Most useful four wheeled vehicle.

My vote goes for the Unimog as well - 4 wheel, 6 wheel, armoured, unarmoured, small, medium, large; that's a lot of variants!
 
I must admit I have a soft spot for the various types of Land Rovers. I agree totally that the Unimog is the better vehicle, I'd still vote for the Land Rover.
 
I can say from observation, at least from experiance from a "mislallocated" 1963 Landrover in possession of friend of mine.

That Rovers equipped with a Maritime stero system and Montley Crue greatest hits album and an abandoned sand pit can demostrate one of the high points of Western Engineering as far as I am concerned.

It's like the E Type of offroad vehicles at the time, it's timeless, military or civilian models.
 
I can say from observation, at least from experiance from a "mislallocated" 1963 Landrover in possession of friend of mine.

That Rovers equipped with a Maritime stero system and Montley Crue greatest hits album and an abandoned sand pit can demostrate one of the high points of Western Engineering as far as I am concerned.

It's like the E Type of offroad vehicles at the time, it's timeless, military or civilian models.

Is it Petrol or Diesel, 88 or 109?
 
Old ll A Series with the Deisel, 2.25 liters I believe? Can't really name it off the top of my head, old 4 Speed, said he bought from a guy who lived in Canada years ago.

Same wheel base on it as the normal ll series I think, had minor rust on it, he painted it tan with a paint roller, put it in low and it will roll over anything, he doesn't have it registered for road use, but it's quite the play toy to throw on the trailer and take it to a game pen for the weekend.

I am pretty sure it's not one of the North American models with the steering wheel being on the Right side... Hence why I never drive the thing, can't really shift with my left hand.
 
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The old series 11A did have a 2.25 litre engine, in both diesel and petrol. The 4 speed box were only syncromesh on 3rd and 4th, leading to a lot of crunching is drivers didn't double de clutch going from 1st to 2nd. They were a good reliable vehicle but as far as creature comforts, forget it. Heaters were in the beginning optional extra's!

I cut my teeth on the series 11 and 11A as a 17 year old in the RAF, I loved them and still do. I drove a 2.25 diesel in Malta, it was horrendously slow.

BTW, 109 is a long wheel base, 88 is the short wheel base.

As a matter of interest, when the British Army were disposing of their Austin Champs and buying series 1 Land Rovers, the engine from the Austin was fitted, a 2.8 litre Rolls Royce. It was too fast for its own good, 80 mph on drum brakes and skinny tyres. The original 1.6 litre was bought instead.

Needless to say, the Land Rover with the Rolls engine are very sought after, and worth a small fortune
 
I can't really claim to be an expert, but as for creature comfort you are really spot on there.

The home renovated example I spent many weekend jolting around the back of is a real purpose built machine.

But all the stuff you can carry with you, inner tubes coolers, stereo equiptment.

Really brings appreciation to have such a vehicle on hand when venturing out to nowhere.
 
One day I was moving all the vehicles out of the garage so the guys could sweep it out. One of the wreckers a Leyland Martian with an 8 cylinder in line Rolls Royce Petrol wouldn't start due to a flat battery. I grabbed the first set of keys from the office and when I got to the garage I had found I had picked up Land Rover keys. I hitched a tow bar to the front of the Leyland and the other end to the Land Rover and told a driver/private to drop the clutch in second gear in the Leyland as soon as we were rolling. I put the Land Rover into low range and started the drop the clutch, it groaned a little bit but she got the Leyland moving, all 20+ plus tons of it. The driver dropped the clutch in the Leyland and she roared into life. A REME Staff Sergeant came roaring out of his officer and told me emphatically that Land Rovers are not made to tow Leyland wreckers and that I should have used a Bedford 4 tonner instead. I shrugged and said, "Well she did it Staff."

We didn't simply use Land Rovers, we abused them, and they still came back for more.
 
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