Background
Have you ever watched a TV travel show and not spotted an old Land Rover? Whether in the background parked up and resting in the sun or actually as the star of the show, transporting babbling, enthusiastic presenters to some far-flung destination, a Land Rover of some kind almost always pops up when travel and unmade roads are a theme.
With good reason, too. If a Land Rover can’t get you there, then unless you’re a genuine Ray Mears type and happy to machete your way through thick foliage and swamps full of things that might like a bite of you, you probably aren’t going there at all – not without the help of a TV show, anyway.
If someone had told you in 1948 that the new Land Rover would still be in production 68 years later, you’d have laughed your head off. Nonetheless, despite myriad differences the last-of-the-line 2016 Defender was essentially the same vehicle – an astonishing record that will surely stand forever.
The Series II Land Rover was launched more than 60 years ago, in 1958 and in production for three years until the arrival of the IIA, which was a massive improvement over the early vehicles thanks to its (relatively) curvaceous and more accommodating body, features that made it a welcome update for the sort of folk for whom Solihull’s finest provided the only viable transport to get them across vast swathes of the Developing World.
Initially available with either the 2-litre petrol or diesel engine from the Series I, a move to larger and more powerful engines was inevitable; tectonic plates move faster than an early Series 2, even with your foot flat to the floor.
And while the 2.25-litre diesel engine that joined the lineup with the introduction of the Series IIA in 1961 isn’t the last word in power or refinement, it is hugely reliable and will run forever on the merest whiff of an oily rag. It is, therefore, utterly in keeping with the rest of the vehicle, which is distinctly agricultural but as tough as a miner’s steel-toe-capped boots.
The 72bhp petrol engine, on the other hand, might displace the same as its diesel stablemate but it’s a completely different animal, being silky smooth and a joy to rev. A 2.6-litre, straight-six diesel was also offered in the long wheelbase models, but it was never a popular option when new and is even rarer now.
The IIA was available with either an 88in wheelbase (the short wheelbase model, or SWB) or a 109in, the long wheelbase or LWB. Other factory options included a soft-top as well as a fixed-roof, and the latter was available with the much prized Safari roof, a double-skinned arrangement that is said to reduce the ambient temperature inside the cab thanks to a cooling flow of air betwixt the two.
You could choose your new LWB Land Rover as a Station Wagon with either ten or 12 seats (the latter was classed as a minibus, so was very tax-efficient…), a van or pickup. The nifty, ultra-manoeuvrable SWB could be had in the same configurations albeit seating fewer people.
But, no matter which engine you choose, the Series II and IIA were never about refinement, power, or handling; they were built to conquer the world using brute force and stubbornness and were the latest in a long line of Land Rovers that helped civil engineers, explorers and the military get to where they needed to be.
Oh, and they can be repaired and maintained by anyone competent with an adjustable spanner and a pocketful of loose change, which makes them ideal as a starter classic, especially when you consider their rock-solid resale value and the low cost of insurance.
