Post WW II Baby: ’71 Land Rover Series IIA

Car production in England was at a standstill during the war. That’s not surprising information. After the war, the Rover Car Company wanted to get back to building cars but raw materials were scarce. So they decided to build a simple vehicle based on a JEEP chassis that could be used on a working farm or some industrial capacity. This change in direction allowed them to use materials that were more available than used in the construction of a typical Rover Saloon from the period. The Land Rover would use an aluminum body to save steel and army green paint. The plan was to build these bulldogs to keep cash-flow streaming in while things loosened up for car production to resume. And when that finally happened, the Land Rover outsold the cars by a whopping margin. An Icon was born. If you fast forward to 1971, you will arrive at the offering we have today – a Series IIA Short-wheelbase. The seller states that the goal for the restoration was to build the best in the US. We can’t verify if the goal was reached but we have some experience with these and it looks pretty good. It comes with some trophies but that doesn’t impress. We won best Italian car at a local charity show with our Alfa – we were the only Italian car there. There should be a book of receipts if the restoration is fresh and the mechanics at the shops mentioned in the ad should bear witness to the work done. It is a classic and loads of fun as well as very usable. The ask is big at $38,500. More info on Craigslist by clicking here.