Sellers Comments
A very rare example of an original Series 3 station wagon
that is in a very original and useable condition ready to drive away.
This belonged to the Lancashire Fire Service I believe from
new and was discharged from service in 1998, it still has it's original call
sign and switch gear for the addition lights on the dashboard.
From what we can see it looks to be completely original, the
only negative is that somebody has added chequer plate to both of the wing
tops. Although the paint has faded in places the overall body condition is
actually very good, good original Series 3 body panels are getting rare, the
bonnet for example is still very useable and would be good enough to restore
back to as new condition without too much work. The split tailgate is also very
good along with all of the doors, we have repaired the bottoms of the
foot-wells and freshly painted all of the interior with black Hammerite to
protect it for the future. The chassis is original and although it has been
repaired over the years it is still very usable and it has regularly benefited
from being Waxyoiled throughout it's life preserving it's condition.
The original steel wheels are all fitted with a mixture of
BF Goodrich off-road tyres with good tread.
I am confident that this Series is running with the later
five main bearing engine as it just sneaks in at the beginning of the
changeover, the engine is very smooth and the gearbox changes through all of
the gears as it should although it can be a little noisy in reverse, to be fair
not that different to our fully rebuilt Series 3 that we will also have up for
sale shortly.
The brakes also work as they should although can be a little
squeaky at times.
We have just had a fresh MOT put on her and it will be
serviced before being sold.
We also have MOTS going back to 1996 with a fair amount of
receipts for work done over the years and two sets of keys with 8 former
keepers showing on the V5. With have a document from Lancashire Fire Service
showing that the speedo was changed at 27626 and the new speedo is now showing
26150 so what we believe to be a genuine 53k miles or so.
This would make an ideal first Land Rover for somebody who
wants to learn about these collectable vehicles, the Series 3 is full of character
and charm and benefits from a few creature comforts such as a working heater,
three front seats with seat belts, rear bench seats and a more conventional
style dashboard unlike the older series Land Rovers. The four cylinder petrol
engine is very reliable and actually very quite unlike the diesel which is very
very slow and incredibly noisy even by Land Rover standards, it's not to bad on
fuel either averaging around 20-24 MPG.
In summary this is a very original Series 3 with an
interesting history that is in good enough condition to be used and enjoyed
weekly and would make an excellent rolling restoration project as fundamentally
it is all there with no difficult to source parts missing and is ready to drive
away.
