Friday 3 April 2015

LAND ROVER series 2a IIa 1965 tax exempt full MOT - Oswestry, United Kingdom




Sellers Comments

Welcome to the auction for my 1965 2 ¼ petrol engined Series IIa Land Rover.

I've owned this vehicle for 8 years, having bought it from the estate of a local gentleman when he fell ill. I loved the idea of a simple tax-exempt vehicle. At the time we had a 110 & I thought this would be a nice change. Unfortunately, the family found it way too agricultural for daily use & I was forced to get a classic Range Rover instead. I kept this because I like it, but never put it on the road. Now my 18 year old son is buying a car & I need the room in the garage, so the Land Rover has to go. There have been 3 previous owners.

The engine starts nicely & runs quietly. It doesn't: smoke, rattle or bang & there are no significant oil leaks. All the gears are there & high/low ratio selects properly. The clutch bites a little high on the pedal travel but doesn't slip & the car has never jumped out of gear. The Webber carb conversion & the free-wheel hubs work well. The car has an MOT until March 2016, for which it needed a new O/S/F wheel cylinder (old unit was sticking on slightly), but there are no advisories. The V5 (on which the car shows as an historic vehicle) is in my name, at my address & the car is currently on a SORN. The mileage shows 27310, for what that's worth.

There is welding on: the rear of the chassis, the outriggers, the foot wells & the door tops. The sliding windows are stuck shut. The “elephant hide” (not really!) seats are in poor nick & the driver & passenger cushions have holes that have been patched with duct tape.

The pictures make the car look better than it is. The N/S/R “ear” on the chassis has been pushed forward maybe 1/2” & there are little bumps & dings all over. There are brush marks visible in the paint, particularly on the bonnet. The best I can say is that it's pretty much all one colour & has a reasonable shine. It needs two new bolt-on splash guards fitting to the front wings, behind the tyres, and they come supplied, in primer.

The canvas roof is thin & there are a few holes over the driver's seating position. The largest of these is about 1” across. I never had it fitted, since I only used the car for a few days each summer, bringing hay in off the field & carting hedge cuttings to the bonfire. I've put the hood on just for the photos; not all the straps are tightened down & one of the rear ones is detached.
The battery is my old spare out of the 110. It turns the motor over briskly & the ammeter shows it's charging, but I couldn't answer for it's ability to hold that charge.

I like the style & look of the sand tyres, but they are past their sell-by date; there are various cracks in the rubber & one is very low in tread. I have a set of good 750r16s, on rims, that would go straight on. I would have fitted these if I had chosen to put the vehicle on the road. The winning bidder can have first refusal on the set for £100.

I lost interest in Land Rover once they quit using the Tdi motor. I know nothing about the modern ones, but, as far as I am concerned, the old ones are all projects, whether rolling or not, and this one is no different. It's a half-century old, for heaven's sake! It comes from a time before: ABS, child seats, air bags, cat converters, radial tyres or power steering. The suspension is crude, the drum brakes are adequate at best & safety features are non-existent. I haven't done more than a few dozens of miles in this for all the years that I've had it & wouldn't attempt a journey of any length without a comprehensive tool kit & a selection of spare parts. We're talking a positive earth vehicle running a dynamo & a mechanical voltage regulator, all held together with 50 year old wiring, so you'd best be handy with a multi-meter, is my advice. If you're going to be surprised by one or more of: the comedy wipers, the foot-operated dim/dip, the independently switched reversing lights, the ludicrous “heater” or the manual choke, then this probably isn't for you.

I urge anybody interested to come & see the vehicle, or at the very least, get in touch. I'll cancel bids from any one with fewer than 10 feedback entries. I'm selling this in an auction with absolutely no warranty given, implied or in any other way expressed, so be sure you know what you're getting into. I expect payment in cash on collection & there will be no haggling after the hammer falls.