restore, repair or get rid?

Hi everyone.

Ive had my series 2 for about 20 years, its now looking a bit sorry for itself. Its been sitting for 7 or 8 years being used as a padlock! Started every day and moved.

Its got a RJ Searle plate on it with a safari roof so was wondering if it was rare or anything.

Its started to rot out a little, outriggers, bottom door hinge pillar etc but to be fair, its pretty solid. Bulkhead and floor look ok.

Its 2 1/4 petrol.

Can anyone give me an idea what its worth `as is` and if its worth restoring or just patching up.

Having a bit of trouble with pics but will get some up asap!

Thanks.

Hi, sounds like every other Series to me.....fix the bugger, and keep ya chassis no. to ya self !!!!!!!

looks ok from the pics if you have had it 20 yrs then give it a re-birth and use it

I would repair and keep as is. Love that well used look.

Fix it up

if it was mine i'd project it, strip to the chassis and do the repairs, leave the patina alone but fix everything underneath up nice and solid, paint the chassis and axles and everything that's not easily visible, a bit of cavity wax in everywhere that it'll go and then use her again

they're nice easy motors to work on

is it a Series 2 or 2a ??

£250 in its present condition. I have 2 , one still in the same condition and one being worked on at weekends. Get the body off, weld it up and get her on the road again, you will miss her if you let her go.

Go for it. What have you got to lose
money
sanity
spare time
marriage

and, and, and errrrrr

crashbox said:

£250 in its present condition. I have 2 , one still in the same condition and one being worked on at weekends. Get the body off, weld it up and get her on the road again, you will miss her if you let her go.

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:5biagree::5biagree::5biagree:dont make the same mistake i made years ago ive only just managed to get another in pretty bad shape and needing a majour rebuild basically im starting again from scratch

i just wish i still had me old girl but ive got to make freinds with this stubborn old cow ive got at the moment or atleast get her round to my way of thinking ( reccons shes past it but ill prove her wrong )

Insure it, stick its value at £4000 and stick it in Moss Side or Benchill in Manchester for 20mins...

Leave until the sirens ring.

WONGA!

If you've got the time and effort for a full strip down then I would seriously go for it... Failing that, get the body work in decent shape and clip it on ebay... I've seen rust hives on ebay go for around £400 and decent shape ones for around £600+

The engine alone could probs bring about £200

depends how much time and money you have. are you a good mechanic? can you weld?

had one in better shape than that and it cost about £2k to fix up nice and i reckon 300 hrs.

you clearly like the old girl so if you have a spare £2k and 300hrs go for it.

to be honest you can't really see much from those two little pictures, just that the paint is faded/aged and looks to have a long mark down the one side

as already said/asked can you weld do you enjoy tinkering ??

you move it each/most days so it runs and selects at least two gears, i'm guessing the brakes work, those things all go in it's favour if you decide to rebuild as it means there's probably less work than one that's been sat in a hedge for the last 10-15 years (although not necessarily that much less), the same also is true if you decide to sell it

you've got to decide if you have the time and interest to see it through and back onto the road, if you can't swing a spanner they're an easy motor to learn on (welding isn't so easy to learn so i'd pay for any of that)

i sold a couple of bikes a few years ago that i'd owned for a few years, finances at the time dictated they had to go, i still miss them

if it is a Series 2 and you decide to get rid may i suggest you sign up to the Series 2 Club forum as you may find a fair bit of interest there in it (we're also interested in the 2a), the bonus possibly being in the Searle badging and possible history tracing, 20 years ownership means it shouldn't have been passed around too much and raced/rallied to any great extent, more pictures will be needed along with the chassis number to determine it's identity/age/model, they'll also suggest areas to photograph a little closer for thier knowledge reasons (i like/own two 2a's but still have limited knowledge)

The Series 2 Club Forum - Index

whatever you decide to do, DO NOT scrap it, project values vary quite a bit so i'd suggest a starting value on this of 350 quid being as it runs and moves (i'll guess you still have the documents) but you'll need to give some clearer pictures of the chassis and bulkhead to help with value, rot is a common enemy, upload your pictures to photobucket and give a link to the album then folks can look at decent size pictures, preferably taken in good light and with a decent resolution (if possible not 2mp phone camera pictures in poor lighting as they mostly come out grainy/blurred)

anyway i hope that helps you
Pete

series 2a pictures by moomoos - Photobucket

Here is a few more pics.

Thanks for the advice pete, very helpfull.

I am a mechanic and can weld, i know what im letting myself in for if i do decide to get her back on the road, thats why i was asking if it was rare enough to warant it seing as its a searle jobby.

Its a 2a on a h plate, but it has the 3 series wings on it i think, the headlights are in the wing not on the grille.

Heres the info from clifton.

Model: Land Rover, Series IIA
Body type: Basic or Station wagon
Wheel base: 88in
Engine: petrol
Model years: 1962-1971
Destination: Export, right-hand drive (RHD)
Serial number
G Design: Six significant design modifications
Suffix used from April 1969 till October 1971

Once again, thanks for your help and advice everyone.

waldershelf said:

Go for it. What have you got to lose
money
sanity
spare time
marriage

and, and, and errrrrr

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Great analysis, but at the end of it at least there will be a nice landie sitting in the driveway to keep him company!!!

butters said:

series 2a pictures by moomoos - Photobucket

Here is a few more pics.

Thanks for the advice pete, very helpfull.

I am a mechanic and can weld, i know what im letting myself in for if i do decide to get her back on the road, thats why i was asking if it was rare enough to warant it seing as its a searle jobby.

Its a 2a on a h plate, but it has the 3 series wings on it i think, the headlights are in the wing not on the grille.

Heres the info from clifton.

Model: Land Rover, Series IIA
Body type: Basic or Station wagon
Wheel base: 88in
Engine: petrol
Model years: 1962-1971
Destination: Export, right-hand drive (RHD)
Serial number
G Design: Six significant design modifications
Suffix used from April 1969 till October 1971

Once again, thanks for your help and advice everyone.

Click to expand...

I have bid around what Pete (NiteMare) suggested on eBay for ones in similar or worse condition... Actually the one I'm bidding on now is a 109" Series III that doesn't even run and I've bid £350 because it's a station wagon 5 door which I've not seen many of in a price range I'm willing to buy a project...

I noticed the right rear part of the tub is pretty much trashed - I am getting a 88" tub this weekend from Scotland that I do NOT need at all and I bid on another one on eBay just because it's complete including all the lights... so if you want one I would sell it cheap to help you keep this one from going bye bye. If you happen to be on the way back from scotland, on the way to brighton... then I can drop if off on my return trip, I literally have no use for it, I only got it because I thought I might replace the replacement checker-plate floor in mine with an original floor and it just happens to come with the motor and trans I'm buying!

You can get another bulkhead in good condition for between £100-£150 on flea-bay which considering how gone it is in the right lower side I think that would be a worthy investment... I think you should be able to restore that landie for a lot less than £2000 if you can source the parts at your leisure as you find good deals and store them until you're ready for an exciting, life sized mechano project... Welding isn't that difficult, it just takes a bit of practice and you have to find good metal to weld to - nothing a bit of sanding with a grinder won't accomplish, there has to be good metal someplace on the chassis, I hope? lol.

Have you any idea about all the BP and Michelen stickers? Maybe things like that aren't a big deal here, but back in the States stuff like that helps add to the "story" of the vehicle and the better viable and documented "story" your landie has the more value it could return you if and when you decide to sell it on. If it is a series IIA I think when I had it apart I would sell on any good series III parts and replace them with IIA parts. IIA's are more desirable, have a lower production number and have a certain amount of charm to them. My first landie 20 years ago (when I was twelve and lived on a big ranch) was a 1968 Series IIA and I loved that old thing

Good LUCK!! I wouldn't sell it on, unless you simply don't have the time or space to deal with restoring it...

fix it

ok simple things first...

the wings are correct for your year/model as around '69 the lights were moved into the wings and you don't have a vent in the passenger wing for the heater blower as the S3 has so keep them

you have a single wiper motor behind a panel on the left of the dash/bulkhead

your bulkhead may well be repairable, A posts, feet, footwells and that upper rot section can all be got (you probably have more rot you haven't photo'd though) last year i rebuilt a '65 2a bulkhead with similar amounts of rot and the only sections i bought were one foot and a pair of les cromies footwells (the best available) all rebuilt, media blasted and painted for about 150-175quid in materials and parts (labour/painting was my own)

there's not much you can't get in the way of chassis components (it's really worth you joining the S2 club,insurance discount alone pays for the membership fee for me) in pattern parts, i've fitted outriggers, crossmembers and dumbirons (i have a 1960/61 i think here at the moment that i'll be replacing the dumbirons on for a customer and will be getting his bulkhead to repair when it is removed)

door skins can be got, as can doorframe sections to allow repairs, tub skins can be got (there are subtle differences between the S2 and S3 tubs, again the S2 forum will give you pointers)

you have the correct sills for your year motor, i think Searles were "only" suppliers of your motor, i think they did or commisioned conversions at one time but i can't say if yours was ever converted, Searles rings a bell somewhere to do with carawagon conversions (it's just a quiet bell somewhere in the background so i could be wrong)

the rear door isn't much of a problem, i have one sat in my garage and there's plenty about but there are slight differences through the years i believe

it's a little strange that Clifton says yours is an export model but it's not unheard of, failed contracts or an ex pat' bought it whilst living abroad and brought it back when they returned but unlikely with the Searle badge, it could be another little bit of history to find

the BP and Michelin stickers suggest it was owned by a garage at one time and was possibly used as a runaround for the business (or it could have just been an owner who liked stickers )

i'd like to see a few photos of the cab area/dashboard/heater/inside door panels/seats and a clear photo of the front of the vehicle if possible (i know, i'm a pain )

just one little thing i noticed, there seems to be a buffer/marker light in the offside wing above the Michelin sticker (can see what looks to be wires going to it from one of the under bonnet shots) there doesn't appear to be one in the nearside wing and it's the wrong place to be a buffer, any idea what it is that i'm talking about ??

ok that all looks a little random the way it's laid out/written but that's the way my thoughts flow

it looks like it'll be an interesting project and as said before by someone else it shouldn't cost you 2k to get it back on the road, my '65 109 so far hasn't exceeded 1.5k including buying it because i took my time gathering parts/paint and i've changed my diffs and engine as well, rebuilt both dumbirons replaced a couple of outriggers and replaced the rear crossmember, i've just bought a full set of NOS springs and shocks with a few other bits which took two years to appear at a time/price that i could afford or was prepared to pay and i'm still under that 1.5k, i've been driving it for around 6 months now, owned it for two years

just take your time, the only time these things cost money is if you have a rare one that has year specific parts and it has to be put back to exactly as it was from the factory, the expensive ones are the early Series2's from '58 up to about '61/'63 after that things generally settled down with development/production, landrovers were always a partsbin build/production to a great extent so they used what the suppliers could supply or what was on the shelf, especially in the early days of the S2/2a

hope this helps you with your decision (i hope you take it on as a project )

Cheers
Pete

p.s.
pictures of my 109 (Big Ears) rebuild
http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh311/NiteMare_08/My 1965 109/

Ive added a few more pics to the photobucket albulm of the landy, if you have a poke around you might find some pics of a mk1 golf i restored about 6 years ago if your interested.

Im also the proud owner of a 89 3door disco tdi. Yes im a glutton for punishment!

Oh, the wires appear to go to what i assume is a immobiliser key switch.

Thanks for all your help and interest. I might get her up on the ramp over the weekend and have a real good look at her.

Butters.