Buying Advice Please.

[chim_girl]

Can anyone give any advice about what should we buy? The main considerations are:-

1. It must be SWB, a LWB won't fit in the garage.
2. Landrover - not a Range Rover/Disco
3. Budget of ~£2000, either to buy or to spend less and use the balance to restore/repair.

We don't mind buying a 'project', so long as it is still driveable. In addition to trips to the garden centre etc we plan to use it to get to work when it is snowing. (About 20 minutes of A roads - not motorway thankfully!!!)

So far, I think our budget will get us a late Series 3 or an early 90/Defender. I could be talking complete tosh, I've been reading far too many adverts.

Can anyone offer any suggestions of either what to buy or what to avoid.

Thanks

[seaton]

For that sort of cash I would be looking at a Series Landy, Most 90's for that money are dogs and wouldnt touch one with a very long, long thing. I'd spend 1000 - 1500ish on a tax exempt 2.25 petrol Series two. but thats just my opinion

[crimsonchim]

chim_girl said:

Can anyone give any advice about what should we buy? The main considerations are:- 1. It must be SWB, a LWB won't fit in the garage.

You don't keep L/Rs in the garage, you keep them in the garden. Great for storage, garden shed on wheels!


I had a 110CSW 1989 turbo d with loads of toys which I sold for £2700 earlier this year, so you should be able to do better than a series if you're patient and look hard!

I bought it 3 years previously at less than I sold it for, so they're around somewhere!

Cheers,

Andy

[steve-p]

chim_girl said:

1. It must be SWB, a LWB won't fit in the garage.

You must have quite a small garage then. The width and length of a 110 is approximately the same as a 3 series BMW. It's just much taller (too tall for my garage, but a 90 would also be too tall).

[chim_girl]

steve-p said:

You must have quite a small garage then. The width and length of a 110 is approximately the same as a 3 series BMW. It's just much taller

Alas the BMW doesn't fit in the garage either, we have a standard sized garage but the back wall has shelving therefore reducing the length of vehicle we can get in there. Hmmmm, height, must say I hadn't considered that bit. Tape measure out as soon as it stops raining!

crimsonchim said:

You don't keep L/Rs in the garage, you keep them in the garden. Great for storage, garden shed on wheels!

Sounds like we may have to!

seaton said:

I'd spend 1000 - 1500ish on a tax exempt 2.25 petrol Series two. but thats just my opinion

For no particular reason, I hadn't considered a Series two, I'll expand my searches, thanks for the tip.

Is there anywhere I can get a price guide of some sort? Prices seem to vary more wildly than they do on TVR's!

I saw this is for sale for £850, any thoughts anyone....

S3 1982 swb hard top, petrol, fwh. galvernised chassis, stainless steel petrol tank, rear bench seats, seat belts, full 12 months m.o.t. good general condition, with tow equipment.

[chim_girl]

chim_girl said:

For no particular reason, I hadn't considered a Series two...

I think I've worked out why I subconsciously dismissed them, only S3 onwards have a synchromesh gearbox don't they? The thought of having to remember to double declutch doesn't really appeal.

[steve-p]

chim_girl said:

I think I've worked out why I subconsciously dismissed them, only S3 onwards have a synchromesh gearbox don't they? The thought of having to remember to double declutch doesn't really appeal.

Any that have had a gearbox replacement during their lifetime could have had the synchromesh box fitted, I should think.

[cpas]

If you see one, go and have a drive - you can always dismiss it then!

[seaton]

All Series 2 and most 2a's don't have syncro 1st to 2nd, Some of the last 2a's with the headlights in the wings but with a wiremesh grill will have syncro on all gears. A series 3 recon box would be around 350 but good second hand can be had for less, and the conversion is not hard. The series 2 boxes are genraly concidered stronger, im not so sure, but you soon get used to double de-clutching and it ads to the landy experiance in my opinion, I still do it in the Nissan sometimes, for some strange reason!

>> Edited by seaton on Thursday 15th July 17:05

[psimpson7]

If it says galvanised chassis make sure its a new one, they havent just had the old one done!

Pete