1952 Land Rover Series I 80" Soft Top

JVU 704 has led a comparatively gentle life for a Series 1 Land Rover having been despatched new to the War Department on 28th February 1952 and subsequently based at Kinmel Army Camp at Rhyl where for many years it sat on axle stands in Engineering Training, and was used for teaching Cadets how to change gear, brake linings, engine oil etc. It was demobbed on 20th May 1976 and was duly UK-registered with the number it wears to this day. When it came out, it was painted green and bought by John Craddock, the Land Rover parts distributor, who had it for the best part of 25 years. It has covered just 5,336 miles, not surprising as it didn’t go anywhere for the first 25 years and was then used lightly.

The third of the three Series Is that we have been asked to bring to auction by a Midlands-based Land Rover Collector, JVU 704 was subject to a comprehensive restoration between March 2017 and July 2020 and has covered about 80 miles since then. As well as being particularly fastidious about the quality of the restoration, our vendor obviously felt the same way about the paperwork as the car is supplied with a spreadsheet listing every item of expenditure down to the last penny and, in this case, it runs to 36 separate entries totalling £9,350.28. There is no point in listing selected items here as every last, nut, bolt and grommet is detailed on the sheet and combined with a full set of receipts and detailed photographs of the restoration, it's difficult not to be genuinely impressed with the effort that's gone in to preparing this lightly-used Series I for 'Civvy Street'. We understand that, compared to the other two cars, this restoration was considerably easier as, during its time in the Army, most of the components had been removed and replaced a large number of times.

Superbly presented in Limestone, with an odometer reading of 5,336 miles and accompanied by its current V5C, BMIHT Heritage Certificate and a full set of receipts and photographs of the restorative work carried out, we welcome and encourage your close inspection of JVU 704 and, indeed, of its two Series I siblings.