Tracing an importer

I,m wanting to trace my 109s history and have so fat found that it was imported into the UK at some point(the previous owner said 18 months ago but I wouldn,t trust a word he said after having the "good old Land Rover with no problems" for a while)
Can I find out who imported the old girl and where from?
There is evidence to say that it was originally assembled in Australia but I,m wondering why it would have ended up in the UK?
Says on the log book it was declared new at the point of importation too but a few things don,t quite add up

Are we talking about a yellow/mustard 109 with burgundy seat pads in the back? no floor in the tool box compartment and a full length roof rack?

if so i was led to believe it came into the country from south africa not australia and the bloke in sheffield who was selling it was telling a few porkys as he said it was his friends who lived down the road and he drove it back from south africa, but in a different conversation he told me he has to register it himself and get a vic check on it to get the age related plate, and told me when he got it it was green with mould and it took him months to get it up running and clean, seems to me as if it was a barn find as he was a car dealer and said he buys scrap cars all the time, when i went to buy it and agreed a price etc, he wouldnt let me drive it away because he told me he had lost the paperwork and i was to ring him the next day, spoke to him the next day to arrange collecting it he text me back 8 hours later saying hes sold it on ebay? i seen it advertised on gumtree not ebay so was a bit gutted, but went away thinking nothing added up!!!!

stange how he had it 12 months but had been in the country 18 months yet he registered it himself and took it for the mot and the current mot is the only one it has had in the uk so its sat in the uk for 18 months before being motd with no back brakes headlights that were tempramental and a rotten exhaust, i think dvla will be able to shed some light on this if you were to get in touch with them as the bloke who sold it hadnt a clue

is it still for sale or have u sold it now?

Thats the one mate.

It was definately assembled in Oz as it has a confirmation plate under the bonnet(assembled May 1981).But thats all I know.
I bought it from said chap who told me he was from Chesterfield off of e-bay and its interesting you telling me he is a dealer as at one point I was thinking of taking him through the small claims court for item not fit for purpose.
Since then I,ve sorted the brakes,fitted a new fan belt,serviced the engine/air filter,bought two used doors for her and generally tidied her up a lot.New exhaust will be on its way next week.The seat squabs are coming out of the back as she was built as a 3 seater.Also sold the roof rack as it whistled too much on the motorway Found out bits about her but I,m interested in finding more

You,re right mate he was a real billy liar.Loads wrong with it that I,ve sorted and am still sorting.Its definately been stood too as the algae on the roof stood testament to.

Having said that had an offer of £1200 on her last week so she isn,t that bad now.Would still swap for SWB even a petrol at the drop of a hat but thats because thats what I,m used to

He, said he buys cars for scrap and usually there ok lol, he had a granada that replicated a tank lol

he said he had it off his friends who drove it back from south africa and its only been here 18 months, he said its had one previous owner before him, that was his neighbour but it was only registered to him because he had a traders policy hhhmmmmm then he tells me he had to have it vic checked and a very intensive mot, then he had to apply for the v5c this may of been done when his friend had registered it in his name, he said hed had it 12 months and i couldnt take it away that night because hed sold another car the day before and given them the landy paperwork and i was to come back the next day we had agreed 800 quid because of the brakes, he told me where he had patched stuff and painted stuff and that he had that day cleaned the chassis down so i could see how good it was, the rh dumb iron had a repair what he claims had been done in south africa, but showed me all the places he had resprayed as he had the paint made up, and where he had started t cuting the roof on ome side, i was there for nearly 2 hours looking/driving it and was a bit gutted when he let me down, the clocks were out when i got there and the headlights didnt work, he also said the heater plugs were playing up, he was full of crap, so obviously he never bought it from his south african friend who drove it all the way home, and his mate who motd it obviously didnt go to specsavers, just a shame its a cool looking 109

Yeah ,she will tidy up just fine................eventually

Agree with the MOT mate.the bloke definately gave his guide dog the day off for that one and at first I was tempted to dob him in too but I,m not in a position to loose the old girl and end up with naff all.The seller was a cnut and lied about almost everything even down to the fact that on e-bay it was advertised as his wifes

She has had 4 owners since being registered in the UK and was registered as new.Assembley was in Oz but the possibility is that she was re-exported to somewhere else (looking like South Africa as they couldn,t sell her from a dealership in Oz.It was the time of the decline in the popularity of the 2,25 diesels in Australia).The old girl has then been imported back into the UK but I,m not 100% happy with the 18 month scenario and has been stood for long enough for algae/mould to begin to set in.

Found the chassis repair last night Looks like I,ll be needing a new dumb iron then.Lights and glow plugs are fine,just needed the crap cleaning off them and a bit of general TLC ( the headlights are the Wipac replacement ones with the plastic bowls).The old girl has a lot of little bits and pieces that make her quite special in the UK.Just needs the like putting back in them
Overall the chassis is very good,the rear tub needs tidying (new floor,dent taking out) ,the doors fitting, etc etc.
Will be staying here unless a SWB comes up for swaps

Got some lads in Oz assisting in the mystery and according to them at some point in its life the 109 has been in military use as the chassis numbers I gave them were used on Army land rovers around 1980/81

Interesting........:clap2:

Mint, glad your getting somewhere, if i hadnt just put parabolics and some big wheels on my swb petrol id of gladly had a deal ;-)

Might have a deal anyway dude but cheers anyhoo

Aussie ex-mil' landrovers are few and far between in the UK, i'm going to guess you've already registered on the AULRO to gain some information

i've a NZ ex-mil' 88" on a combat chassis and have spent two years (ish) looking for another i knew existed in this country, finally popped up under my nose on the S2C forum and then a few days later another appeared

there was quite a few oddities about the early Aussie trucks, here's a link for you to browse
Ref pics index -www.remlr.com

Cheers Nitemare

Its now looking like it never saw service,was "rejected" and sold on cheap in Oz