2 Maine Land Rovers: Series II & 1983 LR 110

AL plans a series on Land Rovers. Starting now. They proliferate here in Wassenaar, which is an intensely urbanized civilized town in the flattest country in the world. Go figger. One of the vehicles I learned to drive on was Wayne Booth's Series II, pretty much the same model as below. That was back in Ste Margueite Station, Quebec in the Sixties.  

I like this Vinalhaven unit. Photos courtesy of Scott Dorrance, back home in Maine:

"I shot this truck on Vinalhaven this past September.  The owner drives it every day and the keys are in it all the time. Notice the keys in the ignition.  I guess it would be hard to take it any where if your not the owner!

It is a early 60's  Series II model and was rebuilt a few years back."--S.D. 

Another Maine LR: this one belongs to Gene Mirolli, in Brooksville: 

"1983 Land Rover 110, rebuilt on a galvanized chassis 15 years ago. It was originally a V8, I had it converted to diesel before importing-- a 200 Tdi, old, simple and reliable. It should run in the event of a large electro-magnetic pulse. I may have to push start it, though maybe not, the Lucas electrics in these things have a mind of their own.  This "stunning piece of kit" as the seller referred to it wasn't quite as described, the guy probably knew that anyone willing to wire that kind of coin for an unseen truck across an ocean watched too much Wild Kingdom as a kid and isn't being rational. An easy sell no doubt, especially with the galvy chassis (that was supposedly 5 years old which turned out to be 15. Fine, it looked good but the service records that shipped w/ it clearly show it was rebuilt 15 yrs ago) He even told me NOTHING leaked, not that I believed it, it's a Land Rover, they ALL leak (and it did, from everywhere except the transmission.)  It shipped into Eddystone, PA, customs took it from there to the North of Philly which is where I picked it up Friday June 11 in rush hour traffic. Not my chosen maiden voyage but I made it to my parents place in DE with 1 turn signal, an LT77 gearbox with 3 miles between 1st and 5th, a very elusive 1st to 2nd and geared to climb mountains not freeways.  The right hand drive was no biggy at all. Spent the weekend in my parents garage going over it, changing all the fluids, figuring out why it spews a quart of oil per 50 miles (Breather control valve never routed to intake, just plugged, these guys were pro's) replacing the tires that "had plenty of life left" (a dry rotted bias ply that never would have made the 600mi trip) Drove it home to ME Sunday night, under cover of darkness with it's British plates. That's the time I've accurately checked the mileage-29 mpg,
not too bad for 4300lbs of full time 4WD. I installed an Espar Airtronic D2 diesel fired heater today, I'll have warmth this Winter--whooopee."--G.M.