1949 Land Rover Series One 80"

Description

Rare early Land Rover with 'ring pull' gearbox; meticulously restored about four years ago and only 3,000 miles since; totally correct and in wonderful condition throughout

Although it was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motorshow in April 1948, the first Land Rover did not roll off the production line until July of that year and as much of it was still being hand-built, production was painfully slow to begin with, with around 100 being built each week. Improvements were constantly being made and very few of the early models were exactly alike until the production process had been refined and standardised.

First registered in Suffolk in August 1949, this particular Series One 80” is among the first few thousand made and has many special features that were absent from later models, including the ring-pull gearbox, lights behind the grill, dip switch on the centre of the Bakelite steering wheel, rear ‘D’ lamps and spade back seats. It was originally one of a pair owned by a hotel in Great Yarmouth who used it ferry guests around, the second owner being an RAF helicopter pilot stationed in Norfolk. 

Our vendor discovered ‘Lily’, as she is affectionately known, in December 2020 in a nice dry barn near Wolverhampton where she had been laying dormant for at least 15 years. Our vendor had grown up around Series Land Rovers (his father was a Land Rover dealer) and his plant hire company had been running a fleet of them since 1961 so he had a great affection for the marque, his aim being to restore Lily to showroom condition in time for the 60^th Anniversary of his business.

Over the next 12 months Lily was stripped to her bare bones and meticulously rebuilt while preserving as much originality as possible. The vendor went to great lengths to source all the correct parts and to use experienced craftsmen for each part of the job. The original 1.6 petrol engine and running gear were all fully rebuilt by Andrew Coathupe; the chassis was also painstakingly restored and galvanised by Mark Taylor, who also did the bodywork, which is all original apart from the front o/s wing which was badly dented; even the radiator is the original unit, date-stamped August 1949, with a new core by Serck who had originally made it over 70 years before.

Although originally painted Bronze Green, our vendor preferred a lighter Authentic Sage Green so Lily was professionally repainted in this shade by S&P Paint Shop. A new canvas tilt was specially made to the correct pattern by Comptons of Digbeth. In case you are wondering, the tag to secure the tilt in the centre of the tailgate was presented to the vendor when he attended the launch of the new Defender at Eastnor Castle in 2007 and is an exact copy of those used on the original 1948 models. The Avon tyres are the correct tread pattern and were very expensive.

Many technical challenges were overcome and much time was spent sourcing correct replacements for parts beyond repair, the vendor estimating that well over £20k was invested in the project. The restoration was finally finished on 4^th December 2021, exactly a year to the day since our vendor had first clapped eyes on Lily.

Although there are no invoices to show the full extent of the work carried out, the vehicle speaks for itself and the entire restoration is documented in a lavishly illustrated 50-page book which comes with the car. It was also featured in a 7-page article in the Series One Club magazine, Legend (see photos). If you are concerned by the company livery on the vehicle, these are only vinyl stickers and could be easily removed if desired.  

Lily has now covered around 3,000 miles since she was returned to the road so she is nicely run-in and she has been starting promptly and running very nicely indeed as we have moved her around on site. Although MOT-exempt, she flew through this test in April this year with no advisories recorded.

As you can see in the photos, Lily is in wonderful shape for a lady her age and no doubt has at least another seven decades or more of useful life ahead of her. She is only reluctantly for sale because our vendor is mid-way through a major house refurbishment with all the cost and disturbance that ensues.

Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com