I owned one of the last SIII's imported into the US back in the '90's. British Leyland only imported about 800 '74 SIII's and mine was one of the last. It was owned by a guy who converted the 88 into something of a camper. He toured the perimeter of the US writing a travel log for a magazine at the height of the first energy crisis. The truck was passed down to the grandkids who all attended Harvard. The truck remained there through most of the '80's and early '90's. It was a glorified chicken coop when I bought it.

If Zak were to go back through Rovers Norths sales records in the late '90's and early '00's he'd see that I spent enough restoring that truck to put Mark Latorney's kids through a couple of years at any ivy league school. I put over 50K miles on that truck and loved it but it just wasn't what I really needed. Plus, entering into my 40's, I prefered a coiler anyway. I wound up with a very cool 5 speed, four door Range Rover. I must confess, it was more my speed.

I would like either a 109 truck cab or a 110 for hauling hay around the property and for farm supplies but for now, my Ford F150 does just fine.

 

I didn't realize there so few. I saw a 1974 SIII on Craigslist about 6 years ago for dirt cheap but I let it slip past because it "needed work" and I was a little biased against rovers back then. Before I got bit by the bug.

 

Rover never sold many trucks here in the US. They were extremely rare. I think the actual number for Land Rovers imported to the US in '74 was around 810. They were all station wagons and all 88's. The 109 never caught on. With such small numbers it was next to impossible for British Leyland to provide an adequate support network. That combined with emissions and safety requirements BL finally threw in the towel after '74. MG and Triumph lasted awhile longer but by '80 they were finished too.

 

I started my LR 'love affair' with a '67 Series 2A which had done some hard work in it's time. I did a 'nut and bolt' rebuild in the early '70's to it including the engine (rebored, new pistons, shells and reground crank etc) also the transfer and gearbox with new bearings all round. Some of the old bearings were in better shape than the new ones so I reused the old. New rear cross member on the chassis and new springs and bushes then all painted with bitumen chassis black paints. Converted the headlights and grille to a Series 3 and sprayed the inside of the truck. New seats front and rear (still very uncomfortable). The big problem was it was a 2.25 litre PETROL and was a gas guzzler and very, very slow...........75 mph and you were really flying. We used the truck touring right across europe and it never missed a beat. It had big 7.50x16 crossply tires which made lots of road noise. It was great on the farm tracks and green lanes and we kept it for many years and finally replaced it with a nearly new 1982 Range Rover (classic crappy pale blue paintwork with tan color interior and metal Rostyle wheels) 3.5 litre which also toured europe, great truck. Unfortunately it stood around for many years after my former wife died and I let it deteriorate and finally sold it cheaply in the mid 1990's.