This amazing survivor is a 1973 Land Rover Series III that was discovered by the owner at a wealthy apple farmer’s house in Tieton, Washington, it had been sitting for 10 years due to a stuck clutch and was in need of a rescue. When he discovered this Series 3 he knew he needed to have it, fixing the clutch isn’t a huge job of course but as with any vehicle that’s been sitting for 10 years he knew he was going to need to replace all the fluids and go over each mechanical component with a fine tooth comb to ensure it’s working correctly. This vehicle with a desert tradition runs and drives perfectly. The motor and gearbox were gone through and the interior was replaced 15K miles ago.
Once the owner completed the above, he fitted a new set of seats for comfort and a new set of tires for safety, it’s also fitted with a Roverdrive – an overdrive unit that makes it far more useable on long distance trips that require higher-speed cruising. With its rust free chassis and excellent original condition he didn’t want to do a full restoration, but rather he decided to keep it as a patinated survivor – a look that suits Series Land Rovers remarkably well.
As with all Series Land Rovers, this one has a removable hardtop, removable door tops, and a windscreen that folds down onto the hood (when the spare tire has been removed). This makes it an excellent summer vehicle and putting it all back together requires some basic hand tools, two people, and less than half an hour once you get the hang of it.
The only change he added to the vehicle was directly related to his day job, he’s got a good hand with a paint brush and he added an authentic-looking British Trans-Africa Expedition livery to both sides of the Land Rover, properly patinated to match the rest of the vehicle.
He explains that he’s always loved the original British Trans-Africa Expedition vehicles and this one certainly looks the part, he was careful to use city names that don’t match the actual route used in 1973/1974 so that future owners can’t pass it off as original.
The 1973/1974 Trans-Africa Expedition ran between Johannesburg and London, however there’s a unique opportunity for the new owner of this particular Land Rover to take it over to North Africa and do the Morocco – Cape Town route, then update the year on the livery. This would make a welcome addition to any collector of British vehicles, especially Rovers.