Thread: Tell us about the first Land Rover you ever owned

Some great old pics people, nice to see.
My first is my ‘73 Lightweight [ex] FFR winterised and deep wading. 12v now and big heater etc removed when I got it in about ‘94 in WA, from a guy who imported it but lost interest. He had a Land Rover repair business in Mallard Way, Welshpool. The Lightweight had been a radio vehicle with the Paras in Norway/NATO. It had about 7 coats of paint, winter camo, summer camo, winter camo - all peeling like psoriasis…
But it only had about 12,000 miles on the clock, likely having sat about idling with the radios on.
I drove it as an only car for many years, up teaching in Newman and in the wheatbelt.
The halfshafts are the original early type, 3” shorter that the standard ones… or so I found out!
Had the engine and gearbox rebuilt, and a modified transfer case with 12% ratio increase, great on the light vehicle on long Australian trips!
I have just finished a gearbox “touch up” - not a rebuild exactly but a few bearings.
Refurbishment of the brakes due this week, as oil on them has destroyed them over the last years it spent in the shed awaiting the gearbox refreshment!

Well I was (and still am) a massive Pink Floyd fan, and in my late teens I was watching a film (Obscured by Clouds) that they did the soundtrack to. It was a pretty average movie, but the principle means of transportation for the main characters as they searched for "paradise" in the rugged New Guinea countryside was a 1969 (est.) Series 2a widelight 109 station wagon. I fell in love and began a hunt for one, and ended up with a 1967 Series 2a 109 instead. So many awesome memories in that car, and my wife tells me it is one of the principal reasons she was responsive to my "moves"...because I had such a cool jalopy. Unfortunately I sold it when our first kid came along, but three kids and 18 years of marriage later, we're back into Series Land Rovers again! It is a shame that during this intervening period that George and Brian from Land Vehicle Spares got out of the business - many great conversations and anecdotes with the staff there as a young bloke learning the joys of Land Rover ownership...
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