I run an old Discovery that was once essential to my work, however it isn't now and I was considering trading it in for an old Series Landrover once I have a replacement car.
My Landrover gets used for commutes but the car could do that job. Other than that it's a bike and dog carrier.
Being a bit handy with spanners and a welder I thought that an old series landrover could be fun as well as practical.
Or would you stick with a Disco that is running and run it into the ground.
Hmmmmm.

Either stick with the disco or get an early 90, Series Landrovers do your nut in after a while with their cart leaf suspension.

Hey? 3 series was the easiest car I've ever worked on. You can get at everything and mend most stuff with a hammer

Totally different propositions, you either want an old car or you don't (I have one as my only car).

I had a 1972 Series 3 and loved it but if it's getting more than occasional fun use, I'd go for a Defender 90 purely for the coil springs. Leaf springs give a poor ride and really limit the steering lock.

cynic-al
I'd get another car, but I'd still want a 4X4. Neither would do any serious traveling. The dilema is wether to keep my Disco that runs fine but will probably suffer terminal bodywork death before anything else. Or run an old series Landrover that I could for ever rebuild.

110 v8.lpg
excellent workhorse,reasonable economy,big fun,can pull houses down should the need arise…….

Series 3 or the 110 v8 as above.

Go for ever and are ace, 110 V8 increasingly rare as well

One of my customers got his Willy out today.

Or is it Willys ❓

old enough to be tax exempt, or stick with the disco. My preference would be a late Series II. Series IIIs aren't known for their build quality. An old tax exempt Series II with a 200tdi in it would be a perfect combo IMHO

furry muff oldgit!

Yep a transplant into a series is a tempting idea.

I only sold my 1961 S2 SWB about 4 years ago. The Series 2 was only made for 3 years & they are very rare, I had owned it for 18years, I loved it, for the first 10 years it was entirely original, I then got into serious offroading, & converted almost everything to be competitive, It went from a 2lt diesel to a petrol 2.8lt V6 Ford Cologne engine, ford transit front leaf springs onto its rear, I fitted, sports seats, wing mirrors, a wiper for the passenger side, I even fitted seatbelts, which I had to remove every year for the MOT as they were not legally fixed. It went like shit off a shovel, The speedo read 70mph max, but I could get it to go about 1-2inches past that mark, must have done a ton, very scary, especially on cross-plys, brakes were uprated to LWB drums, so brakes were still shit. When it was diesel max speed was 50mph with the wind in your back.
It was just a big boys toy for me, but I did loads with it, very versatile, & tax exempt, wish I still had it & had not done any mods.
My wife once said I loved it more than I loved her, I told her I loved her Mini Metro more than I loved her.
I am missing it, only last week I was looking through the net to see if I could pick up a S1
I have always had a car as well(mostly 4x4s)so I always could choose the level of comfort, I wanted to travel.
I recommend a series Landy if you enjoy tinkering, spare parts are readily available & cheap, drawback is fuel, mileage wise about I got about 18mpg when diesel, depending on wind direction & 15mpg when I stuck in the 2.8 petrol engine (aerodynamics of a brick).
Your more likely to get a decent S2a than a decent S3 due to Rover using crap steel in the 70's, all the S3's will have been re-chassised by now.
Unless you are prepared to love your series Landy, steer clear, get a Ninety they are much more comfortable.
I have also owned 2 discos, both of which were shit.
I'll have to end my love story now as I am almost in tears.

Almost forgot to mention the best bit, you get to wave at other Landy owners 😆

Buy an older 90 – you know it makes sense!

Mate is 'commuting' at the moment in his Series II with the crap heater it has, so he's rigged up a blow lamp for the dashboard, he's already melted the steering wheel in two places!!! 😆

Do you have a 200 tdi in the Disco?

Whip that out, and put it into a S3, add a set of disk brakes from Rockymountainspares, and you have economical and safe fun.

Impreza and some snow tyres?

Always fond of old Landies, when I was a kid I used to crew a Landie breakdown truck from a local garage at Castle Combe race circuit. The wipers were…interesting when it rained, and the seats were little more than camping chairs, but it was fun. Saw a terrific 90 conversion with running gear from a Range Rover, with huge coil springs in place of leafs. Went like the clappers, had checkerplate lining the loadbed, along the tops of the wings, along the sills, on the bonnet. That would be my ideal 4×4, with a V5 or V6 TDi. Yum.
How do I know it was quick? It overtook me on the A420 one night at around 70mph and pulled away into the distance, even when I got up to 80…

Buy an early 90 and convert into a V8, NAS spec SV – that would be vey cool…..

OR

Build a 100 inch defender based on your disco – that could be a lotta fun…

cut the disco up. Bobtail it and you have a warm S3. Actually any oldish Disco is probably worth less that a half decent series. ditch the wide tyres for some 750's and it will go anywhere better than a series, be far warmer and almost as easy to fix. 90's, 110's etc are over priced. which is why I bought a petrol 110 and dropped an Isuzu lump in. Oh yeah and you'll get 30 mpg out of a 300 disco whereas even a diesel series will do 20

I'd run the disco into the ground.

Lad a few doors up has an old Landy, he seems to spend all his time either working on it or doing overtime to pay for bits for it.

Know little about them myself but he said it was the norm for old ones.

It does look cool though.

do land rovers ever die properly? or do they just keep suffering from little electrical faults untill one day the owner moves on?

The very old one my dad used to have had no heater in – not recommended!

if it's an early Disco it must be due to fall apart, probably the most horrendous thing we had for work, certainly no match for the V8 90 that it replaced

run it into the ground as it can't have much value against a defender, then when it has to be replaced, get a wheezy na diesel and do the swap for the tdi

or mk1 range rover

I like the idea of putting the TDi in a series landrover. I think I'll look for a vehicle and look at the cost of carrying out the work.
I had a 90 previously.