Over the road from me is a SWB Landrover old W reg. Looks generally good , hard roof , good tyres, MOT uill April. Would £1k be a good price and what should I look for????

there are guides on the web but the chassis and bulkhead, both parts that can decay badly should be prodded with a blunt object.

then engine, gearbox and running gear.

body work is aluminium so will last a fair while.

it is hard to say from the description what it is worth.

[Edited on 18/8/09 by 02GF74]

If it's the old petrol engine in it budget for about 12mpg when you buy it. They are infinitely repairable though.

I've had 4 and every one needed huge amounts of chassis and bulkhead repairs. My last next door neighbors 90 also needed masses of work, oh what merry fun that wasn't . Tbh the build quality is rubbish as is standard rust protection. If I was going to buy another (which I wouldn’t) I would not buy one that did not have a galvanized replacement chassis. If its been coated in underseal, treat it as though it’s a rusty wreak and they’re trying to hide the fact.

Mechanically their quite straight forward but gearboxes etc don’t last any longer than a standard car (100k and it will be noisy and clunky) and to fix the gearbox is not fun. Everything is also very heavy, even a change of tyres all round is hard work. Front axle swivel seals are very prone to leaking, so either are not filled with oil, or some people even use grease on the wheel bearings instead, which is not a good idea. You can buy rubber boots to go over the joints which I used but it’s a lot of work to fit. Also check the propshafts, their always knackered and vibrate madly.

Oh don’t roll them on the roof, its like squashing a tin can, if your going off road fit a roll bar or you’ll be getting cut out of it.



[Edited on 18/8/09 by Mr Whippy]

if i remember my higher chemistry rightly, the reason the ali body looks fine is because it steals electrons from the steel chassis, turning the chassis to steel oxide (or iron oxide?) ie rust. not a well thought design, but checked carefully, i'd love one myself

it was a deliberate design descision, after the war steel was in short supply but aluminium was plentiful

As for bad design, I would disagree - I'll bet ya despite the steel chassis, there are more Series Land Rovers on the road today than any other make/model of car from the same years, perhaps even combined.