In Led Zeppelin's The Rover, Robert Plant sings I know to trip is just to fall. Coincidentally, in today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Land Rover, you could trip out over its kit, that is if you'll fall for its price.
Yesterday's 1976 Datsun Sunny Ute comes from a land down under, but sadly its price was seen as a blunder. Though beer does flow and men chunder, 87% of you voted it a total plunder.
Ouch, that was painful. I really should apologize to Colin Hay for that. Maybe next time I'm buying oranges at an offramp, I will.
Let's see now, oddball truck, not officially sold here in the States, steering wheel on the wrong side… yep that was fun, let's do that again. Today however, instead of a truck hailing from one of Great Britain's penal colonies, we've got one from ol' Perfidious Albion itself.
Now it is true, Land Rover once sold the Defender 110 here in the States, at least for a while. In fact the one time I ever met Diane Keaton (nice lady that) she happened to be driving one. What Land Rover kept from us however, were diesel stick shift right-hand drive models like today's 1981 edition, in electric British Racing Green.
Land Rover didn't sell us right-hand drive Defenders because apparently they're a pain in the ass at the drive-thru. They didn't give us the diesel either because apparently they're a pain in the ass to sit behind at the drive-thru. This one's not only both a curb-side driver and in possession of an oil burner, but is also seemingly in great shape and a three-pedal car. What it's most likely not however, is a 1981 model.
You see, this truck has the squared-off nose and long hood of the One Ten model, and to the best of my knowledge that bad boy didn't usurp the Series III until the 1983 model year. This one also has wind-up windows making it at least an '84 or newer. That may not seem to be a big deal, as the later cars did sport additional mechanical benefits over the earlier ones, including coil suspension, and an AWD system derived from the Range Rover, but it still means there's something sketchy about this proud and compression-ignited beast.
Speaking of which, what diesel exactly is under this car's hood? Well, assuming that it is a mid '80s Defender, it's probably the 2.5-litre 68-bhp four. Yes, I said 68 horses. No, that's not a lot of them. Yes, that'll make it slow. The can full of marbles is backed up by a long stick, probably an LT77 five-speed but the ad doesn't divulge the number of cogs in the box.
The rest of the car looks about as fap-worthy as you could want from a Defender, with seating for three in both the first and second rows - although the front middle passenger's crotch is going to get a lot of shift lever action - and a pair of side-facing benches in the way back. It's like a BRG school bus, which is what I imagine British kids who aren't Harry Potter take to academy.
Aside from the awkwardness of driving on the wrong side of the car - and a rear door hinged for the Monarchy's streets - this Land Rover presses pretty much all the right buttons, including apparently making it through the gauntlet of registration that is the California DMV. What you now need to decide is if its $22,900 price tag ultimately pushes the sale button.
Before you do that however, consider again the fact that there's potential sketchiness surrounding this truck's age, as well as this fact. Yeah, I'd be scared too, but perhaps not enough not to roll the dice for this green machine. What do you think, is this Defender worth $22,900? Or, is that price way over this Land Rover?
You decide!
Orange County CA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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