1952 Land Rover Series 1

For now, let’s refer to this charming old Land Rover as Ratty. Not because of its exterior condition - because nothing wears such a patina as well as a Series 1 Landy - but because it spent its early life on the river bank.

The River Boards Act of 1948 saw the creation of a number of regional bodies to oversee the management of the UK’s main rivers and their catchment areas. One such body was the Severn River Board of Malvern Worcestershire, to which Ratty was first registered in September 1952.

A follow up Water Resources Act of 1963 re-organised some of the regions and renamed the Boards as Authorities from 1 April 1965 and so, ever efficient, Ratty was re-registered to the newly named Severn River Authority at the same address five days later.

After nearly 16 years of Crown service along the River Severn, Ratty was then bought by a Mr Smith - possibly a boat-dweller who lived on the Severn at the Ketch in Worcester - in March 1968, where it continued to serve people who were “messing about on the river”.

There’s then a bit of a gap in our “tales from the river bank”, with Ratty popping up in Wrexham in the mid-90s and then East Sussex a year later, before resurfacing again in Belper in Derbyshire in 2009, where it underwent a body off overhaul, sorting out the chassis, bulkhead and running gear and - although preserving the exterior patina - making it roadworthy once again.

The current owner, a serial Land Rover owner and Series 1 club member, bought Ratty from them in November 2010 with the intention of fully restoring it to concours condition. Needless to say with its glorious patina, his fellow club members talked him out of doing so and instead the vehicle has just been used sparingly as it is with the occasional repair and maintenance.

With minimal recent usage and an early retirement to Portugal pending, Ratty is now looking for a new owner.

When restoring a listed building, it is obviously important to preserve what is original but it is equally important to ensure that the repairs or more modern additions aren’t hidden or given a fake look of age, so that the full story of the building is told in its appearance.

So too, with old vehicles like this Land Rover. Much of its story leaps out at you from the gallery of photos as readily as if you were reading what we’ve got to say about it. The different shades of green and varying levels of patina (or lack of it) show which parts have been replaced or repaired and roughly when.

For example, the panels of the rear nearside wing which are from the 70's were supplied new from Land Rover (British Leyland) and painted in red primer.

A primrose petal motif was painted on the front wings, again some years back as they have long-since faded. Despite numerous attempts the current owner has not been able to find out when and who painted these.

More recently the chassis and bulkhead have been repaired and repainted - the history file suggests this was done in 2009 - and other panels too look more recent than the rest - such as the bonnet and front grille panel.

Although nearly every panel carries multiple scuffs and scratches and areas of bare aluminium where the paint has worn away, they are all pretty straight looking with few undulations, which is quite unusual for an unrestored Series Land Rover - although the tailgate has a section of its aluminium beading lifting up.

In the rear, the load bed is now bare metal, with very little paint remaining and thinner side pods in the same condition as the outside. Attached to the rear cabin bulkhead is a starting handle.  

Ratty is running without its doors, which is very easily done with old Land Rovers, although two doors are retained with the vehicle, along with the separate door tops. The lower nearside door has had an alloy reaction according to the current owner causing the blackening of the deep bronze green.  The current owner suggests the lower door is original (certainly in type) but the tops he does not know.  These do, however, need re-building but they are correct for the year.  The doors have only been fitted once on a journey from Derbyshire when the current owner first bought the vehicle.  

In complete contrast, the truck-cab canvas was purchased in March 2020, made by Undercover Covers of Birmingham who specialise in Land Rover canvases.

The other exterior fixtures and fittings seem functional - there is a wiper (which was an extra back in the day) installed on the driver’s side only and a mirror mounted on the side of the windscreen. We were going to refer to it as a “passing mirror” but given the top speed of these things perhaps a “being passed mirror” is more apt.

Ratty sits on the correct 16-inch steel wheels, painted and repainted a number of times in variations of drab green or bronze green. The current owner obtained these from various  sources as he was cautious to get the correct year as they differ from the later vehicles which were larger. They are fitted with Deestone Extra Traction tyres, which have been recently fitted.

As befits a utilitarian vehicle, the interior is almost as spartan as the outside, with few comforts other than a couple of vinyl covered seat cushions with rather older padded seat backs attached to the rear bulkhead. Both seat backs are original and importantly the correct shape "elephant hide" but are split, the driver’s one more so, exposing the horse-hair stuffing inside - but the seat bases appear in good order although these are not original.

Under the driver’s seat is the fuel tank - refurbished back in 2009 - and under the passenger side is a cubby full of spares, tie ropes and a socket and extension bar for the wheel nuts. There is no central seat fitted, although previous owner “John” was there at some point based on the name scratched into the paint.

Up front the dashboard is almost as basic as you can get - although a Clayton heater has been installed, replacing the original Smiths unit. The banjo steering wheel looks original but has been fitted with a vinyl rim cover some while back.

The floors are mostly now bare metal, the paint having been worn away over the years by countless work boots. By the time this vehicle was built, Land Rover had adopted the three lever system for the gear box. A conventional black gear knob for selecting reverse or forward gears (in either range), red knob to transfer drive between the low and high ratio gearboxes and a yellow knob to select four-wheel-drive in high range.

Under the bonnet, all looks fairly tidy and in good order - with just a little bit of paint flaking off some of the intake pipes. The red-painted engine is not the original (it is, however, according to the current owner, correct to year), as it had suffered a cracked block and was replaced in March 2011 with a crated and reconditioned fire engine motor. The radiator looks in good condition (the current owner had this refurbished with a new core fitted by Cambridge Radiators approximately 5 years ago).  There are only a few signs of surface rust here and there on some of the other ancillaries.

Curiously a few sections of pipework have been replaced with some domestic copper plumbing but the current owner confirms he has seen many others fitted with the same so he has never questioned their authenticity and it seems to have worked out ok. In period, working Land Rovers were always kept going by whatever came to hand.

The undersides of the vehicle appear a little scruffy, but the chassis looks strong and there is no corrosion evident beyond a light bloom on the drive-train components. There is definitely evidence of welded repairs here and there across the vehicle, exactly as you would expect. What isn’t underbody aluminium (which is obviously not prone to rust) is otherwise coated in underseal or a protective grease. The exhaust appears generally ok but is starting to rust across the seams.

The vehicle runs well enough, although the starter motor is currently just spinning and not engaging. It may need a bit of “percussive maintenance” from time to time... or a few strong blokes for a push start! We've also managed to start it off the starter handle without issue. As mentioned, the vendor has not used Ratty much over the years, but did take it out for a last 4 mile blast before loading it up, during which he reports he gave it a proper rev and it ran exceedingly well. We suspect this might have been too much for the old spark plugs, as that last blast may have finished off one of them - there is a bit of a misfire now and plug no. 2 is looking suspiciously overheated... 

Ratty has a current MOT valid until May 2022, which it passed without a single advisory, as it did the year before. As an historic vehicle it is of course exempt, but we like to see owners having them independently inspected for roadworthiness each year.

The vehicle comes with something of a history file, mostly containing invoices for parts and work done in 2009 as well as a few more recent bills. There are also some old tax discs, photos of the previous restorative work to the chassis and bulkhead and photocopies of Ratty’s original buff “log book” registration documents.

Apparently there are more documents currently in storage whilst building work is done. If they come to hand after the sale, the vendor may be able to send them on to the new owner.

The work done in 2009 included body-off repairs and repainting of the chassis, the bulkhead, an overhaul of the running gear and replacement of any other parts required to be roadworthy and safe. This included refurbishment of the fuel tank, which is very important as the driver is basically sat on top of it!

As well as the engine replacement, the current owner also had the running gear overhauled and refurbished - gearbox, rear diff, steering, brakes, suspension, carb and hood. Also the current owner fitted a correct rear chassis member last year as the previous one was for a later vehicle. The rest of the chassis was checked at the same time.

Ratty was actually stolen from the current owner’s driveway about 9 years ago, but clearly the thieves overestimated the getaway capabilities of such vehicles (particularly when they couldn’t bump start it) as it was happily discovered abandoned only about 100 metres away.

Land Rovers have never really gone out of fashion, their classless practicality and no nonsense engineering have a wide appeal. As a collectable classic vehicle though, these early Series Land Rovers have seen something of a renaissance in recent years.

Unlike the later Land Rover Defenders, which fetch bigger bucks once they’ve been given a testosterone-fuelled makeover, these Series vehicles demand more sympathetic treatment and preservation of their originality for optimum value.

This one may pose the new owner something of a challenge as to how to balance the desire for a smart looking vehicle without losing the patinated charm of its original panels. 

We think that Ratty will sell for between £10,000 and £16,000, but we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the bidding went even higher - such is the love for these charming and much-admired country characters.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon. Our offices are open Mon-Fri 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. To arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.