Michael Mulrennan's 1973 Series 3 SWB

Michael's second 4WD was this1973 Series 3 Land Rover which he bought in 1990. The vehicle had a genuine 200,000 miles on the clock and was in excellent all round condition apart from the usual rot in the bottom of the steel door frames and some rot in the footwells of the steel bulkhead.

He bought this Land Rover primarily as a tow vehicle for his boat. The 2.25 litre petrol engine had enough power to pull his boat but 100km/hr was about as fast as it would comfortably go.

The Land Rover was 100% original which is rare in Australia as most of them have had Holden 186 or 202 6 cylinder motors fitted in place of the original engine. This conversion is often done due to the abundance of cheap spares for old Holden engines. Personally Michael wouldn't buy one unless it was original even though the Holden conversion works very well.

Surprisingly the landy was almost unstoppable offroad, even in the soft beach sand that makes up a major part of the four wheel driving around Perth. To make the vehicle more pleasant to drive on the open road, Michael fitted extensive sound insulation inside the cabin and a decent radio cassette and speakers.

The only drawbacks of the landy were it's slow top speed and lack of creature comforts compared to modern 4WD's. Michael wishes that he still owned this Series Land Rover as it would have made an excellent project for restoration. He's sure that it is still working hard somewhere around Perth.

Visit Michael's website for details on other 4WD vehicles he has owned and for details on his extensive offroad trips around half of Australia.

And if you are into motorcycles in a big way then Michael's homepage will lead you into his motorcycle section.

Thanks Michael.