Driving without doors

I seem to faintly remember a few years ago seeing a old soft top series land rover during the summer with the tilt removed and the whole door taken off, after speaking to the owner he said it was legal so long as a strap was put across the opening, can anyone shed some light on this? as I hoping to restore a 88" Series 3 and thought it would be pretty amazing to drive long with the top down and the doors off

Many thanks in advance!
Callum

No you can't. On early series the doors were lift off and so not part of the vehicle. S3 use bolt on hinges - different thing.

please go to gaylander forum they know all about driving with no doors

Just a different thought: How would they see if it has detachable doors if you remove the hinges at the bulkhead?
And what would be the fine?

On the S3 you remove the door tops, not the whole door

you can take the doors off if ya want. After all LD sherpas had sliding doors, wranglers etc.Or arial atom.dont have any body work

When I had my lightwieght, I used to drive around without the doors and hood on all the time in the summer, never ever got stopped by plod.

goonarmy said:

you can take the doors off if ya want. After all LD sherpas had sliding doors, wranglers etc.Or arial atom.dont have any body work

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No you cant, let me explain construction and use regulations....

series 2 &3 were designed with FIXED door bottoms so it is illegal to drive without and your insurance will almost certainly invalidate you

Series 1 and lightweight are designed with removable doors... ie they drop on pins and are designed to be removed during use... therefore legal to do as per construction and use regs, I have owned both and use my lightweight doors off all the time

aerial etc are designed as such , approved and legal

Series 2, 3 and fender not legal not designed to be removed in use

Dont know how the gaylander drivers get around this... maybe it is classed as a design issue

Cheers Steve

later wranglers have the hinges bolted for uk and europe, even though it is possible to remove the bolts and have no doors its not legal.

ebbadger said:

No you cant, let me explain construction and use regulations....

series 2 &3 were designed with FIXED door bottoms so it is illegal to drive without and your insurance will almost certainly invalidate you

Series 1 and lightweight are designed with removable doors... ie they drop on pins and are designed to be removed during use... therefore legal to do as per construction and use regs, I have owned both and use my lightweight doors off all the time

aerial etc are designed as such , approved and legal

Series 2, 3 and fender not legal not designed to be removed in use

Dont know how the gaylander drivers get around this... maybe it is classed as a design issue

Cheers Steve

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so wot about sherpas and the atoms then?

So you need to get a lightweight. If you are going for a series 3 anyway but better looking

Last year i asked the same question, was it legal or not, answers were yes/no as they are now and no one could provide documented proof that it was illegal.

Driving a landy with no doors isn't going to be the same as someone in a ford focus doing something similar though, i guess it looks natural without a roof on as well.

Military vehicles didn't have to have doors on for road use, not sure if they were/still are exempt, if there is a law to exempt them in the first place.

Badger said:

Last year i asked the same question, was it legal or not, answers were yes/no as they are now and no one could provide documented proof that it was illegal.

Driving a landy with no doors isn't going to be the same as someone in a ford focus doing something similar though, i guess it looks natural without a roof on as well.

Military vehicles didn't have to have doors on for road use, not sure if they were/still are exempt, if there is a law to exempt them in the first place.

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Havent heard of plod stopping army

goonarmy said:

so wot about sherpas and the atoms then?

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did you read my post??

apologies I put the aerial etc was designed as such and legal... its an aerial atom BTW

Sherpas again are legal although somewhere the line doors open on local deliverys permitted with frequent stops.... hence the reason milkmen dont need to wear seat belts again due to the frequent stop / delivery ruling

Cheers Steve

Badger said:

Driving a landy with no doors isn't going to be the same as someone in a ford focus doing something similar though, i guess it looks natural without a roof on as well.

Military vehicles didn't have to have doors on for road use, not sure if they were/still are exempt, if there is a law to exempt them in the first place.

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point a.... its exactly the same as taking the doors off your focus.. illegal as it was not designed... read up on construction and use regs

point b..... military vehicles do need doors if designed as such (by the way ive been in 22 years with 2 to push) certain variants were DESIGNED to be used sans doors and if so this is legal.. military series 2 &3 were not with the exception of the pinky & lightweight & a few rarities... yes I was in when we were still using them

Cheers Steve

what about wmink?

and a simple option would be just ask landrover to provide you with copies of the series 2 or 3 type approval documentation where they were submitted and passed without doors..

then give a copy of this to your insurance as proof the manafacturer intended use of the model in question without doors and you're covered

Bet they were never type approved for use as such... lightweight was, also trialled and approved with no upper bodywork on rear and no screen or bulkhead top panel

Cheers Steve

bigsi13 said:

what about wmink?

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circles here i think.....

as stated very clearly... certain variants were built to be used sans doors

... ie WMIK , APGP, lightweight etc

assume a wmink is a cute fluffy landrover hunted for its pelt

Cheers Steve

sorry mate been editing posts all day cos the nipper damaged the keyboard last night "wmik" but yes you're right "circles" plus the mod pretty much do what they want anyway i presume.

ebbadger said:

point a.... its exactly the same as taking the doors off your focus.. illegal as it was not designed... read up on construction and use regs

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I have, there's nothing listed to do with doors or states within the bodywork of the vehicle that doors have to be fitted.

On further google searches, 2 items came to my attention, 1 was a reply about the same question on another forum, in it a member had received an email from Vosa stating that nothing in the C&U states that doors have to be fitted, i'll leave it to you to decide on the validification of that...

The other was actually from a police forum ( special constable section ) where a member asked the same thing, from the replies given, it is a grey area, there isn't anything within the C&U specifying that doors have to be fitted, but there are other areas that could relate to it, ie, you have to have mirrors fitted and they're attached to the doors....( although we had a mod in the army that allowed the mirrors to be mounted to the bulkhead ).

construction and use regulations 1986 - PoliceSpecials.com Forum

There is no definitive answer.....