Hit UK car flipping show Wheeler Dealers took a spin with a Land Rover Series I 86” recently, rebuilding the early truck and flipping it for – as they usually do – a tidy profit.
Hit UK car flipping show Wheeler Dealers took a spin with a Land Rover Series I 86” recently, rebuilding the early truck and flipping it for – as they usually do – a tidy profit.
They bought the S1 out County Durham, England, for £16,000 – not a terrible price for a Series 1 in today’s market, which is far from the 1980s when they traded for a few hundred pounds. The paperwork was a bit funky – the 86” was registered as a 1963, which of course would have been a Series II, not a Series 1. Thanks to help from Land Rover Classic and company historical expert Mike Bishop, they figured out the issues with the car – including an incorrect bulkhead and non-period steering box. The bulkhead alone was £2,500 to make correct.
There were other issues…the rear lights were wrong (there are a wide range of different original lights for Series 1s depending on market), the turn signals were not the original semaphore style from the 1950s, and all the badging was later than the period Series 1 style
All in all, it took an extra £10,000 to get the truck to 100 percent, but the end result was a joy to look at – a properly redone time-warp 86-inch. Now the only question was to sell it and make a profit – the goal of Wheeler Dealers. And that they did, selling it to a friend for £35,000, making £9,000 in the process.
Though Land Rovers, especially Series trucks, seem easy to work on, they can become quickly very complicated when you are going for perfect originality and period-correct parts. So did this one – but now instead of languishing in a barn, it’s off to a new life in the Channel Islands, making its home on a farm in Jersey.
Sign up and receive once every 2 weeks
Select Your Vehicle
