Which pre 1985 Land Rover to buy?

Well I decided to fulfil a long time ambition and become a Land Rover owner.
I have not bought one yet since I can’t make up my mind which Land Rover to buy!
There a few criteria the Land Rover I am looking for must meet :

Since I live in The Netherlands it really needs to be pre 1985.
Road tax is based on an incremental weight scale and a 2000 Kg Land Rover will cost between 1100 and 1800 Pounds per year in road tax alone.

Petrol is about 1100, LPG about 1400 and diesel a whopping 1800 Pounds. Vehicles older then 25 years are exempt from road tax over here.

Other must-haves:

- Suitable for light / mild off-road and green laning
- Be able to do at least 60 mph.
- A back seat for a child seat (or passengers)
- Plenty of space for a proper holiday in North Wales (I inspect campsites for Europe’s biggest campsite guide)

After doing a lot of reading and talking to people I have the following dilemma’s.
1) Diesel / LPG / Petrol?
2) Automatic (It does exist, but do I want it?)
3) Power steering (It does exist, but do I want it?)
4) 110 [Lots of space] / Range Rover [modern / luxurious]
5) preferably a LHD, but RHD are cheaper
6) Will there be trouble importing a UK Frankenstein Landy (a 1995 body with airbag / abs on a 1972 chassis)?
7) Rust, faulty engines, known issues with > 25 year old Landies?

I hope the combined brains of this forum can help me achieve this dream.

A good 110 SW might be best. The diesels are abit gutless from that era, and they dont esactly get better after 25 years of use, youll be lucky to get a strong 60 from any of them in a 110. People will disagree with this, they are wrong. The V8 will do 60, easy, but petrol and maintinance are costly. There is a 2.5 TD engine (19J), i cant remember esacly what year it came in, mine was a 1987, if you get a very good one they are bearable, will do 65 perhaps. Theres also a 2.5 petrol, its preaty rare by comparison, but could be a good compromise. If i had to own a 110 with a pre 1985 engine i would go for a V8 though.

I dont know much about Range Rovers, there was definitly a V8 at the time, duno if there was anything else. Point worth noting is that the Land Rover has alluminium pannels and the RR has steel, Land Rover bodys are never realy a worry, they out live the rest of it. RR bodys at 25 years old are likely to be rotton. Chassis will both rot the same. Both will do green lanes. RR will come in auto, 110 will not (as standard). Both got PAS (so long as the 110 doesent have half doors). You can LPG convert the V8s in eather if you wish, but your better off just paying abit more for petrol.

Id go for a 1985 110 SW V8, with a good chassis and bulk head. The rest is more easily fixable.

Thanks for the reply.

It is good to know Power steering is standard on most 110's.

I will look in to the V8 more closely, can anyone give me an estimate on fuel economy? 4 mpg?

jhu, i import rhd land rovers into denmark from the uk...pm me if you want a chat...

on a series 3 you will get bout 10-15mpg not bad rearlly

storm99 said:

jhu, i import rhd land rovers into denmark from the uk...pm me if you want a chat...

Click to expand...

I saw your msn address, I will add you in a moment.

Thnx.

woods767 said:

A good 110 SW might be best. The diesels are abit gutless from that era, and they dont esactly get better after 25 years of use, youll be lucky to get a strong 60 from any of them in a 110. People will disagree with this, they are wrong. The V8 will do 60, easy, but petrol and maintinance are costly. There is a 2.5 TD engine (19J), i cant remember esacly what year it came in, mine was a 1987, if you get a very good one they are bearable, will do 65 perhaps. Theres also a 2.5 petrol, its preaty rare by comparison, but could be a good compromise. If i had to own a 110 with a pre 1985 engine i would go for a V8 though.

I dont know much about Range Rovers, there was definitly a V8 at the time, duno if there was anything else. Point worth noting is that the Land Rover has alluminium pannels and the RR has steel, Land Rover bodys are never realy a worry, they out live the rest of it. RR bodys at 25 years old are likely to be rotton. Chassis will both rot the same. Both will do green lanes. RR will come in auto, 110 will not (as standard). Both got PAS (so long as the 110 doesent have half doors). You can LPG convert the V8s in eather if you wish, but your better off just paying abit more for petrol.

Id go for a 1985 110 SW V8, with a good chassis and bulk head. The rest is more easily fixable.

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Not necessarily, if your lucky a good one will, but it's probabaly not the norm

I'm sure it was post 85

RR bodies were still largely aluminium, but did have far more steel than Land Rovers, particular sill & wheel arches.

PAS didn't become standard in the 110 till long after 85, although I suspect most Station Wagons would have it

Given all you've said I'd be looking for an LPG converted RR, or a pre 1982 one. A good one will take a lot of finding, but they do exist!

get an old range V8

Okay, so an LPG V8 Range Rover seems like a good bet.

Now the question is where to get one, any suggestions for reliable Landies?

wot BoB sed

For the love of god...get a v8 defender. Full stop.




If anyone asks why then they will get a damn good slap.

Depends what you want. I a friend I havent seen for some years in Den Helder imported an old series III ambulance and he came over here looking for chassis. Depending on the rules and regs over there I would probably go for an older 110 diesel and then look into a TDI conversion. Yes V8 is nice but I like the diesels TBH. The problem I believe is that in Holland it must have the original chassis with chassis no. Most of that age are shot or well on their way to being shot. I may be wrong with the Dutch regs. When Victor was looking for Chassis over here he could't find one that had a valid chassis no I don't think. Jai

Aha...then you do what i did which is re-stamp the chassis number on the appropriate part of the chassis...not sure this is legal (well i know its not) but thats what the mot man told me to do so i came back an hour later with the new magic number on....

Rules are quite strict over here and a proper and original chassis number stamped on the right location is required to get the car certified.

I think it is just weird that a perfectly legal car with a UK MOT can be 'illegal' in the Netherlands. Hello, this is still a European car!