Have I bought a Defender?

Good evening all,
So after several years of um’ing and Ah’ing I’ve finally gone for it and bought a 110 Double cab. However my question is this, what was the first year they made the double cab? Mine says 1988 on the V5 but I was under the impression they were first made as part of the ‘Defender’ range in 1990?
As always happy for any corrections or to be pointed in the direction of any useful reading material, and thanks in advance!

1991 was the start for the Defender..

Prior to that they were Ninety - One Ten

Welcome to the mad house.
Photos may help us

Hello and welcome

I don't know when they started doing double cabs but its not unusual for parts to be swapped about

Hicap phill said:

Welcome to the mad house.
Photos may help us

Click to expand...

Of course, I should have thought of that!
I guess what I’m wondering is has it always been a double cab, and if not how would I tell? Im sure it’s just me being a bit of a moron, but I was under the impression that the first Double cabs were made in 1990?

Within the chassis number there are references to what body type this was made as.
Have a search on the net.

it’s easy to convert a 4 door to a double cab. You change roof

nice motor

Excellent, thanks very much!
I’m now off to crawl around in the mud and find my chassis number!

Pleasing on the eye, but less pleasing on the bank balance I’m already finding!

No need to crawl round. Hopefully it’s on top by your brake servo under the bonnet

Hicap phill said:

No need to crawl round. Hopefully it’s on top by your brake servo under the bonnet

Click to expand...

Glad I checked again before heading out, that makes it a lot easier!

Where’s_That? said:

Of course, I should have thought of that!
I guess what I’m wondering is has it always been a double cab, and if not how would I tell? Im sure it’s just me being a bit of a moron, but I was under the impression that the first Double cabs were made in 1990?

Click to expand...

The pic isn't very big, but at a glance I am not seeing much on that which would be original to a 1988 One Ten.
And plenty of parts that weren't even made by Land Rover.

I’ve looked up the chassis number and discovered that it wasn’t originally a Double cab.
letter 7 of the chassis number is ‘A’ which indicates it left the factory as ‘Truck cab, Soft top or hard top (Utility Body)’ or possibly a hi-cap as some had the A prefix also.
Many thanks all, this answers the question but now begins the tricky part of working out which parts belong to which bodies!!

Where’s_That? said:

I’ve looked up the chassis number and discovered that it wasn’t originally a Double cab.
letter 7 of the chassis number is ‘A’ which indicates it left the factory as ‘Truck cab, Soft top or hard top (Utility Body)’ or possibly a hi-cap as some had the A prefix also.
Many thanks all, this answers the question but now begins the tricky part of working out which parts belong to which bodies!!

Click to expand...

So long as it works, and you like it, it doesn't really matter. Most old Land Rovers are bitsas to some extent, and the bodies are pretty much interchangeable. It will be worth finding out what engine you have got, and making sure the right number is on the docs, and for ordering parts.

But most problems with originality occur when people want to apply for historic vehicle status, and you are almost 10 years away from that.

Welcome to the forum

That’s not a defender, technically a one ten

but everyone will call it a defender anyway!