Description
The 1970’s production of the RANGE ROVER 2-Door Manual V8 came under a number of Chassis-Serial number guises. We firstly need to understand that while every single car manufactured at the SOLIHULL PLANT, the fully UK Assembled cars fell under the three-digit CHASSIS PREFIX of;
355 = RHD production for UK Domestic market.
356 = RHD production for EXPORT market.
358 = LHD production for EXPORT market.
The FIVE (5) digit serial number after the prefix was continued year on year, and each production “PREFIX”, i. e. 355, 356 and 358 started from 00001.
Whereas other countries such as South Africa, Australia, Belgium, Venezuela and Costa Rica; received CKD KITS (Complete Knock Down) of the intrinsic vehicle for ASSEMBLY at that countries local “Leyland Cars” or Other Plant. These vehicles were similarly to the above had their own unique coding system of;
357 = RHD production for EXPORT CKD market.
359 = LHD production for EXPORT CKD market.
In addition in accordance with the MY (model year) these CKD Kits also had a SUFFIX of A, B, C, D and F after their FOUR (4) digit serial number range.
As an aside the entire original RRC production used the identical internal seats, and fabrics or carpeting colour scheme – there was never any differences or any SVO alternatives.
Each and every car manufactured was only allocated ONE unique number, and there was NEVER an instance for example of a “355 UK Domestic market RHD” then later allocated an additional CHASSIS build tag once it was became a personal import to SA - pretty obvious as any of these 355/ 356/ 358 cars were already fully manufactured at Solihull. After the 1979 MY all cars manufactured at Solihull changed over to “VIN” type numbering system.
The reason for the history above is due to a number of discrepancies about Range Rover cars offered from South Africa in particular. Notable, is that during those years a number of personal imports occurred by owners emigrating to South Africa whereby they were allowed a “tax free” import with proviso that they had owned a vehicle for at least the preceding 12-months. Hence, there were also instances of “355” prefix cars that came to SA at some time or another. In many of these instances, the original date of UK registration was not entered to the SA-System, but rather just the first registration date in South Africa after import.
There was however an anomaly for the South African production assembly during the period of 1980 to 1982, whereby the Leyland BLACKHEATH Plant outside Cape Town did not use the new SOLIHULL “VIN Build tag” but instead a local “Leyland tag”, which reads MODEL: 6066AA also reflects two separate numbering sequences for the CHASSIS Number and the SERIAL Number. In this instance, South Africa had an element of “Local Content” from their existing LEYLAND motor manufacturing industry introduced to assist towards the punitive Import Tax Barrier/ s negotiated at the time. This may have been common to the Australian plant as well, but it seems that the CKD operations for both countries ended during 1982 – and I do not know if this was the case in the other above-mentioned CKD countries.
I believe I correct in saying that this was the only period during which 357 type CKD-cars were assembled in SA – prior to that all RRC’s were full imports under the 356-tag and after 1982 all were again full imports that used the VIN number standard adopted in the UK from 1980 onwards. The LEYLAND BLACKHEATH plant stopped all car production in 1984 - the likes of ROVER 2600/ 3500, MINI CLUBMAN 1275 and the MARINA which was made initially with BMC 1800 but towards the end a MARINA with a Peugeot sourced engine, called the AVENGER.
The car advertised here is one of the RRC Blackheath Plant cars, assembled in 1981 but when originally purchased the registration was based upon the “23-day Paper Plates” system and this car was formally registered on the 1st January 1982 for the first time. This was a common practise in SA back then whereby although a 1981 MY car, it was recognised by the motor trade as a 1982 MY because of the “Xmas Present” time delay.
The car was well preserved and in overall good condition when recently purchased, and had come from a 6-year ownership by a UK executive that came to his SA ; holiday home a few times a year. During the cars tenure with him an open chequebook policy adopted and the car had an enormous expenditure on engine rebuild and ancillaries, gearbox rebuild, drivetrain, suspension and brakes, wiring and electrics, etc. This work done by a specialist Land Rover workshop; ROVERLAND, in Hermanus and the equivalent expenditure ran to equivalent of many thousands of UK Pounds – the file comes with her.
My counter-part in SA tells me that this probably the nicest RRC he has ever driven, she drives and travels superbly well and pulls like a steam-train with oodles of grunt. Apart from returning her to a refurbished twin carb set-up – removing the non-standard Holley pumper - a meticulous full service including engine and radiator flush, and replacing the clutch and pressure plate - as the car was so seldom used - was conducted for good measure, little else was required mechanically apart from good practise replacement of all service routine items.
From a structural viewpoint, the car is solid and rust-free. Although not yet done deliberately - so that the “as is no rust” condition can be clearly seen – we will lift the body from chassis, then totally strip-down the entire chassis, media-blast and repaint all of the componentry and underbody, and replace all rubber body and engine mountings again upon reassembly. Apart from internal chassis rail treatment by compressor of ZIEBART type anti-rust treatment prior to shipment, we will NOT apply this to the underbody areas and sills unless the buyer request it to be done. During this process, the mechanicals will also be dropped-out and the entire engine bay and under-bonnet areas restored to ex-factory condition, including a new under-bonnet sound insulation padding. The entire process takes about 2-weeks. Let me know if you require anything else – all things are possible.
The body colour is a brilliant and original MASAI RED that is both blemish and chip free. There was a slight issue with some small amount of paint pimples to the bottom of both doors, and attended to professionally to ensure no reoccurrence and perfectly colour matched. I also have images of the stripped interior prior to its cosmetic restoration – which clearly depict that this car had absolutely no rust to the internal floor pan nor the rear tailgate support hoop
We had the very best Auto Trimmers in South Africa conduct fabric matches per ex-factory, they re-upholstered all seats and door-cards, new correct 2-part headlining and new carpets of correct texture re-dyed colour per ex-factory throughout, and repainted surfaces normally exposed in their correct colours, and re-upholstered the other areas. As can be seen the cabin area now superb.
The intention with this car was never to output a CONCOURS vehicle, instead she is simply in very good condition without issues, and extremely driveable without quandary about the amount invested – yet still well priced as a “survivor car” instead.
This car was factory optioned with Air Conditioning, which is still in-situ and blows cold as it should.
The advertised price of £33, 500 (GBP) is fully inclusive of all costs to ship, import, clear, MoT and DVLA register in your name. Delivery turnaround time for this process takes no more than five weeks with effect from Bill of Sale contract and payment to my UK account. The car has already obtained her SAPS (Interpol) Clearance, DataDOT and the RC1 (Registration Title) has no contentious “Built-Up” designation issue. All that is required of you is to properly insure and drive her home from nearby Cambridge.
You are welcome to phone me anytime on the UK number advertised. With 26-years of the SA Classic Car market experience along with global export shipping, perhaps you should be speaking to me irrespective of which particular car you want to find. Remember, life is not a rehearsal, so buy the car you have always wanted NOW!
