1976 Land Rover Series III
1976 Land Rover Series III
Engine - 2.25 4 Cylinder Petrol
Transmission - 4 Speed Manual w/ Fairey Overdrive
Suspension - Stock
Tyres - 235/85R/16 BFG KO
Equipped For - Local Drives
Brook, this has been a project you’ve been working on for a while now. How happy are you that it's finished?
Totally, I think it has just ticked over a year. It was a panic sell from a bloke in Canberra right before Covid went crazy and lockdown hit. I sold another car of mine and jumped on it as a lockdown project. I was hoping to smash it out in a couple of months or so, but then got busy with life/work so it took a little longer than I had hoped.
How much work has gone into getting the Series III to where it is today?
I feel like I haven’t done a lot for some odd reason, I think it was because I did a fair chunk of the work early on when I was still super hyped and bored through the first brutal hard lockdown. All of the parts were there to complete it and it came with a heaaaap of new parts to throw on it too which was awesome. But when I look back over the past year, I have done more work than I thought I had… It was pretty rough when it turned up on the tow truck but it was super original and rust-free. It had been sitting on a farm for god knows how many years up in Canberra.
The engine was pretty much just a block with all the ancillaries detached and ready to be replaced with new parts. A fresh head gasket went on and I cleaned up the head as best as I could. New hoses everywhere, new radiator, fan, dizzy, leads, plugs, alternator, battery, carb etc. The engine runs like a sewing machine now! The bodywork needed a lot of elbow grease, heaps of moss and growth which took forever to remove. Then finished with a cut, polish and wax which really brought the original paint back to life. I love the bumps and bruises on it still though! I resealed up the transfer case, freshened up the brakes with all new parts, new wheel bearings went in & I rebuilt the prop shafts. Yada yada yada, it’s as good as it can be without going full resto, I really wanted to keep it as original as possible.
The wheels were sandblasted and painted in an off white 2k paint and wrapped in fresh rubber and as for the interior - new seats were installed, the dash refurbished, gauges rebuilt and cleaned up + plus a good overall clean up. It came up fairly well I think...
There's a heap of little stuff I have done along the way too, you know how it is.
By the looks of it you’ve done your best to keep it period correct, is that the vibe you were going for?
100%. I didn’t want to hack up a two-owner, super original Landy. If it was rougher and more of a basket case I would have been more inclined to fully restore it but I couldn’t bring myself to do it to this one. I really love the challenge of restraining yourself on builds like these and finding the balance point between original and refurbished/new. These Landrovers just look so damn good with the bumps and bruises on them.. they are agricultural work horses so why cover up all the history?
Will we see the Series III smashing through the Victorian high country? Or is it more of a Sunday drive?
No chance, I couldn’t think of anything worse than sitting on a freeway out to the bush for hours with this thing revving its head off at 100km. I will leave that stuff for the Rangie and just keep this one as a weekend urban cruiser in the warmer months as well as a few cheeky beach missions with the crew.
Photos by OG Contributor Brook James