Land Rover Anorak Vehicles Series III petrol

Vehicles

Series III SWB 2¼ petrol

Year of registration: '80/W

Owned: Early '95 to late '99

I had to wait for a few years before I could buy my second Land Rover, but by this time I had a company car and so it could be more of a weekend toy. The vehicle itself came from a family friend and was pretty much immaculate. It had been used as a shooting hack and had only covered about 30000 miles when I took ownership. It had been fully maintained and cleaned and rust proofed every year.

It also came equipped with a number of optional extras including overdrive, oil pressure and ammeter gauges, side steps and most significantly a capstan winch.

With a bit more disposable income available this time around, and a bit more experience, it wasn't long before I started to make some modifications. First came the obligatory spotlights, mounted on an angle iron frame between the front wings above the winch, followed by fixed side windows, 750x16 tyres and the appropriate speedo head, parabolic springs, a roof rack, one piece Defender doors and a whole host of other minor bits and pieces.

As I had started from such a good base, I made sure that it was properly looked after mechanically too, although that didn't help with the one major problem that I had. After a series of runs through a water splash at what used to be the Bagshot Heath Off-road Show, some gritty water got drawn into the engine with the result that all of the bearings were completely shot. That little escapade resulted in the fitting of a reconditioned engine form Turner Engineering and a very expensive lesson was learned!

This really was a great Land Rover and, as I was heavily into laning at the time, it saw some pretty serious action on regular runs in Surrey and Hampshire with the local Series III Club group. It also proved itself on the off-road course at Eastnor Castle on several occasions at the Series III Club National. Eventually though, I found myself with what was, admittedly, a completely irrational desire for a Stage 1 V8 and this vehicle had to give up its' space on the drive.