1971 Land Rover 109 LWB Series IIA

The Series IIA is considered by many to be the most hardy Series model ever constructed. It's also the type of classic Land Rover that features strongly in the general public's perception of the brand due to its many appearances in popular films and television documentaries set in Africa throughout the 1960s, such as Born Free.

In February 1968, just a few months after its manufacturer had been subsumed into the Leyland Motor Corporation, the Land Rover celebrated its twentieth birthday, with total production just short of 600,000, of which more than 70% had been exported.

In 1967, a 2.6-litre, six cylinder petrol engine was introduced for the long-wheelbase models which also, finally, got to benefit from servo-assisted brakes. 811 of these were NADA (or North American Dollar Area) trucks, which were the only long-wheelbase models made for the American and Canadian markets.

Certainly, it was whilst the Series IIA was in production that sales of utility Land Rovers reached their peak, and in 1969/70 sales of over 60,000 Land Rovers a year were recorded. (For comparison, the sales of the Defender since the 90s have been around the 25,000 level.) Record sales do not automatically confer domination of the market but the Land Rover came to dominate the World simply because it was the best. In the 1960s the Land Rover represented almost 90% of the Australian 4×4 market and this level of success was repeated in other areas such as Africa and the Middle East.Good examples of Series IIs and IIAs are now beginning to achieve classic status, and are starting to appreciate in value, although many are still in daily use.

The first registered owners of the car on offer today, were the infamous Bucharest Serviciul de Telecomunicati (UM 0731) (Public Order and Safety) and it then went on to be used for "Hunting" by the Communist Romanian Secret Service during the Ceausescu dictatorship. This versatile vehicle with a thought provoking history was first registered in 1971 and is presented in light grey, with a 4 speed manual gearbox, 2.6 in-line 6 cylinder petrol engine and has only 899 km on the clock. Ideal for use as a work horse around the farm and stables, as a second or third family vehicle or as a collector's piece, and is certainly an exciting prospect.