Buying a county

[78RRman]

Hi to all

About 3 months ago I test drove an 83 county from a dealer down to my local rangie specialist. They were asking 10 k and my mechanic said not to go there, bit patched and tarted for resale. I was very disappointed as it was really great to drive, sounded just like my old classic (music to my ears:D) with the original land rover style. sicnce then it's all I want. I've been looking constantly and not much seems to come up, they seem to be hard to come by! Just wondering what you would expect to pay and how often do they pop up.

[steveG]

$10K for a V8 County is pretty high so it must have been pretty special.
V8's usually go for < $6K, and I've seen a few around $3K.

They come up pretty frequently, but you have to look around. Carsales, eBay, Gumtree etc.

Steve

[flagg]

Yep Counties (or, more correctly "Land Rover 110s") are great. Old enough to be classic, and young enough to have all the mod-cons like.. um.. power steering.

A few years ago I was in the market for a new Puma, but somehow ended up with an 86 110 - and I love it.

The Isuzu diesel powered 110s will go for a lot more than the V8s.. sometimes sellers see the diesel ones going for 8-12k and get a little excited about the value of their V8.

Having your mechanic going over it is a very good idea - they are getting long in the tooth and even lots of little stuff gets expensive fast. When I got mine, the first 12 months of servicing was a real killer to my bank account. :( but it is mostly sorted now :D:D

[steveG]

Yep Counties (or, more correctly "Land Rover 110s") are great. Old enough to be classic, and young enough to have all the mod-cons like.. um.. power steering.

A few years ago I was in the market for a new Puma, but somehow ended up with an 86 110 - and I love it.

The Isuzu diesel powered 110s will go for a lot more than the V8s.. sometimes sellers see the diesel ones going for 8-12k and get a little excited about the value of their V8.

Having your mechanic going over it is a very good idea - they are getting long in the tooth and even lots of little stuff gets expensive fast. When I got mine, the first 12 months of servicing was a real killer to my bank account. :( but it is mostly sorted now :D:D

Absolutely.
Personally, if I wasn't capable of doing my own maintenance I couldn't afford one. I'd hate to think what mine would have cost me if I was paying someone else an hourly rate :eek::eek:

Good work Flagg getting yours up to spec in 12 months!
Mine took me nearly 2 1/2 years to get mostly sorted (that included an Isuzu conversion). There's always an evolving todo list of jobs though...
Great once they are sorted though and you can just jump in and use it :)

Steve

[lookingforalandy]

Hi
Just read your post . Having both a 1983 county 110 V8 and a 1983 auto Rangie V8 I suppose it's time to stop just reading other's posts and start responding to those who have themselves given lots of advice or details regarding their vehicles.
I like the comment about doing things yourself to save money and can certainly relate to this especially regarding my County.
I bought it 3 years ago for 4 and I probably paid a thousand too much. I didn't know what I was looking for and was lucky more than anything that it had no rust, not even in the rear cross member or the firewall, doors and other well documented spots you should look out for. It had no air con (still doesn't) which is a pain but lots will say this is no issue to them.
I've done loads of work and travelled less than 10 thousand k's whilst I really made it a reliable 4wd including replacing king pins, all wheel bearings, brakes including rear cylinders and rotors. I also replaced the steering box, rear tow bar, rubberized paint underneath not to mention a revamp of inside to restore it back to respectable and whacked new tyres on it and I'm still going...but I love it
The Rangie however was a different purchase altogether. I bought it last year off an older gentleman who had it since new. Original sales receipt, all paperwork, including the all important stamps in the service book every 10 thousand K's and his own log book he kept every time he filled up with petrol ...I kid you not. Every time he stopped at the petrol station he wrote the mileage down. In 2002 it had done 97,000 k,s and when his wife died he garages the car and only drove it now and again. When I picked it up it had done 123000!!!!
and the weird thing is I paid the same as what I paid for the county...go figure.
Anyway I suppose what I'm trying to say here is that the forum has helped me a lot in understanding what to look for and when a bargain is a real bargain. Good luck in finding a County and keep reading lots of pearls of info here on the blog. So there you have it after all this time I've got off my bum and written something or rather waffled something.

[Jock The Rock]

Hey mate I saw this one for sale a while back, seems like its had a bit done to it

Car yards are very good at making things sound more than they are worth. If I were looking to spend 10g on a V8 County this would be it I reckon

1985 LAND ROVER 110 COUNTY Cars For Sale in QLD - CarPoint Australia (http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=1&R=13344468&keywords=&trecs=2&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Price_Decimal|1|| pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=13A5712095FE&__Nne=15&__Qpb=1&seot=1&__N=834) 1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294960683 4294965541&silo=1011

[78RRman]

Hey mate I saw this one for sale a while back, seems like its had a bit done to it

Car yards are very good at making things sound more than they are worth. If I were looking to spend 10g on a V8 County this would be it I reckon

1985 LAND ROVER 110 COUNTY Cars For Sale in QLD - CarPoint Australia (http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=1&R=13344468&keywords=&trecs=2&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Price_Decimal|1|| pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=13A5712095FE&__Nne=15&__Qpb=1&seot=1&__N=834) 1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294960683 4294965541&silo=1011



First of all I'd like to say thanks for all the good advice.
I've been watching that one as it's the only one I can find it seems quite nice. The 4.6 would push it along quite well. For the price id still need to spend more. Correct me if I'm wrong but those carbs don't like steep inclines tend to flood out and would want an axle diff and cv upgrade with that Beutiful 4.6 bulbar tyres and a small lift. Maybe I'm being to fussy i only take the kids to the highplains 2 or 3 times a year for a weekend of snow fun the rest of the year it will sit there and my wife has given me a budget which makes it hard (probably fair enough too as I won't sell my 2 door). What are the series 3 v8's like, my old man claims it as his favorite landy of all time cant really remember it was about 7 when he had it, bit skeptical on leaf springs though that's more of a toyota thing :p

[lookingforalandy]

Gday again

I think you are right on all counts about the one you are looking at. I have seen this one and purely look at these vehicles to compare their condition with mine just to gauge really where I'm at on the "How much money I've spent and how much money its now worth" meter if you know what I mean.
Again I'll say that by pure chance I bought a County that was original. Though in my humble opinion this was a bit of a good thing really as it made things easier to start from scratch and repair things properly.
I'm cautious not to bag out or put a negative light on anyone's landy as I belong to a club and know the incredible lengths people go to look after their pride and joy. I call the one you are looking at a "hybrid". Totally my terminology for a vehicle that has upgraded parts which do not belong to that era of landrover. This is the beauty of the beast. Lots of parts are interchangeable and that can be a great thing when you're at oodlawoopwoop with no genuine spare or as some may say a bad thing when bodgey boys say that'll do.
I've noticed with this particular vehicle its interior resembles a defender more than a county and includes an upgraded dash which many do so they can have the front flaps which la ndrover stupidly omitted when they built the county as they thought the air con in the early models would be sufficient .......don't get me started with this as there are plenty
of blogs asking how can I effectively air con my county. Short answer is 3,000 dollars.
Some time ago I competed (well threw my hat in the ring) at my clubs loosely put "show and shine, " It was interesting to see a line up of landrover history and walk down it to observe all the changes. Interestingly the county sat in a place between function and comfort, petrol or diesel. Spring to coil and interior function to interior trim. As I walked up the line nearly everyone who owned their vehicle talked about what they liked and what they didn't like about their 4wd. For me the county diesel is the cherry and I liked the diesel defender that came after my county.
In short , you're Dads right and wrong, the leafy was a good one to own but you mentioned an issue that is also common amongst us rover owners. It doesn't matter how macho your rig is, you don't want to be packed to rafters hurtling towards the high country and hearing all the way a whine that's not coming from your gear box. My minister for war and finance often let's me know that I might know a little bit about landy,'s but she is a true critic of the machine. From memory of driving a leafy in Scotland ... wonderful vehicle though a firm ride is guaranteed.
Anyway again I have waffled. All the best with your quest
Kind regards
Lookingforalandy