When a local Land Rover enthusiast put one of his SWB LR's up for sale (in a half-arsed, 'appease the wife', bit of paper with felt-tip details in the window kind of thing), my interest was piqued.
Those in the know will be aware that I have 'previous' with Solihull's finest, having previously owned a Series II (crap), Series IIA (not crap) and Series III (very crap).
This local example was being offered at what seemed a very attractive price, and the vehicle was discussed with The Keeper of The Purse. However, I procrastinated and the 'for sale' signs disappeared out of the window. I thought no more about it really until last sunday when the signs reappeared with a revised price that was just too tempting. I went to have a chat with the chap and a deal was struck.
So here it is... 50 years old and it shows!
There was a reason why the price had been dropped so significantly, the rear crank seal on the elderly engine appears to have given up on it's primary task of sealing oil in, prefering instead to widdle it onto the highway. In addition the engine sounds quite poorly. I would hypothesise that these two things are linked.
Also has all the other "charming character traits" these things are blessed with, i.e. dreadful wandery steering, appalling ride, and a cramped cabin.
It did come with a spare engine though so that is a bonus, of sorts. But I am not very good at actually putting engines INTO cars.
I'm not really sure what to do with it if I'm honest. Although it came with nearly a whole years' MoT and is tax exempt, it needs quite a bit to get it up to an acceptable standard of driveability / useability to make it viable as a long-term tat-hauler. It would be very useful for that though, just today slinging a set of wheels, engine crane tools and whatever in it to trundle down to the lock up was so EASY compared to the usual palarver of putting stuff in the car in such a way as to not damage the vehicle. I think I would also prefer to convert to a truck cab + canvas tilt, as it's a bit more flexible...
It really was too damn cheap to be ignored.,. you never see them this cheap any more... so watch this space I suppose.
It might stay, it might go. Undecided. Something's gotta give though as I got FAR too many cars now.