Interesting old Disco

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DiscoRay

DiscoRay

Active Member
Posts
111
Location
Essex
Hi all, stumbled on something that got me scratching my head, maybe some of you chaps could throw some light on it.

https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/24731769

Correct me if I'm wrong but when checking the vin it seems to be a uk car with left hand drive, I thought it must have been converted for some reason but then I noticed that the gearbox is also left hand drive according to the vin number suggesting it came out of the factory like that.
I imagine it must be a bit of a rarity and worth saving, what do you chaps think?
 
From my understanding the ninth digit in the vin denotes the gearbox and in this case it is an 8 which is LT77 left hand drive.
 
Maybe it's something to do with the bellhousing, I don't know or pretend to but I'm sure someone will.
 
I think I read in this months LRO that the big side decals were proper popular on the continent. That truck has some chunky ones, dunno if that helps.
 
Same as my VIN except I have a B not an M in mine with it being a 3 door.

Not really anything exceptional and most likely a repatriated Spanish or Portuguese vehicle at a guess from the A/C

Looks tidy but non starting engine is a worry.
 
Have I misunderstood something? I thought that the second digit in the vin denoted the market the vehicle was produced for, so in this case being an A meaning UK.
 
DiscoRay said:
Have I misunderstood something? I thought that the second digit in the vin denoted the market the vehicle was produced for, so in this case being an A meaning UK.
Click to expand...

First 3 letters are the WMI (world manufacturers identification) and denote region and country of manufacture.

V5 would tell more but VIN doesn't tell us what country it was destined for, as I said, looks just like my LHD Belgian 3 door 200Tdi Discovery.
 
Ah I see, now it makes sense, I thought it was a uk car with left hand drive which didn't make sense but now I get it. I'm sure you are right, it must have been brought back here at some point and probably had the clocks changed at the same time as they are mph not kph and it seems very low mileage with that worn out front seat. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
DiscoRay said:
Ah I see, now it makes sense, I thought it was a uk car with left hand drive which didn't make sense but now I get it. I'm sure you are right, it must have been brought back here at some point and probably had the clocks changed at the same time as they are mph not kph and it seems very low mileage with that worn out front seat. Thanks for clearing that up.
Click to expand...

I actually thought I was going to have to change my clocks for MPH when I imported mine back from the continent but both DVLA & VOSA say that as long as I had MPH visible on the dials it was fine, I did ask about the resetting of mileage when swapping clocks and they couldn't give a definitive answer on whether clocks had to represent the correct miles over the previous kms o_O So perhaps this has been in the UK for a few years on new clocks and it's correct for the time spent back in the UK
 
neilly said:
Did they have such a thing as left hand drive gearboxes??
Cheers
Click to expand...
DiscoRay said:
From my understanding the ninth digit in the vin denotes the gearbox and in this case it is an 8 which is LT77 left hand drive.
Click to expand...
The ninth digit refers to steering & transmission, so LHD with whichever gearbox.
dieseldog69 said:
No such thing, code number just denotes LH or RH drive and how many gears in the gearbox.
Click to expand...
Yep. Mine was purchased as a RHD 90 with a LT77 but the '8' in the VIN (SALLDVBD8AA*****) indicates it's LHDo_O
Turns out it was built and exported as a LHD in 1985 to a company in Austria, reimported and converted to RHD and 1st reg in UK in 1988. The VIN also states its a 2500cc petrol but after I converted it, the V5C was amended to 3528cc petrol, but no mention of the auto gearbox as that isn't recorded on the V5. So VIN-wise it's a LHD 90 2.5 LT77, whereas she's actually and legally, a RHD 3.5 ZF4HP22 :rolleyes:
 
capo said:
The ninth digit refers to steering & transmission, so LHD with whichever gearbox.

Yep. Mine was purchased as a RHD 90 with a LT77 but the '8' in the VIN (SALLDVBD8AA*****) indicates it's LHDo_O
Turns out it was built and exported as a LHD in 1985 to a company in Austria, reimported and converted to RHD and 1st reg in UK in 1988. The VIN also states its a 2500cc petrol but after I converted it, the V5C was amended to 3528cc petrol, but no mention of the auto gearbox as that isn't recorded on the V5. So VIN-wise it's a LHD 90 2.5 LT77, whereas she's actually and legally, a RHD 3.5 ZF4HP22 :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I would be cheeky and have a VIN plate made to represent it's current identity and then watch the parts clerk simmer when you order bits lol
 
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