Thread: S3 Bonnet

There were three bonnets fitted to Series 2/2a/3 (plus a different one on the Stage 1). These are the 'standard' one, with a sharp front edge, no turn down, the 'Deluxe', with a radiused front edge, and the 'Deluxe' with a depression for the spare wheel. Any of these may or may not have a spare wheel bracket fitted.

Standard equipment was - Series 2 had the 'Standard' except for station wagons with 'deluxe', Series 2a had 'Deluxe' on lwb as well, and this became standard equipment on all vehicles some time during Series 3 production.

But, all bonnets were optional equipment on all models (except Stage 1) from the start of Series 2 production. And all bonnets are interchangeable (except Stage 1), although there are four hinge bolts on Series 2 and early Series 2a bonnets (but the three hole pattern has the holes in the same place as three of the four holes in the four hole pattern, so they are 'bolt on' interchangeable.

The 'Deluxe' bonnet was fitted as standard to all Australian assembled Series 3, but that does not mean that some were not delivered fitted with 'Standard' ones because they were ordered that way, or even because there were surplus 'Standard' bonnets!

Thanks John.
'Deluxe' with a depression for the spare wheel.
Did these come with a radiused front edge, or just a sharp front edge.

whitehillbilly

Originally Posted by whitehillbilly64

Thanks John.
'Deluxe' with a depression for the spare wheel.
Did these come with a radiused front edge, or just a sharp front edge.

whitehillbilly

The radiused front edge is what defines a deluxe bonnet so all have it with or without the wheel depression.

Most wagons seem to have been fitted with the DeLuxe bonnet (possibly because they had the DeLuxe interior trim ??)

Australian built, early Series III




UK built Series IIa




A lot of people like the 'look' so they seem to be sought after, sure I saw one on Gumtree recently but can't remember which State.

Found it.......
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/port...ies/1147583236

Colin

Hi
Gilberts original bonnet is flat, with no dish, so must be a standard bonnet with the wheel carrier added as the carrier is bolted on.
Probably riveted in original state ?
The other I picked up is DeLuxe with curved front but no wheel carrier.
Series two has standard bonnet with wheel carrier pop riveted on. It has the 4 hole bracket
All this info is good, lots to learn.
Thank you for all your help.

whitehillbilly

deluxe dished bonnet pic for your reference.

deluxe dished bonnet.jpg

Station wagons came with the deluxe bonnet, as do all Australian S3, although they could, I think, be ordered with the standard one. Wheel carriers could be either factory fitted or fitted by the dealer. The factory ones would have been rivetted, but the dealer ones could be either rivets or bolts. Or the carrier could have been removed for repainting or repairs at some stage and replaced using bolts rather than rivets!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Station wagons came with the deluxe bonnet, as do all Australian S3, although they could, I think, be ordered with the standard one. Wheel carriers could be either factory fitted or fitted by the dealer. The factory ones would have been rivetted, but the dealer ones could be either rivets or bolts. Or the carrier could have been removed for repainting or repairs at some stage and replaced using bolts rather than rivets!

Hello from Darwin.

My 1975 88" came with the standard bonnet and riveted wheel carrier new, as did most of the others that I was familiar with. I remember seeing a new 88" wagon at the dealer in Port Lincoln (circa 1979) with the deluxe bonnet while all the other stock long and short had the standard bonnet. This was sufficiently noteworthy to stop and take a look at it. At the time I assumed it was a wagon thing. However, as suggested in an earlier post pretty much all of the later S3 trucks were fitted with the deluxe bonnet.

It has been suggested that the trucks with standard bonnets were ordered that way because of the wheel carrier - the wagons without the wheel dish often had no carrier because the wheel was mounted on the rear door (perhaps a concession to the memsahibs who might have more likely driven a wagon.....). Not sure how accurate that would be because there were an awful lot of them around with the standard bonnet in the earlier part of the S3 run. Maybe that's another Land Rover thing to muse over.

Cheers,

Neil