Hi, I was hoping to get some advice. Always wanted a defender, particularly a classic one, and saw this one for sale:

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-...duced/13555495

Any opinions? The model seems to be 88 SWB however the reg year is 1976- is this a different body on an older chassis? Anything I should look out for? I'd like to get something that run fairly reliably.

Thanks

 

That's not a defender its a Series III 2 different beasts

 

Thanks, Defender's came later right? Any opinions on this Series III and what I should look out for?

 

the defenders came much later but the change over point to the 90 and 110 was 1983. The big tell is coil sprung suspension on the 90/110 defender variants. Series are great trucks, the big thing is little 4 bangers, drum brakes and leaf springs

 

Land Rover have decided to undertake some revisionist history and now refer to all series /90/110 models as "Defenders" in order to claim and uninterrupted manufacturing run, so whatever you want to call it is fine.

It appears to be an ex military S3 88". As mentioned above, this means drum brakes all round, no power steering and leaf springs. With the original Diesel installed, it'll see around 45mph if you get a good one.

Everything on these trucks is interchangeable for the most part. Budget permitting, you can easily drop in a 200tdi and more modern transmission. Other folks do an axle swap to a d1 or Range Rover axles to get disc brakes all the way around.