Description

1957 WSL766 LAND ROVER 109" DIESEL BASIC

One of just 152 built in 1957; extremelty original diesel model; finalist for the Tom Barton Award for the Best Land Rover at Heritage Motor Centre

Not your common or garden everyday 1957 Series 1 Land Rover (and they’re not exactly ten a penny, anyway): for a start, it’s a 109" chassis, and then, it’s Diesel– a two litre at that. And before you say they never made them like that originally we would admit they are rare. In fact, as any real enthusiast knows, they made 153 109" Diesels in 1957 (this is number 43 off the line) and the Series 1 Register lists only eight other survivors. This one spent much of its life as a fire engine (the truck bed still has the mounting holes for the pump) and it is believed the recorded mileage of 61,670 is genuine. Use as a fire engine meant little mileage and regular servicing and the vendor – a lifetime Land Rover enthusiast - says he has not had to do any work on the engine in the twenty years he has owned it. Our vendor bought the truck from a local garage and carried out some sympathetic repairs to the body and chassis, including spraying it grey, although the original red can be seen in one or two places if you look carefully. The wheels (later style for the sake of practicality) have been painted RAF blue which nicely complements the grey. There are a number of minor features which mark out this rare survivor: transmission damper on the prop-shaft, low-fuel warning light on the dash, heavy duty dynamo, fully-floating axle. These may be minor features for some whilst for others they are important, what can’t be argued is the rarity of the truck itself and its air of rugged authenticity. Our vendor owns other Land Rovers, including a Series 1 80", and likes his vehicles to be useable - both he and his wife said they would happily jump in and drive several hundred miles in this truck. WSL 766 has attended numerous LR shows over the part twenty years and the vendor and his wife are well-known to Series 1 Land Rover lovers, Brightwells hope that the new owners carry on the tradition.