Land Rover 110 Station Wagon V8

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The story of the world-beating Land Rover is well known with Land Rover Chief Engineer, Maurice Wilks, developing a surplus wartime Willys Jeep into what was to become the iconic farmer’s friend.

The original early Land Rovers have long been highly collectable and as their values have elevated, their place has been taken by newer ‘Series’ Land Rovers. You only have to glance through the past results pages of previous Brightwells Classic Car sales to see the gradual rise in interest in newer series Land Rovers within the classic car buying community.

Introduced in 1983 to replace the S3, Land Rover did something quite startling with their 90 and 110 models, setting the standard for all models from that day onwards and turning it from a utility vehicle into a multi-purpose family vehicle with improved handling and ride comfort.

Alongside a wheelbase increase came a raft of improvements: fully coil sprung suspension did away with the old cart leaves, discs brakes and a servo made stopping a reality not wishful thinking and the full-time transmission from the Range Rover made the myriad choice of brightly coloured levers sprouting from the central tunnel redundant while introducing astonishing levels of grip at all times.

On the outside, the changes were more obvious with a full-length bonnet and a revised grill. Wheel arch extensions were fitted to cover the wider track and for the first time the split windscreen was done away with in favour of a single piece screen. The interior was also modernised with more luxurious trim and wind-up windows in place of slide windows (although slide windows were retained on the earliest models).

Basic diesel and petrol choices remained the same, with the most powerful engine carried over from the Stage One 109” chassis as the Rover V8. In 1990 the One-Ten became the Defender 110, inaugurating a model range that remained in production until February 2016.

The very early One-Ten on offer today is a full 12-seater County Station Wagon and is powered by the venerable 3.5-litre Rover V8 petrol engine. Appearing to be in very sound and original condition throughout, it retains the sliding windows of the first models, still has its original seats and has the early type Range Rover 4-speed gearbox with pneumatic diff lock.

The engine was rebuilt less than 300 miles ago and the carburettors overhauled, the result being an unusually quiet and sweet-running motor. In the current ownership since 2012, it is said to drive well and is due to have a fresh MOT in time for the sale. It also comes with a nice single digit number plate.

These early One-Tens are now eligible for export to the USA as they are over 25 years old. The most highly sought after ones are, of course, the V8 models (what self-respecting Yank would be seen in anything less?). In order to gain entry to America, customs have to be satisfied that the vehicle remains original and as it was presented from the factory. This V8 is exactly that and should be no problem to export to the USA.