Land Rover Series III 109-inch petrol

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The Series III Land Rover arrived in 1971, although the new model was really only a mild facelift of the long-running Series II.

The headlights, which had migrated to the outside of the front wings in the very late Series IIA, stayed put, the centre grille being made of plastic rather than steel mesh much to the chagrin of the bush barbecue brigade! The instruments had moved in front of the driver in a tough plastic facia and that was about your lot.

Land Rover were back to capacity, providing much needed financial support to British Leyland who were suffering with the frightening costs of new model development and attempting to rationalise the complex range of models that they had inherited from the likes of Triumph, Rover and Jaguar.

Fortunately for the business, the military contracts kept rolling in, the government buying an endless stream of new 88” and 109” Land Rovers which were used and abused by squaddies across the land.

This 1978 Series III 109” was finally demobbed in April 1987. Its military service record is unknown, but it still carries the antennae mountings on the front wings which may well point to a previous signals role when in service. It has useful side-facing rear seats and a full tilt and was purchased by the vendor in late 2013 with just under 76,000 miles on the clock to keep at his weekend house in the Cotswolds. It is currently MOTd until October 2016, the odometer reading having risen to just 76,500 miles.

Now surplus to requirements, he has decided to move it on, advising that it has proved an extremely reliable and useful workhorse to have about the place.