CKD vs UK Build

[kellen302]

Hi everyone,

A couple months ago I purchased a pretty cherry '84 2 door (LT77 and 3.5) while I was visiting a friend in Brisbane, it's in the container on the way to Oregon here in the US along with a '92 110 Ute we found for my friend as well. I know '84 was a short year for 2 doors in Oz and Land Rover was always a bit lax with the record keeping so I'm curious if anyone has more ways to tell where a truck was built? I've got the basics below from what I have determined so far:
VIN code A indicates Solihull Build
British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate shows a Solihull build, and shows as Venetian Red on the sheet
Compliance Plate under the hood shows "Built By JRA..." which per the now defunct range-rover-classic.com site indicates a CKD build in Australia
Going by the pictures in one of the James Taylor books it appears to have door mirrors mounted a little further back than Solihull mounted them for UK and ROW sales
The red seems a little darker than most Venetian Red pictures I've seen but that is subjective for sure

Either way, the truck is incredibly original and rust free with only 55k km so I scored big time. It even had the original manual until the transporter or seller managed to lose it between Sydney and Brisbane. Still has the tool kit and original spare! At some point it had a Vitesse Developments 4.6L in it but now has a 14D code 3.5L high compression which matches all of the registration history from Victoria.

Thanks for any input and an excuse to show it off! I'm a bit short on good pictures since all the ones I took when I was there were close up for inspection, but it is super clean and original!
193318193319193320193321

[V8Ian]

Looks very tidy. I hope you have many years of enjoyment from it.

[p38arover]

The colours on the Australian CKD models weren't the same as the UK. They used Peugeot colours as JRA had Peugeot at that time. (I just double checked thst with a friend who did his apprenticeship with JRA back then.)

[kellen302]

The color is a tough one, I know they used some different colors because of the Holden/Peugeot assembly lines, but it seems oddly coincidental that it was logged as a red build in Solihull and also painted red after being built locally.
Additionally, the engine bay got some respray work at some point, but there is no large Land Rover data plate on the front next to the bonnet latch, just the compliance plate above the LH wheel. Was this typical or was the larger data plate removed at some point? I'm talking about the data plate that was rivetted on and said "Made by Rover Ltd" and had the VIN stamped on it in printed boxes. The silver sticker next to the latch just lists tire pressures and weights.

[350RRC]

The color is a tough one, ................

I put a red 80 or 81 body on my 74 when the shell of the original white body got too rusty. Let's just say it was a colour change.

Yes it was a CKD donor.........there were odd bits of handwritten notes inside the doors, etc.

I needed some paint for it and when I gave the guy at the high end auto paint shop the year and model he looked it up and said 'Vintage Red, it's a Holden colour'.

This was in about 2000. He was adamant even when I told him it was JLR (I didn't know any of the CKD story) and it turned out to be a perfect match with the doorframes, etc.

I have the compliance plate somewhere and will have a look at the codes on it when I find it.

cheers, David L

[sharmy]

From memory, so cant be too sure, but when the first local assembled ones turned up, one obvious difference was that the range rover name on the tailgate went from chrome block letters to a stick on label type of thing.

[350RRC]

From memory, so cant be too sure, but when the first local assembled ones turned up, one obvious difference was that the range rover name on the tailgate went from chrome block letters to a stick on label type of thing.

My 74 was an import and had black plastic block letters on the bonnet and (from memory) on the tailgate.

Probably nylon and each had 2 pins that held them in place through holes in the steel.

I reckon they drilled the holes with a jig after the panels were painted coz the rust around the letter pins was so bad it was the demise of the bonnet.

I've still got the letters.

DL

[kellen302]

The earliest trucks like your '72 had the pinned letters, shortly after that they went to just stick on but still raised lettering precisely because of the rusting holes. The change from holes to no holes was I believe the only change on RRC hoods until they concealed the hinges. The change to flat decal letters was in 1980 or so right as they started with the CKD program I believe, but they went through a couple designs of flat stickers in the '80s. Mine has the white outlined black letters which is correct/original for '84.
Interesting info on the colors, I'll get better pictures of the truck to compare the color when it arrives.