1973 Land Rover Range Rover 3.8 Perkins diesel

Summary:

Serious torque with serious noise

Faults:

Hydraulic clutch line fractured.

Oil and filters needed changing every 3000 miles or got smoky - what can you expect for a 30 year old engine (after researching the engine numbers, the engine was found to be older than the truck!)

General Comments:

Bought the truck as a clapped out wreck. Chassis was perfect, engine needed a total rebuild. Unknown previous mileage, due to non-working odometer. Mileage put at zero after rebuild.

So much torque, could pull a house down. So much engine noise, could BLOW a house down! SERIOUSLY noisy above 20mph, impossible to have conversation with passengers without shouting.

You soon get used to the body roll and find yourself bombing along country lanes. Top motorway speed about 85mph.

Off-road ability excellent, but watch out for rear springs dislocating at extreme crossaxles, just check before returning to tarmac, springs will rub on tyres unless hammered back into their seats - a feature, not a fault!

Fuel consumption - 25mpg around town, 35mpg on the open road.

Manual gearbox is VERY clunky, but the toughest Land Rover ever made. Mine was fitted with overdrive. The engine torque was such that I left it in 4th most of the time, just put the overdrive in and out when needed.

Mine was painted matt NATO green and looked and sounded very intimidating, even taxi drivers thought twice before pulling out in front of me!

Watch out for four-wheel drifts on wet twisty country lanes, surprisingly easy to correct though.

A much regretted sale, my wife was just too short to reach the pedals and gear lever.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th January, 2001