (or at least driving) a Series Land Rover is something everyone should try, but only the truly mad can handle day in and day out. They are loud, clunky, dirty and unsafe things, they drive like arthritic dump trucks, accelerate like the QE2, rust in only the most important bits and sometimes fail spectacularly – but they are also fantastic, and somehow always get you home.
Nice, what is wrong with the Disco? As far as daily driving, I drove the Jeep everyday.
Re-ignite the dream mate. A photo of a two and quarter ton, series III, Lightweight, Airportable military Landrover. Had one for ten years. Broke my heart. Broke my bank balance. Went deaf driving it. Soaking in the rain. Sweating in the heat, freezing in the winter. But boy; take it for a spin around town and watch EVERYONE else on the road clear a wide path for you.