Newbie looking for advice on buying first Landrover.

Hello,
Im Bill, from Exeter, Devon.
Ive been interested in buying a Landrover for a while now and since Ive recently moved to an area that unfortunately floods regularly i have another good reason to own a landy.
Ive got my eye on one currently on ebay and I was hoping I could get some advice on whether or not its worth looking at.
its description says "tax exempt series 3 pick up body is mounted on a shortened Range Rover classic coil sprung chassis" Here is link to it on ebay,

Land Rover series 3 SWB pick up 2.5 TDi TAX EXEMPT | eBay

(hope thats worked, im not good with this sort of thing!)

So what I would like help with is determining if its registered correctly or if it could be a problem. as i said im new to landrovers, but i have some experience with kit cars and know that there can often be problems with v5s not having the correct info for the vehicle ect.

so the descriptions says "tax exempt series 3 pick up body" but it looks to me like a later body than that as the front is flat rather than the grill being further back than the wings. So I assume the 1972 registration must be from the chassis? if that is the case, then as long as its not still Rangerover on the v5 it should be ok im assuming?

I may well be completely wrong about that so any advice/opinions on the vehicle from people more in the know would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Bill

Hi there

Firstly, beware of anything that is TAX exempt and on coils. Beware of anyone saying 'shortened chassis' as you just don't know how legal it is. For all intents and purposes that is a modern Land Rover (modern-ish anyway) sitting on a registration plate for a car 40 years old. It may well be perfectly legal but you just don't know. It's quite a price too, you would be able to get a genuine Defender 90 for that price and although you will have to pay for a TAX disc, at least it will be legal.

Some bits on that are Series 3 but bodywork doesn't really mean a lot. Chassis, engine and gearbox and all clearly not a Series 3 so I would expect the axles to also be later ones. It may have been done many years ago and so is perfectly legal, but the rules and laws changed fairly relatively recently so this may be a very expensive learning curve. If all you are looking for is a TAX exempt Land Rover, or if the TAX exemption is what makes this attractive, I would walk away and look for something more age related.

Or just get a Discovery. They go well in the rough stuff, very comfortable and you could probably buy 4 of them for the price of that. It's a thought...

Welcome to LZ. Put on your thick skin, there could be a few opinions on this one.

Like the poster above said, if done a while ago then yes it could be legit. However there isn't much left of the series 3 on that car.

op2:

as above mate , and in eyes of law it ain't the same chassis , and the fact it's from a range rover means if you get stopped by plod and they notice it's on wrong chassis and on springs they might class it as a ringer and you will have it took of you , be very carefully when buying owt like that of flea bay mate , good luck with the search

Hi, thanks for the replys so far. im in no hurry to go out buy the first one i see so will give this one a miss for now and look out for something similar. the fact its tax exempt is one of the things caught my eye to be honest, always nice to save a few quid! but in this case probably not worth the risk. A Disco is tempting, main reason ive been looking at series 3, defender, ect. is from what i can gather they would be cheaper to insure. im 21, and was disqualified last year so insurance is unsurprisingly massively expensive. i'll get a few quotes and have a re-think.
Cheers.

Williamthebastard said:

Hi, thanks for the replys so far. im in no hurry to go out buy the first one i see so will give this one a miss for now and look out for something similar. the fact its tax exempt is one of the things caught my eye to be honest, always nice to save a few quid! but in this case probably not worth the risk. A Disco is tempting, main reason ive been looking at series 3, defender, ect. is from what i can gather they would be cheaper to insure. im 21, and was disqualified last year so insurance is unsurprisingly massively expensive. i'll get a few quotes and have a re-think.
Cheers.

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Hello

Take someone who knows what to look out for with Landies with you.

In any event, I'm fairly sure there's a what to look for thread on here somewhere, don't be afraid to make a list of points to look at questions to ask and take the list with you to look over vehicles

Good torch and something waterproof to lie on too

:welcome2:

Bromsgrove Defender said:

Hello

Take someone who knows what to look out for with Landies with you.

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That is a really good idea No substitute for experience, it doesn't need to be a pro mechanic, anyone who has owned and worked on their own landy will have a better idea of common troubles than a novice.

The reg number comes up as 72 Land Rover, bit odd as it's on a Range Rover chassis. I've a feeling it's pushing the tax exempt rules to the limit, tread warily.