'Very Rare' Series 2a on ebay...

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wireman

wireman

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Land Rover Series 2a Series 3 88" original 1968 (chassis solid and drives well) | eBay

From the advert:

"...This Land Rover is very rare and unique being one of only a handful of the Series 2a that have been built factory spec as a Series 3. Due to change over years between the 2a and 3 this was when Land Rover was developing the Series 3 so altered the Series 2a over the years running up the release of Series 3..."

It must have been a very late 2a as I can't see any 2a parts on it.... maybe I'm not looking hard enough...
 
Marmaduke said:
So basically it's a series 3 masquerading as a 2a and not very rare :rolleyes:
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Could be.
The acid test is he says the chassis is mint, and if that is really the case (even though it has had repairs I can see) then the chassis number will be visiible on the dumbiron, I kind of suspect that may not be the case!
 
lynall said:
Could be.
The acid test is he says the chassis is mint, and if that is really the case (even though it has had repairs I can see) then the chassis number will be visiible on the dumbiron, I kind of suspect that may not be the case!
Click to expand...
Quite bad welding too.
Looks like a rather dirty and unloved Petrol S3 to me.
 
The chassis certainly doesnt look mint in front of that badly welded patch, I also cant see any 2a bits
 
MiddleAgedDirtBag said:
Another one, though this looks a bit nicer and I think the bonnet at least is S2: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rov...8?pageci=d53aeb89-6900-4a1e-8ff4-af0e0533a49a

As someone who’s never really thought about or seen it, what’s going on here? Chassis-up rebuild with mostly S3 parts? Is that common?
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What generally happens is, a tidy solid straight Series 3 has the chassis plate removed and replaced with one from a series 2/2a, they are held on by 4 screws, its that easy. Number plates are swapped obviously. The remnants of the 'real 2a' are scrapped/broken for spares. The log book for the original series 3 is sent to DVLA as ''scrapped". Some, very few, series 2a are rebuilt with series 3 parts but its a lengthy job and if you're rebuilding a classic why use the wrong parts? The vehicle in your post has retained a number of series 2a parts, handbrake, deep sills but has a series 3 bulkhead and front end. The P plate would be correct if it was ex military because at the time that would have been released it would have been given an age related plate to that date, not its build date or a Q plate as that was the way it was done back then. Your link vehicle also has a military rear cross member and military rear tub (no fuel filler cap). The military nomenclature plate is in the wrong position, on a series 3 military it would have been on the seat box. 2a's had then on the bulkhead/dashboard on the passenger side. What else can anyone else spot?
 
Its a very nice S3 with numbers that will never match. It got 2 owners since 1975 because its a 1975 vehicle not a 1967. Pity as its nice, but one day it could be unsellable unless the paperwork is brought into line, and that could be tricky..
 
I think as well back in the day when things went wrong thye would just use s3 body parts as thats was what was available cheaply/local.

Then of course there are those who want their car to appear to be newer than it really is, same nowadays as people updating their D3 to look like D4, range rover pretending to be newer etc
 
OK, now I’m confused. Is it a S2a or S3 then? As wireman helpfully pointed out there are a couple of bits look like they could be 2a.

What’s the paperwork issue? If it’s a 2a that’s been demobbed in 75 then at some point someone’s stuck an S3 front panels, bulkhead & dash on it, does that cause a problem?

Like I say I’ve never really thought about this before. My old Stage One was very definitely original (drank petrol like an original too!) I miss that car, though my boss’s fuel card doesn’t
 
My bet is its an S3 with S2A paperwork. These come up all the time on e-bay. Its very unlikely that someone would change the dash, wings, sills, door hinges, bulkhead, front panel plus all the dash wiring etc. Giveaway will be the chassis - corner welded S2a vs top welded S3. My bet is its an S3 - perhaps stolen, given the ID of an S2A that got scrapped. It could run around for years with no problem but that will always be a gamble. Be interesting to see if its got a chassis number on the chassis. To answer do a few S2a bits cause a problem? Yes they cause a huge problem because they cause everyone to have the same doubt: is this an S2A with a "few" S3 bits, or is this an S3 on S2A papers? The most likely answer is S3 on fake / another vehicles papers. Why? Because when ever the alleged swap of "a few" S3 parts took place this vehicle was probably worth under £1000 but the parts and labour would have run to many times that for no benefit. On the other hand steeling an S3 and swapping the reg plates and vin plate is an hours work at most. So anyone faced with one of these S3 / S2a "hybrids" will have to decide - do I believe that someone did masses of work in swapping all these bits over or did someone do 5 mins work swapping the plates over? I'll bet 9/10 opt for swapped plates. This not only a problem for these S3 on S2A papers ones, but also for S2A s with a few S3 bits because no body can be sure. What if the new owner of this does some investigation and finds a chassis number, goes to LR heritage and it comes up 1975 S3? Do they inform the DVLA and get the original reg? What if that comes up stolen? Its mess so people avoid these which is why they turn up on e-bay because they are very hard to sell.
 
rob1miles said:
My bet is its an S3 with S2A paperwork. These come up all the time on e-bay. Its very unlikely that someone would change the dash, wings, sills, door hinges, bulkhead, front panel plus all the dash wiring etc. Giveaway will be the chassis - corner welded S2a vs top welded S3. My bet is its an S3 - perhaps stolen, given the ID of an S2A that got scrapped. It could run around for years with no problem but that will always be a gamble. Be interesting to see if its got a chassis number on the chassis. To answer do a few S2a bits cause a problem? Yes they cause a huge problem because they cause everyone to have the same doubt: is this an S2A with a "few" S3 bits, or is this an S3 on S2A papers? The most likely answer is S3 on fake / another vehicles papers. Why? Because when ever the alleged swap of "a few" S3 parts took place this vehicle was probably worth under £1000 but the parts and labour would have run to many times that for no benefit. On the other hand steeling an S3 and swapping the reg plates and vin plate is an hours work at most. So anyone faced with one of these S3 / S2a "hybrids" will have to decide - do I believe that someone did masses of work in swapping all these bits over or did someone do 5 mins work swapping the plates over? I'll bet 9/10 opt for swapped plates. This not only a problem for these S3 on S2A papers ones, but also for S2A s with a few S3 bits because no body can be sure. What if the new owner of this does some investigation and finds a chassis number, goes to LR heritage and it comes up 1975 S3? Do they inform the DVLA and get the original reg? What if that comes up stolen? Its mess so people avoid these which is why they turn up on e-bay because they are very hard to sell.
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Rob ref chassis
I used to think s2 4 welds and s3 2 welds, but was advised s3 88 modles had 4 weld set up as well.
How true that was/is I have no idea as have not owned a s3 for many years now.
 
lynall said:
Rob ref chassis
I used to think s2 4 welds and s3 2 welds, but was advised s3 88 modles had 4 weld set up as well.
How true that was/is I have no idea as have not owned a s3 for many years now.
Click to expand...
Yes my series 3 chassis original and replacement where 4 welds only LWB was shell clam at one stage
 
Agreed, I had a feeling I was wrong. But my point remains, imagine if this was a Mk3 Cortina that looked like a Mk4 and had a Mk4 vin fixed on with rivets and the reg age matched the Mk4. Yes I know its a unibody, but we wouldn't look at it twice, we all know its a ringer. But because its a Series we suspend our disbelief and get sucked into a load of possible explanations that are increasingly unlikely. That vehicle looks like an S3 and swapping an S2 to an S3 is a lot of work, bulkhead, wring, heater, dash, steering column, some engine parts, wings, front panel, door hinges. Occam's Razor - do al that or just swap the plates? The other usre tell tale will be the bolts, if that much has been swapped on that vehicle every nut and bolt will be clean. My money says they are not.
 
mine is a dec '69 series 2a which has some features of the 3 which are supposedly 'wrong',in particular the dash,i have done some research however and discovered that the a plastic padded dash in mine was fitted to u.s spec 88 station wagons due to safety regs before they were fitted in the u.k spec vehicles,these rare vehicles could be sourced with rh drive in the u.k at the time if the buyer knew where to look,mine has been inspected at a land rover specialist and after checking the baulkhead/engine/gearbox they confirmed it is original and correct for the dec '69 2a, they concurred that it is one of these seldom seem rarities.
afaik the ebay one is just a 'tad' too early for that though,
atb,
ryn
 
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