Series III, worth buying?

@J80s I don't know how far they'd travelled to get there but me and Danny saw these today in mid Wales and if they can do that I'm sure you can handle a commute

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/how-i-justify-my-defender.306120/page-3

Yes they certainly seem capable as hell. I've literally no experience of them in cities but sounds like should be okay. Will be mostly level driving and the odd traffic jam. Then the mountains etc on the weekends. Any concerns I had were not so much to do with Land Rovers but just older vehicles in general- I've memories of trying to get our childhood cars going on a cold morning with little luck versus newer cars starting straight away always. This sort of thing doesn't matter much if you're just heading up the mountains or moving some gear but does on a Monday morning going to work.

The one thing that has come on leaps and bounds since then though is battery technology

Fuel, good glow plugs, quality battery and compression is all you'll need. My tdi doesn't even need glow plugs

My series is diesel and I have no problems on hills. I am rarely late enough to warrant more than 30 and it sounds like its attempting a hyperspace jump over 40 so perfect for pottering around in. I took it to the lake district (on the back roads) a few months ago and had no problems at all. I find most other road users back off when they see how old it is..

Great, sounds like it should work well for the types of roads I have in mind. Is the clearance okay for car parks do you find, I think most smaller ones have a restriction of about 2 metres- what would the max height of a series iii without a roof rack be?

Bobsticle said:

My series is diesel and I have no problems on hills. I am rarely late enough to warrant more than 30 and it sounds like its attempting a hyperspace jump over 40 so perfect for pottering around in. I took it to the lake district (on the back roads) a few months ago and had no problems at all. I find most other road users back off when they see how old it is..

Click to expand...

Is that so they can swerve out of the way of any bits falling off

J80s said:

Great, sounds like it should work well for the types of roads I have in mind. Is the clearance okay for car parks do you find, I think most smaller ones have a restriction of about 2 metres- what would the max height of a series iii without a roof rack be?

Click to expand...

Mine goes under the local tip barrier and the Metro car park. Thats with the slightly larger defender wheels on and parabolic springs so its a few inches taller than standard.

Could it also have an overdrive gearbox? If so it'll make the commute quieter and cheaper

Book height is around 2.1-2.2m. Some height barriers are very close but I just clear them, usually multi-storeys are too low.

Have you driven it?
When I sold mine I had a very enthusiastic man who had never owned one, he drove for 3 hours to view but didn't like the noise / ride ( I did tell him!).
Its old technology and will do all the things you want to do, keep on top of any rust and it should last for ever, bits are easy and cheap, its simple to fix.
If you buy it and don't like it after a few months you should be able to get about what you paid for it.
I sold my 1974 series for double what I paid as whilst it looked great a Disco more suited our needs.

Going to see this tomorrow. The seller is offering a spare engine and gear box with it, though says the ones in it are good. What do you think? Is it worth having spares or does that make any sense, particularly as I'm not set up as a garage? Also there's 66k miles on the clock, that about right for a 1970s series iii?

Spares are worth having as you never know when or if you would need them. I sold my 80s camper a few years ago and the deal clincher was the spares I had.

Its always handy to have spare parts, or if the worst should happen you can refurbish the spare and drop ( or have it dropped) in

My 1974 series 'says' 35,000 miles. I'd really like to believe it. 66,000 would be really good.

I bought it! Thanks everyone for the advice, much appreciated.

QUOTE="J80s, post: 3849166, member: 133187"]I bought it! Thanks everyone for the advice, much appreciated.[/QUOTE]
Brilliant! Well done. Now the fun really starts.
Get loads of photos on here as soon as you can. I will look forward to seeing how you get on. Good luck.

Congratulations. My 1974 Series 3 has about 37000 on the clock but I assume that's the mileage on its second engine fitted from Turner in 1999. Goodness knows its actual total

I see there are only 5 places on the mile counter- what happens when it reaches 99999- does it keep counting from zero or freeze at that point? Anyone seen this?

It starts all over again.

You may need a new arse by then.

If it has started all over again the numbers tend to be offset a little higher if I recall correctly.