1962 | Land Rover 88

Transmission: 4 gears, Manual gearbox
Top speed: 100 km/h
Registration number: DZ-29-89

The SII and SIIA are very difficult to tell apart. There were some minor cosmetic changes. The factory-fitted body styles ranged from a short-wheelbase soft-top to the top-of-the-range five-door estate. A 2.25-litre diesel engine was added to the engine range, which after 1967 included a 2.6-litre straight-six petrol engine for the long-wheelbase models, which also had servo-assisted brakes.

From February 1969 (domestic market), the headlamps of all models were moved to the mudguards and the sills were redesigned a few months later to be shallower. Later still, the profile of the rear wheel arches was modified, possibly to accommodate 900x16 tyres with snow chains on 1-ton 109-inch models.

The Series IIA is considered by many to be the most robust model in the Series. It is also perhaps the type of classic Land Rover that plays a powerful role in the public’s perception of it, due to its many appearances in popular films and television documentaries set in Africa in the 1960s, such as Born Free. In February 1968, just months after the Rover Company had been absorbed into the Leyland Motor Corporation under government pressure, Land Rover celebrated its twentieth anniversary, with total production to that point of just under 600,000 units, of which over 70% had been exported. Particularly during the production of the Series IIA, sales of Land Rovers in the commercial sector reached their peak in 1969–70, when sales fell to just over 60,000 Land Rovers per year. (By comparison, sales of the Defender have hovered around the 25,000 mark since the 1990s.) As well as record sales, Land Rover also dominated many world markets – in Australia, Land Rover held 90% of the 4x4 market in the 1960s. This figure was repeated in many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

This Land Rover presented here is a completely restored one that has been brought back to life down to the smallest detail. It comes from the Land Rover dealer Terlouw in Nijmegen. It is sprayed in light blue and has black leather seats and benches. Furthermore, there is a canvas hood on it that is also completely new. Under the hood we see the 4 cylinder petrol engine that runs perfectly. It is a real Land Rover for the man who is looking for something special.