Interesting day at Gaydon Motor Museum.

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Wildthyme1

Member
Posts
10
Location
Telford, Shropshire, UK
So, the mystery deepens. Bought my Series 3 couple of months ago and am in the process of stripping it down to the chassis in order to POR15 the chassis and then repaint / rebuild the body back on to it.

The chassis number is 90114136A with an engine number of 11A50247. Yep, that's a V8 SD1 engine (according to the research on line).

Turns out she was built on 12/03/1975, sold to Hewitts in Walsall on the 14/03/1975 but was not first registered until 24/06/1976.

Interestingly, whilst the current colour is bronze green / cream, it was originally marine blue.

Concerned that she's had eleven previous owners and I will contact DVLA to see if I can get in touch with any of them.

So my questions ;
1. Does it seem 'unusual' to have a car made March 1975 and first registered June 1976?
2. Is there any way of finding out if this was originally fitted with the V8? Are there any telltale 'should have / should not haves?' I know LR did Stage1 110's later (1979) but I understand they did do some early prototypes? Would these have been sold to general public?

Finally, just got to mention Jan in the Heritage Centre Archives today. Want a lovey, helpful and kind lady. Set me on the journey now, just got to see where it leads......

Any advice, help or direction gratefully received.
 
Great, thank you. I'm trying to understand why the vehicle was made in March 1975. Dispatched in that March but not registerd with DVLA until June 1976. Just seems a little off. Lead times today are not even that long! Thanks again for your reply. All advise really appreciated.
 
Hi Wildthyme1, I work in the 'trade and although dealers don't like to have new vehicles sat around its not uncommon. One dealership I worked at had cars in stock unregistered for over a year, these would have been 12 model year cars but registered in 13/14.
We once had a 2001 model come in registered on a 53 plate, although this wouldn't happen now as land rovers can't be made quick enough. It really isn't any cause for concern although this is only my opinion
 
Got a similar thing on Mulberry - some of the searching I've done has turned up an earlier date than the V5 date of first reg, but its verily peculiar - not done via Gaydon but via the MOT history/DVLA websites and other odd websites I've happened across.
Currently awaiting the outcome of a V888 search with the DVLA.
 
Wildthyme1 said:
So, the mystery deepens. Bought my Series 3 couple of months ago and am in the process of stripping it down to the chassis in order to POR15 the chassis and then repaint / rebuild the body back on to it.

The chassis number is 90114136A with an engine number of 11A50247. Yep, that's a V8 SD1 engine (according to the research on line).

Turns out she was built on 12/03/1975, sold to Hewitts in Walsall on the 14/03/1975 but was not first registered until 24/06/1976.

Interestingly, whilst the current colour is bronze green / cream, it was originally marine blue.

Concerned that she's had eleven previous owners and I will contact DVLA to see if I can get in touch with any of them.

So my questions ;
1. Does it seem 'unusual' to have a car made March 1975 and first registered June 1976?
2. Is there any way of finding out if this was originally fitted with the V8? Are there any telltale 'should have / should not haves?' I know LR did Stage1 110's later (1979) but I understand they did do some early prototypes? Would these have been sold to general public?

Finally, just got to mention Jan in the Heritage Centre Archives today. Want a lovey, helpful and kind lady. Set me on the journey now, just got to see where it leads......

Any advice, help or direction gratefully received.
Click to expand...
it is very common for the made date and when 1st registered to have some time difference either on the factory shipping lot, or the dealers lot before they are sold
 
Wildthyme1 said:
Great, thank you. I'm trying to understand why the vehicle was made in March 1975. Dispatched in that March but not registerd with DVLA until June 1976. Just seems a little off. Lead times today are not even that long! Thanks again for your reply. All advise really appreciated.
Click to expand...
Lead times can easily be that long... plus vehicles can and do sit about. Before going to a dealers and once they get there. I really don't think it's that odd.

I can see researching this, that there might be an interest point of view in it, but tbh, I think you are rather fussing about nothing.

Old vehicles are likely to have had things done to them over the years, especially Land Rovers. Nobody will really be able to answer these questions, so why worry about it?

The vehicle is what it is. Just enjoy it :)
 
I had a friend who worked at Hewitts (Now long gone) they did keep a lot of stock and some utility things like yours would run on trade plates as demos.
Just because the V5C engine number is correct does not mean it came with it, I guess it is retro fitted. From memory SD1 engines where injected, all Land Rover V8s where on carbs.
Have you had a good look around the bulkhead to see if any cutting away has been done to get the V8 in ?
 
Mid 1970s also saw the oil crisis which could have put many buyers off a v8. Might even have been in the show room for a good few months.
Mine was manufactured in Nov 1980 but registered March 1981 - not as long a period as yours but still a fair while.
 
Like Joe says - for historic vehicle free tax, it's the build date. It's assumed to be the same year as first reg, unless it was first registered in the first week of January or you can prove otherwise...

Not unusual at all for cars to sit around in stock before these days of build-to-order and lean production. I once owned two Citroen CXs simultaneously. Both the same spec, except colour, there was just 150 chassis numbers between 'em. And nearly a year between the registration dates. One was registered within a fortnight of build, and was a special-order colour, the other was a more common colour, so must've just sat in stock unsold.
 
Mr knuckles said:
Hi Wildthyme1, I work in the 'trade and although dealers don't like to have new vehicles sat around its not uncommon. One dealership I worked at had cars in stock unregistered for over a year, these would have been 12 model year cars but registered in 13/14.
We once had a 2001 model come in registered on a 53 plate, although this wouldn't happen now as land rovers can't be made quick enough. It really isn't any cause for concern although this is only my opinion
Click to expand...
my father bought several new landrovers in the 70s and lead times were considerable
 
Mr knuckles said:
Hi Wildthyme1, I work in the 'trade and although dealers don't like to have new vehicles sat around its not uncommon. One dealership I worked at had cars in stock unregistered for over a year, these would have been 12 model year cars but registered in 13/14.
We once had a 2001 model come in registered on a 53 plate, although this wouldn't happen now as land rovers can't be made quick enough. It really isn't any cause for concern although this is only my opinion
Click to expand...
Your opinion sounds about right too! I grew up in a motor trade family in the 1970s and dealers were really struggling to shift stuff sometimes: Particularly if it was the mid 1970s and the vehicle was petrol - thirsty. A Land Rover would shift eventually because it was a useful vehicle but I remember cases of new V12 Jaguars which simply did not sell and in the end had to be moved on for a loss. These were hard times for the motor trade! Many people don't realise how different things were then: I can remember as a child visiting a business acquaintance of my father who was a Triumph dealer: He had a number of new Dolomites sat unsold; they hadn't even had number plates put on them yet and there were already rust spots around the wheelarches! Makes me realise what quality Land Rover were compared to other makes then.
 
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