The scene is taking place in Kayah State, close to the Thai border. A loud whine pierces the humid air of the Burmese jungle, scaring off a few white egrets from one edge of the swamp to the other. The whine abruptly stops, a grunt follows, and a lower-pitched note. This is not a wild elephant. No, it’s much rarer than that in these parts.
This is a big 40ish-year-old mechanical beast of burden built on a faraway island, a mythical contraption that beat the odds and survived to the present despite the demise of its parent company. This is a 109’’ Series III Land-Rover.
Most 4×4 vehicles leave me pretty cold. But then most (not all) of them are SUVs these days, full of bling, Bluetooth gadgetry and climate control nick-nacks and signifying nothing except a need to dominate the treacherous roads of Chelsea or Miami Beach. Back when the Land-Rover was designed, right after the Second World War, an all-terrain vehicle was not recreational. It was either military or civilian, but always slated for hard work in mud, sand or snow.
By the time the Series III Land-Rover came out in 1971, Rover was part of British Leyland. Built at the historic Rover plant in Solihull, this iconic vehicle was only partially shielded from the fracas and hubris of its corporate owner. Plastics were now all the rage, so the Landy got a new grille and dashboard made of the stuff. But aside from the relocation of the headlamps to the front wings (actually on the final Series IIAs in 1969) and flatter door hinges, few external changes were imposed on the old girl, courtesy of Rover designer David Bache.
This is the LWB version in its full passenger-loading glory. The middle front seat is only usable for a (literally) legless person or a small child, but three can sit on the back seat pretty comfortably. Less appealing but practical: the rear compartment offers room for four extra passengers, though the high floor would make a long journey pretty tiresome.
Series III Land-Rovers were powered by a 2.25 litre 4-cyl. petrol or Diesel engines, as well as a 2.6 litre six. This one has the 4-cyl. gasoline version, which is pretty durable but not exactly quick. Not that speed was ever part of the Landy’s remit. In 1980, a V8-powered Land-Rover was created, thanks to the BL/Rover parts bin. The V8 necessitated a complete redesign of the front end, which was a step towards the Land-Rover’s 1985 replacements, the Ninety and One Ten (renamed as the Defender in 1990).
Still, in 1979, having a split windscreen and sliding windows was perhaps a sign that the Series III was approaching retirement age. One look at Jeeps or IH Scouts and one might think the Land-Rover was a couple decades behind. But that was still not an issue until the BL blowout began to affect the Solihull plant in the late ‘70s. Quality and durability took a nosedive just as several dangerous rivals appeared.
One of the coolest design detail on this car is the recessed fuel filler cap.
Europeans were fielding serious competitors by 1979, especially the Steyr-Daimler-Puch G-Wagen and the Lada Niva, as did the Japanese. The Toyota Land Cruiser, Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero really started to eat away Land-Rover’s once-dominant position in African, Australian, Asian and Middle-Eastern markets in the ‘80s. Land-Rover sales plummeted outside Europe and never really recovered, though the marque eventually managed to claw its way back to a decent market share in the old continent and in the UK.
But BL had (for once) been prescient and developed the Range Rover back in 1970. The 4WD Rovers could stand on two legs, one Land and one Range, to continue competing in a more crowded but also growing market. Nowadays owned by the Tata group, Land/Range Rover is the only part of BL that made it out of the debacle relatively unscathed, along with Jaguar.
The Defender, essentially identical to this Series III except for a few details, soldiered on until January of this year, just a couple of years shy of its 70th birthday. A venerable British institution is now laid to rest, awaiting its replacement to be announced in the coming weeks or months.
Used to stand for “Getting Better”. Now it might be “Gone Brexit”…
Meantime, this Landy is still hard at it, working in one of the most remote parts of a remote country. Paved roads don’t tend to stay paved for very long in Myanmar thanks to the six months of monsoon we get every year.
This Series III, with its lamp guards, Safari snorkel, Defender wheel arches and diamond-plated wings, looks perfectly at home in Southeast Asia. As long as the axles remain in one piece (breakage is a common ailment on these if they are overloaded), there is no reason why it shouldn’t keep calm and carry on well into this century.
The bushmen didnt like that new plastic grille. The old one made of steel could easily be used over the campfire.
I see a Land Rover from this era clattering around town once in a while. It blows my mind seeing how things have changed from this era of no nonsense off-roading to the chrome/wood/leather festooned luxobarges they are today. Granted, I’d rather have the luxobarge but it’s just fascinating.
I suppose the same could be said of Jeep, with their top models being basically near-luxobarges similarly festooned but they still make the pretty rough and tumble Wrangler.
At least that Land Rover won’t end hanged to a tree like the one in the movie “The Gods must be Crazy”. 😉
I was going to post that too. It must’ve had the best vehicle gags ever! Even a W116 suffers some verbal abuse in that film.
Catchphrase: “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Definitely the funniest vehicle gag I’ve ever seen!
That truck has an undeniable cool factor that eludes most everything else. More like a piece of industrial equipment than a vehicle…
1979 Land Rover
Look up the 2 Definition’s in Webster’s Dictionary
The captions under the picture of this vehicle reads …
Beauty is only skin deep…Ugly goes clear to the Bone.
or
Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. Fugly but Capable !
A Land Rover will get you anywhere in the world, but a Land Cruiser will get you back. There are plenty of good reasons sales collapsed in Oz as soon as the Toyota and the Datsun Patrol arrived in our market….
Is there a reason the fenders sit so far forward, or a reason the radiator sets so far back?
The space between the fenders (wings) ahead of the radiator was for a winch.
With a bit of preparation, you can do this. https://youtu.be/1KL0rwkj2vQ
Nice write up on a great find, and good to see on still earning its keep away from home.
Should we add MINI to the list of BL survivors? It’s a very different product, I know, but there is a technical and commercial link
There is a family a few blocks away from me that has a sixties era Land Rover like the subject vehicle. They also have a smaller two door model from the same era I assume. Nice to see these two rigs in the neighbourhood now and then they certainly look and sound unlike anything else around here.
My only experience with a LR was a Discovery model I tested during vacation in Ontario. The PR rep at Land Rover Canada had me drive through an obstacle course they had at the back. That SUV could drive through anything. Left a lasting impression on me for many years. It also had very good road manners on pavement.
Note this one has the safari roof too – the second roof skin mounted on top of the ribs in the normal roof, to reduce solar heat transmitted into the interior.
There is roof for the centre front passenger’s legs, not necessarily comfortable space but it beats walking. It is a shame that they never redesigned the cabin as it is pretty cramped in many ways such as the bulkhead under the front seats (see photo of the rear seat) and poor seat travel.