When did Defenders cease to be made in Britain?

Someones comment on another thread got me thinking.

The basic jist of the guys comment was that unless you drive a series landrover your machine isn't British. All others after them are toy-boxes etc

This, to me, is utter ****e and unless I'm mistaken defenders are more than British to the level of the series ones.

Yet I digress, is it only recently (the past 10 years or so) that defenders where moved overseas to be manufactured?

Surely the proof of the pudding is in the place of origin?

tell them to feck off for **** stir ****'s santana made series under licence and now there is an santana ps10 ? iveco mastif.
bottom line is does it matter-answer nope

Doesn't it tell ye on yer VIN plate? The furst few letters tell you where it was made etc ah'm sure. There's a web page somewheres tellin' ye what the letters mean but can't think of it off the top of me head.

They are ALL made in Solihull - except Freelanders that are made in Liverpool and China (they don't count anyway).

Who said they aren't and where?

First thing, all the chassis no.s have Solihull as the plant, look on google earth, there must be about 1000000 of them in rows in the car park right next to the HUGE warehouse there they are made.

bustersbus said:

Doesn't it tell ye on yer VIN plate? The furst few letters tell you where it was made etc ah'm sure. There's a web page somewheres tellin' ye what the letters mean but can't think of it off the top of me head.

Click to expand...

Think I posted it the other day on some other thread, hgon I will look at it.

Right say you get SALLDRA77TA as the first part of your VIN (not mine by the way just made it up from my sheet).

That would say, SAL = LR
LD = Defender
R = 100 24Volt
A = Commercial
7 = 2.5TDI
7 = Man 5speed RHD
T = 1996
A = SOLIHULL

Then a serial no. and a check sum figure at the end, which means in theory if you run a calculation on the figures at the end the check sum should always match (good way to see if it a real no. not just someone stamping there own on blanks).

OK a quick aerial sweep came up with these photos.

Oh, notice how the chassis live outside, thats why they RUST so quickly!

Some Discos, Defenders and Rangys there.

From 1948 to the early eighties, Land Rover used for their cars chassis numbers of their own format. These formats are described in the table below. Since 1980 Land Rover deploys the standard 17-character Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), complying with international standards.

Car details can be derived (decoded, calculated) from the chassis numbers and the VIN. Typically, the model (Defender, Discovery, Range Rover, Freelander), model type (station wagon, three/four door, etc), wheel base (90 inch, 100 inch, 110 inch, etc), engine, LHD/RHD, gearbox, and model year is included in the VIN.

[edit] Chassis number formats over the years
Description Format
17-characters, International VIN, 1980-later SALL.............
17-characters, Int. VIN for LR do Brazil 93R..............
17-characters, Int. VIN for AAD, 1985-1995 AAD..............
17-characters, US/Canada VIN, 1987-later .................

14-characters: is actually the 17-char
VIN missing the SAL bit

9-character numbers, 1955 17.6.....
9-character numbers, 1956 to 1961 1........
9-character numbers, 1950 L........ or R........
9-character numbers, 1962 to 1979 .........

8-character numbers, 1948 to 1949 .8......
8-character numbers, 1950 to 1953 .6......
8-character numbers, 1954 to 1955 .7......

7-character numbers, 1948 to 1949 .......
6-character numbers, ???? prototypes 110F..
3-character numbers, 1948 prototypes R.. or L..