Hi there,

I need so help! I have been offered a 1986 2.5L Petrol 90 Hard Top Landy. It seems to be in good nic but then I am not an expert. Its done 56K miles and has had a couple of owners one being a farmer. The current owner has upgraded to a 120. He would like about £3000 for it. I need a 4X4 as I have another hobby that needs me to go across fields and its a bit tricky in my small Daewoo road car!

What I want to know is Petrol engine? Good choice or bad. I am not sure, I thought diesel was the way to go but you have to avoid some engine types.

The car has had, new springs for softer ride, wheels & tyres, Carb and some dampner under the front. Sorry I not that techie. He belongs to MK 4x4 club and he cant justify having 2 Landies. It has some bubbling on the paint work and the inside seems to be tidy with new looking benches in the back. It has had some new fans fitted aswell.

I have alwasy found it best to ask in a forum before parting with cash. The test drive is 8am Sat!

Kind Regards

Curly Jon

1986 BRG Lotus Esprit Turbo
2004 Daewoo Kalios
Landy TBA
Rad Arrow Paramotor

Welcome!

If its an ex farmers motor.....check check and double check all the underside and chassis for rot etc!!!!

The 2.5 petrol isnt the best engine in the world, but if you dont intend to do huge milage then you should be ok.

have a good look around before you buy as there is a quite a selection out there.

jim

Thanks for the advice. It seems that I know the farmer as he was local to me. He was not a sheep farmer and it was used to pull his daughters horse box. The 1st owner was a milkman not sure what he used it for. The current owner has replaced all bushes with the poly types and also done other mods like fitting K&N and a a water pump mod. I says he is an X mechnic. While I am not a Landy expert, while I was on the underside I could not see any rust and the screw driver found no holes. Its been wax oiled a couple of times, the other nice thing to see was that lots of nuts, bolts and washers had been replace with stainless steel and were all protected by blobs of greese. The 2.5 Petrol engine seems to sound ok and started fine at -2.5C. No mayo on filler cap or dip stick. Plugs were the right colour so did not show any bad signs there. The door seals seem tight and as the ice melted I did not see any drips enter the cabin nor could I find any damp on the inside caused by leaks. The only thing I found was that the rear heater did not work and a small bit of rust near the windscreen. All other electrics worked.

Test Drive
Never driven anything like it before and I must say the steering of that old bus steering wheel was nice and light, the brakes also worked well as we nearly crashed head on into a lost 7.5 tonne lorry down a narrow lane, nice and icy plus on a blind bend. While the owner jumped and nearly vacanted the landy via the passenger window. I brown trousered and steered for the hedge. Luckly we missed and not even the wing mirrors hit. The landy coped with the rough stuff (ditch hedge and road kills) no problem. I am glad as was the owner that I had got insurance just incase. The wife was on one of the benches in the back and was looking out the back and just mentioned could seat beats be fitted! So can they? Rough cost?

We got a field I have use of for my Paramotoring and it made a change to drive round without having to worry. The return journey was fine and we cooked in the cabin with heater on full :O) nice and warm.

He went out for the day and while he was gone we snooped back to look it over. Using some of the advice found on the forum here, we proded it about and we could still only find the one patch or rust near the windscreen. All we could seem to find were parts that seemed nearly new and nust and bolts with greese on.

We then decided to look at the other one he had. Its a 110. This is what he has bought to replace the one he is selling.... Humm well bushes show signs of wear as they are cracking and look dry. Rust flaking in many places on the underside and it has a nice oil leak. Seems like the red cross used to own it too. I would guess that he might be a mechnic and that he enjoys fixing them up and caring for them. He did mention that he wants a welder for Christmas. He is 64 and seems to be a nice chat and would want me to join his local club.

Does this sounds like a lucky find or are they normally like this. It would also seem that it might be the 1st car I cant break the timming belt in!

Curly Jon

The price sounds "reasonable" to me, but not particularly cheap given the age, but apparently condition is everything. Like Fired up says, there is a lot out there so it does pay to compare a few. One minor point, I think you're going to need seatbelts in the back to legally carry anyone if the seats have been retro fitted, though I'm still a bit hazy on the dates of stuff like that (I'm sure someone can clarify in my ignorance?)

It's encouraging that he wants you to join the club, not just sell the motor & never see you again. When I bought my Landy I built up a fairly good relationship with the geyser I bought it from & it did turn out to be a fair gem(I knew zip about Landies at the time & wish I'd spent some time on here first, so you're getting that bit the right way around!).........have since found a couple of little jobs he could have mentioned mind, but hey, he was fairly honest!

Good luck, whatever you buy you "probably" won't regret buying a Landy (!!) & welcome to the forum Jon.

Regards,
Marcus.