Description
A low mileage 1961 example of the ever-popular Land Rover Series II 88in petrol hard top, finished in Satin Bronze Green with limestone roof.
"Lily" seems to have been christened as such by the Berkshire and Reading Fire Brigade, with whom she served from new in 1961 for 10 years, before moving to serve at Heathrow Airport until entering civilian life in 1983.
Because of it’s provenance, and supporting history, Lily’s odometer reading of just 32000 miles is likely to be genuine.
Lily is in lovely condition, and retains her early features including original horsehair front seats, sprung steering wheel, deep modesty covers, flat front panel etc.
She’s also fitted with a new matching set of new 205x16 tyres, and freewheel front hubs and uprated Weber carb. Inside she has twin rear bench seats making her a 7 seater at a pinch, Smiths round heater, original Pyrene fire extinguisher, and inertia reel front seat belts.
She’s fitted with a sweet-running 151-prefix 2. 25 petrol motor, which is period-correct for the year and hence is the original.
Lily is an original UK-supplied RHD Series II. The dealer plate on the passenger seatbox shows she was initially supplied by Marchants Garages in Newbury, to the local Fire Service. Correspondence in the file with the modern-day Fire Brigade indicates she was based at the Cookham Road Maidenhead Fire Station as their P-car, or personnel car. There’s even a photo of her in service in the file, albeit with a damaged NSF wing and front panel following a collision. As above, Lily moved to Heathrow Airport in 1971, before coming onto the civilian market in 1983. I have the sales invoice from 1983 showing she was sold for the princely sum of £920. 00.
Thereafter every owner she’s had seems to have loved and cherished her and appreciated her rarity, and there's a good selection of bills and correspondence in the file, and old MOT’s back to 1987 and 15638 miles. She last had a service at the end of April 2022 at 26757 miles, which was pretty comprehensive in it’s scope, and three oil/ filter changes in the last nine months.
It’s rare to find a Series II (the rarest of all Series variants) that hasn’t lead a hard early life, as that’s what they were originally bought for. The rear tub and van sides are in unusually straight condition, adding credence to her life of being pampered.
