1951 Land Rover Series I, 80", 1575 cc (see text). Registrat...

Hammer

£9,000

1951 Land Rover Series I, 80", 1575 cc (see text). Registration number LXS 409 (non transferrable). Chassis number 2 - 616 - 0494. Engine number 26101879.
Quintessentially British with enduring engineering pedigree and character This is the where it all started - the original Land Rover In the aftermath of World War Two, Rover's chief engineer Maurice Wilks used a 'demobbed' Willys Jeep around his farm in Anglesey and was impressed with its abilities. Eventually, it wore out and he was keen to replace it with a British vehicle, however, nothing remotely similar was available. Coincidentally, his brother Spencer, who was Managing Director at Rover, had reached the same conclusion as he struggled to get his Rover 10 to reach the more inaccessible parts of his estate on Islay. It was whilst the brothers were on holiday on their North Wales farm together, that the plan was hatched to produce a light agricultural utility vehicle in the style of Maurice's, fondly-remembered Jeep. They would have no idea that Maurice's resulting design would become an icon and launch a whole new industry sector. The vehicle appeared as the 'Land Rover' in 1948 and proved so popular with the military and the farming fraternity that demand massively outstripped supply. It had an 80-inch wheelbase and a sturdy box section ladder-frame chassis and the open back arrangement with three seats in the front was undoubtedly influenced by the design of the Jeep. Naturally, these vehicles were subject to lots of developments over a period of time and one of the most important of these was extending the wheelbase to give the vehicle greater load capacity. Originally produced with a 1,600cc petrol engine, Land Rover replaced this with the larger 2.0-litre petrol engine which was fitted between 1951 and 1958.
LXS, according to the Heritage Certificate, was built on the 21st September 1951 and despatched on the 12th October to Wellington Motors Ltd., of New Zealand, the chassis number denotes 2, 1952 model year, 6, Land Rover, 1, station wagon, 6, RHD export. The engine number denotes a 1952 2 litre unit while the V5C says a 1575cc unit.
In 2010 it was sold as a project in New Zealand to Terry Tutty, he then restored it in 2013 spending some NZ$ 9,823 (£5,000) on it, this included the suspension, brakes, fuel tank, carb, and a rewire. In 2019 our vendor bought it and had it shipped to the UK.
Now registered with the DVLA it is sold with the V5C, Heritage Certificate and a quantity of receipts for the works undertaken in New Zealand. The cataloguer had a fun afternoon driving it along a river bank where it performed as a Land Rover should.