Series 3 Landy project hunt

[gav0994]

plenty of Landy guys and gals on here so thought I'd check here.

I'm looking for a series 3 swb for my next project. Any condition is acceptable as long as the chassis is reasonably solid. I've had one previously and regret to this day selling it.

Ideally looking for one in the South West Scotland area of Ayrshire and/or Dumfries and Galloway.

If any of you know of one in the above areas or even have one languishing at the bottom of the garden I'd be interested.

Plenty on EBAY and Gumtree etc but all at crazy prices.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

plenty of Landy guys and gals on here so thought I'd check here.

I'm looking for a series 3 swb for my next project. Any condition is acceptable as long as the chassis is reasonably solid. I've had one previously and regret to this day selling it.

Ideally looking for one in the South West Scotland area of Ayrshire and/or Dumfries and Galloway.

If any of you know of one in the above areas or even have one languishing at the bottom of the garden I'd be interested.

Plenty on EBAY and Gumtree etc but all at crazy prices.

I'm in the same basket at the mo and I'm afraid everything is at an obscene price now

 

[gav0994]

I'm in the same basket at the mo and I'm afraid everything is at an obscene price now

It's crazy mate! Came on a 1972 series 3 swb truck cab the other day fairly local. Good condition chassis and bulkhead bit shabby bodywork and had a poorly fitted 200tdi engine. No MOT and the guy wanted 3.5k for it. needless to say he still has it and will more than likely still have it this time next year.

I'm seriously open to any condition as long as it has fairly decent chassis and bulkhead. Fully prepared to do some welding on chassis and bulkhead though.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I just want a scruffy body to make a 100" defender pickup , no chamce

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I'm seriously open to any condition as long as it has fairly decent chassis and bulkhead. Fully prepared to do some welding on chassis and bulkhead though.

Not so important, now that we have our own expert at that sort of thing in @KimB . Ask her to do it for you......

The mad thing is, there's a Landie [not sure which Series as I'm not into them - might take a pic just out of interest] parked up on hard-standing not 100 yards from me. Been there for years, and last I heard [years ago] someone had approached the owner who flatly refused to countenance any offer for it......
In fact, I'm not sure if she's died in the interim........

 

[gav0994]

Not so important, now that we have our own expert at that sort of thing in @KimB . Ask her to do it for you......

The mad thing is, there's a Landie [not sure which Series as I'm not into them - might take a pic just out of interest] parked up on hard-standing not 100 yards from me. Been there for years, and last I heard [years ago] someone had approached the owner who flatly refused to countenance any offer for it......
In fact, I'm not sure if she's died in the interim........

It's mad. Some people have unrealistic ideas of what an old Land Rover is worth and flat out refuse to sell because "it's worth money". This attitude just results in a pile of rust with trees growing through it.

There's a 1992 defender 90 local to me. Galv chassis but very poor bodywork and rough engine. been off the road a year now since it failed it's MOT. Owner believes his son in law is going to travel back and forward from the south of France to restore it!

 

[winchman]

This is why I bought a Discovery, much better value and a better ride £1500 gets you a good one

 

[Maxakarudy]

When buying any classic, if the topline price is high, it drags the bottomline up too, you can't have it both ways unfortunately....

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I've never had a Series with a decent chassis and have always budgeted for a galv replacement - although they are now getting expensive. SIII always seem to rot worse than SII & SIIA.
With a LWB I wanted power steering so bought a brand new genuine chassis (they were being sold off cheap) with intention of modifying that and then having it galv'd. It was a shock to therefore find after I'd paint stripped the "factory" black paint to find it was covered in quite heavy rust. Seems they must have just painted them without any prep even if stood outside for ages !
After five Series, Defender, two Discovery and three Range Rover Classic now given up on the brand as fed up with the constant battle to keep up with repairs alloy corrosion and chassis rot !

 

[gav0994]

This is why I bought a Discovery, much better value and a better ride £1500 gets you a good one

I've had the Disco 1 nightmare already! daily drive is a Disco 3 - much nicer than anything I've ever driven!

The idea for the series 3 project is for something to Potter about in on days off to keep the mileage down on the D3.

 

[KimB]

Not so important, now that we have our own expert at that sort of thing in @KimB . Ask her to do it for you......

No way lol. I've got enough on my plate with my bloody one Haha.

I do love a series 2a though. i wouldn't mind building one but not for a while.

 

[winchman]

I've had the Disco 1 nightmare already! daily drive is a Disco 3 - much nicer than anything I've ever driven!

The idea for the series 3 project is for something to Potter about in on days off to keep the mileage down on the D3.

The key thing with a Disco is to either buy a rotten one cheap and repair it or buy one ready done, mine was rotten so box section sills, chassis patches and new rear cross member it stands me at about £1400 but shouldn't need welding for a few years.
My 20 odd year old Vitara had very little corrosion far less than any Land rovers I have owned

 

[gav0994]

The key thing with a Disco is to either buy a rotten one cheap and repair it or buy one ready done, mine was rotten so box section sills, chassis patches and new rear cross member it stands me at about £1400 but shouldn't need welding for a few years.
My 20 odd year old Vitara had very little corrosion far less than any Land rovers I have owned

I had the sills, front headlight boxes, boot floor and rear body crossmember all to do on mine. YRM got a good bit of money off me.

Great wagons to drive and as good as a defender off road if driven right. Had a D2 aswell but moved it on for the D3 when I got a pay rise 2 years ago

 

[ibrooks]

I just want a scruffy body to make a 100" defender pickup , no chamce

You have seen the Sahara from FourWD Engineering haven't you?

I was after a Series or maybe Defender last year and just couldn't justify the money. So I bought a V8 Discovery 1 instead for a fraction of the money. I had to spend a day putting a sill on it (box section) to put it through it's MOT. I've also replaced some central locking solenoids with £4.95 a time generic ones. I went mad and bought a replacement drivers seat because the diaphragm was split when I got it and I've replaced a rear light cluster. I'm not sure I want to spend the time it's likely to need on the body for it's next MOT (mounts to the rear crossmember look pretty crusty, though I'll put it in and see what it fails on) so I'm budgeting towards a Sahara kit to be fitted over the back end of the summer and hopefully back on the road by next winter. I have the facilities and have built a couple of kit-cars so I know what I'm getting into and know full well that might be stretched by nasties I find (or more likely if I get carried away with things).

Iain

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I'm still toying with the idea of selling my series 3...

I don't use it much, but insurance and mot costs me under £110/year and ved is free - it just seems a shame to not use it.

Thing is, I might get a few quid if I sold it but that would be gone in short order and I don't see that I'd ever be able to replace it if I wanted to

Wished I'd kept my first 1970 SWB SIIA - rebuilt on new galv chassis. Very little of original vehicle left by the time I'd replaced or overhauled everything. Only got rid because wanted a LWB to carry a demountable camper body that I had on a rotten Honda Acty pick-up.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

You have seen the Sahara from FourWD Engineering haven't you?

I was after a Series or maybe Defender last year and just couldn't justify the money. So I bought a V8 Discovery 1 instead for a fraction of the money. I had to spend a day putting a sill on it (box section) to put it through it's MOT. I've also replaced some central locking solenoids with £4.95 a time generic ones. I went mad and bought a replacement drivers seat because the diaphragm was split when I got it and I've replaced a rear light cluster. I'm not sure I want to spend the time it's likely to need on the body for it's next MOT (mounts to the rear crossmember look pretty crusty, though I'll put it in and see what it fails on) so I'm budgeting towards a Sahara kit to be fitted over the back end of the summer and hopefully back on the road by next winter. I have the facilities and have built a couple of kit-cars so I know what I'm getting into and know full well that might be stretched by nasties I find (or more likely if I get carried away with things).

Iain

That's my rough old girl

 

[armalites]

There are still bargains out there but there will always be a compromise. Bits missing,really rough or a long way away. It seems everyone wants an 88, 109s can often be cheaper and in many case they are a much more useful tool. The last 3 Series I have bought have all been £400 or under.

Some of them may look like stupid money but a galv chassis for a 109 is nearly £2k now so when you add that to all the other stuff you end up doing as part of a chassis swap a £3-4K Series isn't that bad and yes I know there many at twice that.

As with all things they are worth what someone is prepared to pay and it amuses me that people trying to buy a cheap one think they are being robbed. One of the ones I bought last I got because the original buyer really had no idea how bad a £300 Landrover that been sat in a field for 15 years was going to look

It's the way of the world and is often fueled by the "I wish I never sold it" ,"I learnt to drive in one","Could never afford one before" brigade.

When these things are cheap they get broken up, once if enough have been broken/scrapped then the price climbs, look at VW camper vans, I have one that I bought for £170 18 years ago, still havent got round to restoring it but it would probably do £2-4K on ebay, there isn't a bank out there where I could have got a return like that.

There was a running Series 3 109 sold on ebay at the weekend for £225 rotten chassis and missing a rear axle so the bargains are still out there.

I do have one that sort of fits the OPs bill but I'm 300+ miles away

 

[penfold]

I do have one that sort of fits the OPs bill but I'm 300+ miles away

That's just not a barrier anymore; with the likes of Shipley etc you can get things shifted for barely much more than the cost of the fuel. As long as it's rolling and steering to allow it to be winched onto a flatbed you can impulse buy to your heart's content and have it delivered to your door without doing anything more energetic than flexing your credit card.

 

[vw1]

I don't know a lot about them but I like the petrol 2a short wheel base model (Tax free I really want) , been looking on ebay for around a year now for a runner, last one I bid on went for just under 3 grand ..

 

[armalites]

In my opinion, smart money will be to buy a S3 unless you specifically want the metal dash. Many S3 will become tax exempt over the next few years, they have synchro on 1st and 2nd(double clutching seems cool and manly but that wears thin pretty quick especially after the first time you let someone else have a drive in it who did know how to do it) and will more likely have a 5 bearing crank although with the age of these things there is no guarantee that they will have the original parts.

If there are things like FWH(free wheeling hubs) or overdrive that you really desire then try and buy one with those fitted as buying them after can cost a fortune. Personally I don't think FWH make enough difference to make them essential. On a daily driver maybe but there is a school of thought they stop things moving/getting lubricated there is also the fact that the day you realise you need 4wd it will too late and you'll have to get out in the mud/snow and hope that they are not seized. That's just my opinion but people love them and they make £80-100 these days when they used to be £20

It's very easy to get hung up on tax exemption but the reality is it make £5 a week difference to onwership, many smokers spend double that every day. Even the newest S3 will be tax exempt in the next 7 years. Yes 7 years tax is a chunk of money but from what I've seen it affects the price of the vehicle almost enough to justify in many cases and the reality is many people who buy a Series Landrover as their first one won't keep it very long.