Thread: When did your love affair start with Land Rover?

i was driven home from the local ( the wife was the midwife) in the 107, 5 days after i was born. 7 hour drive.

1984 the 107 got left on one of the back blocks, still there.

Parents first SWB in 1975, then a LWB in 1977.

The 109 did almost 2 million k's on I think every road in NSW, VIC, SA, & the southern half of QLD and NT. With me in the back laying on the mattress bouncing around. 2 trips to Fraser Island where we spent 8 weeks only seeing someone else when we went to town for supplies. Having a plane land on the beach flying in gearbox parts and rebuilding it on the tailgate after removing it in the sand. Crossing from NSW into Vic across the top of the alps (during bogon season).

I spent 4 years restoring a 66 109 before I could drive, then a 82 2dr RRC and finally a 2000 Disco2. Longing to find my original (last reg BL119).

Great stories from everybody ... humbling too because there are some serious LR elders out there also. I grew up in both England and Australia and always had Land Rovers in my subconscious - when I was a boy we used to go out camping/shooting to Mt Fox with my Uncle and Cousins ( West of Townsville ) in his old Landy.

The final straw came years later ... back in 1995 a bloke who lived in my apartment complex in Sydney ( We used to play chess together ) owned a Series I and I would usually drool with envy whenever he came or went in that thing with the top off and the windscreen folded down onto the bonnet!

That was it damnit and I went and bought myself a Series IIa 88 shorty that became a unfinished project that I sold last year. I sadly thought I was out of the game ( temporarily though we had bought a new house! ) and just this month bought an 85 County. Back for good this time ...

Simon.

In the 60s & 70s the SWB SII's & SIII's were what blokes that worked in the bush around the Far North Coast of NSW tended to drive. Many early memories of slipping and sliding up and down red soil tracks in the rainforests around our way.

Then, joining the Army in 82, there weren't too much avoiding them. I am now onto my second SWB SIIA, a 1967.

One of my earliest memories was sitting on the old man's lap, holding the steering wheel going up and down stockton beach in a white V8 County. Then as I got older, hanging off the side steps as we went up and down the dunes after a day swimming and fishing.

My Grandma still has pictures of her and Poppa on the beach around Tea Gardens; fishing reel in one hand, Resches tinnie in the other, and there was always a SWB Series Land Rover in the background.

Her memory is fading really quickly these days, but when I picked her up in a SWB Series 3 not long ago she straight away noticed, "Oh, it's just like Tony's old one. I remember..." (starts telling a story about living up in Tea Gardens way back).

It's funny the things you remember as a kid, most of these are good memories, growing up in the bush in the 60s, it was pretty hard not to remember Land Rovers, cause most of the farms had them, either that or an old Vanguard or Pugeot, living on stations all the kids were driven to school, Mrs Butterworth had 2 cars and old Vanguard ute and an old series long wheel base Land Rover, not hard to remember a ride in the back of an old series

I nearly bought a series III in 1989, but was talked out of it, ended up buying a Hilux, wasn't until 2005 that I ended up buying our D2, love this car, don't know why sometimes, but I do.

Baz.

Back in the late 50's when at primary school, a couple of the kids had been to Ayers Rock etc with their parents in a Series 11. Used to see this vehicle evry day from the bus. Admired them from then on. Like Bushie, first drive would have been a 11A at Bushfire Brigade in the 70's.

Naturally, when I progressed from Kombi to my first 4wd in 1983, I bought a Datsun. After 4 years of ownership, the mistake was obvious and this was sold and a Stage 1 V8 took its place. This was with me for 20 years and I have never been without a Land Rover since.

Originally Posted by 85 county

i was driven home from the local ( the wife was the midwife) in the 107, 5 days after i was born. 7 hour drive.

Married and drinking at 5 days old!!!! Wow!

My first experience with a Landy would have been around 1950 when I was still a school kid, they hadn't been out very long and were prevalent at most country "field Days' (also a much more common occurrence than today) and I longed longed for one . Came the mid 60's when I joined up and I really fell in love with the capabilities of the S2a, (disillusioned with the later S3s, and was out long before the perenties.) Bought my own first series vehicle around 1972, had a small break from them in the 80s (as I couldn't find a diesel I liked) so switched to Subarus (Magic little motor car) but they wouldn't tow so when the TDi came out I came back to the fold.
Land Rover, the company, has badly disillusioned me once again and after three discoveries, I have deserted the ranks for a daily driver, but still swear by the two S2as I have. Great little vehicles!
Regards
Glen