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Land Rover anyone?

043500

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Ocala, FL USA
So my wife decides (thanks to my 11 YO son) we need another cat...never mind the 4 we have already.
Calls this old fella off craigslist that has free kittens. Shows up at his house and there's this land rover sitting in his driveway.
She starts asking him about it and he started showing her pictures and telling her stories...he's a retired archaeologist...this thing has been on 5 continents...he has pics of him and it on pontoons floating down a river!

Then...he says "I don't want to work on it any more...trying to slow down...Give me $500 and you can have it!"...clear Florida title. So we went and got it!

Gotta say these folks back then learned a lot from Jeep and took some of it to the next level. The frame is enormous...thank goodness because it does have some repair work needed....fully boxed ladder framed and the cross members...ALL of them...are also fully boxed and thicker than an actual jeep frame of the same era. Entire body and most inerior panels are aircraft aluminum alloy...so the only rust on the body is from the iron/steel hardware that's rusting...but it aint much! For pete's sake it has the original owners and service manuals, written service records and enough spare parts to do most of the mechanical work it needs! Even has a complete spare carb...still in packaging.

Needs some starter work (maybe rebuilt), might need a clutch MC and the rear wheel cylinders need rebuilt. Beyond that it's a very clean (should run well) rig.

Here's the old fella giving it a send off.



Now back at the house:



 
Probably the coolest story I have heard in a while. Great Find!

Good luck getting parts. Time for 4.0 HO and AX15

That would be sweet...but with the story etc I couldn't bring myself to do that. Now I'd like t put that combo in our '74 scout though!!

It really is a unique situation...the guy is just so cool!! I bet he was a bad-ass in his day too...being hundreds of miles from nowhere and by himself like that.

This thing even has a hand crank...LONG handle that you run through the front X-member to the crank pulley and it fits a keyway there so you can hand crank it...I know it needs starter work but I'm afraid to break my arm trying to hand crank it!!

I know we could flip it for a LOT of profit as it sits now...but I just don't think we could do that with the old fella's story and all...this one will be in the family for a good long time.
 
Those are the only LR I like. Well I do like the Defender 110 too. Looks like a 2 door version of it. LOL! Nice score!
 
Rovers north has been pretty good with parts to me and very knowledgable. I have had bad luck with Atlantic British/British pacific.

Parts aren't as hard to find as you think, and there are plenty of nice chaps across the pond willing to ship.
 
Rovers north has been pretty good with parts to me and very knowledgable. I have had bad luck with Atlantic British/British pacific.

Parts aren't as hard to find as you think, and there are plenty of nice chaps across the pond willing to ship.

I found rovers north yesterday and joined their forum. I haven't done a lot of research yet so I'm still very much on the learning curve with it.
 
That would make an awesome camping rig. I think you should dump tons and tons of money in it and make it really nice.

Believe it or not it would not take much to get it into 'camping mode'...especially since it already has the cabinets, sink, 3 burner stove, and fold out bed. Some of the wood work needs to be redone but it's all just flat panels. There used to be a fresh water tank in it but it was plastic and the years just ate it up.
It even has duel fuel tanks with a switch to change which tank it uses and a switch to tell the gauge which tank to read.
 
Believe it or not it would not take much to get it into 'camping mode'...especially since it already has the cabinets, sink, 3 burner stove, and fold out bed. Some of the wood work needs to be redone but it's all just flat panels. There used to be a fresh water tank in it but it was plastic and the years just ate it up.
It even has duel fuel tanks with a switch to change which tank it uses and a switch to tell the gauge which tank to read.

That's pretty awesome. Time to sell the tag-along.
 
Does the top come off of those things?

Yes...hell every panel on it is removable either by unbolting it or drilling out rivets...no welds or seam seals on the body at all.

The old man will for sure get a ride in it once it's up and running.
 
Cool story bro, no seriously I'm jealous of that find.
 
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