Thread: ‘Nibbles’ the Jaguar powered 1966 Series 2A

Enter about two weeks ago, I found a very reasonably priced Series 2A with some odd modifications on FB marketplace a couple hours from me for 1800 aussie dollarydoos and hitched up a U-Haul flat top and made my way down to the location to winch her up.

The bloke for once was not pulling my leg and the car had almost no rust outside of the bulkhead, all the outriggers and cross members are solid and complete. A Holden redtop engine sits in leiu of the original and as always “she ran when parked”.

The story of “Land Nibbler” or as I will refer to her as “Nibbles” is that she was sold with a property at least twice and in the end two blokes bought it in quick succession (a couple months apart) before me. Now this is usually a good indicator that everything is not 100% with the engine or gearbox (in a case of a mostly rust-free car). My suspicions were heightened with the new oil filter, hoses, dizzy and spark plugs/wires. Someone tried recently to get it running and I suspect wasn’t happy with the result. None the less she winched fine especially with the non-working brakes and permanently depressed clutch. Nothing that 25$ discount Bunnings ratchets can’t hold in place.

Now the curious part about the car is that I am still not 100% sure on the history, but I am trying to make some sense of it. It appears to have been originally delivered as a green vehicle and then painted OD green some stage all before it became a farm truck. The chassis is a standard civvie chassis but there are heavy duty axles present. On the fenders, there is the name “Land Nibbler” in military stencil, that name was painted in white on the original green and then again on the army green twice. I am told however without being a military chassis it cannot be considered a military vehicle and may be a re-body (although from what I am looking at I am not sure). There is also a military dashboard and radiator surrounds, the original latch bonnet latch was military as is the tool holder; although curiously only on one side. The farm I purchased it from was also very close proximity to a RAAF base so no idea.

One trip to the carwash later and my suspicions about the origin was heightened again, the gearbox appears to have been rebuilt and some of the black components have been painted OD green. The rear diff is white and there two stripes on the LHS of the rear axle which I am told is military.

The data plaque reads V.L.2AZ-204 – I translate this to Vehicle. Land Rover. 2A Z? – 204 (something)

This brings up a bit of a conundrum, “Nibbles” despite being a SWB is not worth a whole bunch without a running engine, having the original engine been swapped out and the chassis cross member suffering a bit of massaging.

Landy engines in good condition are not impossible to find, but overall they leave a bit to be desired and can get quite expensive to get going again if they are tired which most of them are (ask me how I know)

I wasn’t sure what entirely to do – the most sensible thing being to rebuild the Holden or find one in running condition (both fairly simple options)


However there is always a third option – that is to be a complete idiot.

Trolling the old Gumtree yielded some silly but promising results including things like Barra’s and TDI’s in the end why not go back to another period correct problem….



The first owner clearly got sick with the British engineering and installed some Australian reliability, but in my quest for a simple car to go get coffee in and drive to the beach - why settle for a simple and not leaking; when I could instead re-install something even more complex and leaky.

Enter the Jaguar XK engine.

Now in the case of Goldilocks and the 4 engines
- the 4.2 was a wee bit too powerful for the little axles
- the 3.8 was a wee bit too boring and clapped out (plus EFI nonsense)
- the 3.4 was a wee bit too expensive and wanted for the E’s and XK’s
- But the 2.4 fits just right (+/- angle grinder)