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With just a little luck I should take possession of a 1979 Series III by the end of February. My Land Rover journey started in May of last year (2017) when I spotted a newly restored Defender 90 on the Cool & Vintage website. I'd seen photos of these vintage restorations but it never occurred to me you could buy them. I assumed someone did the restoration, was proud of it and showing it off online. But the Cool & Vintage site had a link that read: "Become the proud owner of our next build." Whoa! You can buy these?!
I emailed them and discovered I could indeed buy one of their frame-off restorations (a new term for me). I came very close to purchasing one of their trucks which might have been a big mistake since they're in Portugal.
But now I had the bug and heard about Arkonik (UK). Over the course of a few long -- but very interesting phone calls -- I learned Arkonik could restore an old Land Rover for me if I could come up with $100K and didn't mind waiting for a year. I was tempted. But then a friend introduced me to a "concierge buyer" who would find (and vet) a Land Rover for me, in the U.S. Let's call him Mr. Wolf.
Over the course of several phone conversations, Mr. Wolf suggested that I might be a good candidate for a Series Land Rover, rather than a Defender. They're slow, noisy and hard to drive, he warned. Not for everybody. But once I saw my first Series truck I was hooked. Within a couple of weeks he located a truck (near San Diego) that was a bit more than halfway through a frame-off restoration and persuaded the owner to sell it. I wired a deposit with no idea of the final cost. I had to have that truck.
The restoration dragged on. And on. Once in Mr. Wolf's hands, he discovered "issues" with the truck but those have mostly been sorted out and in a few weeks my truck will be put inside a bigger truck for its trip to mid-Missouri.
I've always owned sensible cars. Practical cars. Quiet cars that get good gas mileage. I'm told my new/old truck will get about 10 miles to the gallon of diesel fuel and hit speeds as high as 50 mph (maybe). No power brakes. No power steering. It will be like learning to drive all over again, promised one veteran Landy owner.
My truck is a Santana and will proudly display a rusty old badge proclaiming its birth place.
I have a million questions (and I don't have the truck yet!) but will spend some time lurking and reading old forum posts.
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