1968 Land Rover Series IIA

STOCK # 2697

The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as series Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models), or simply the Land-Rover, are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though unapologetically inspired by the World War II jeep, the Land Rover immediately distinguished itself from all other cars. From launch, it was the first mass-produced civilian four-wheel drive car with doors on it, and an available hard roof. Contrary to conventional car and truck chassis, it used a sturdier fully box-welded frame. Furthermore, due to post-war steel shortage, and aluminium surplus, Land Rovers received non-rusting aluminium alloy bodies, favouring their longevity. In 1992, Land Rover claimed that 70% of all the vehicles they had built were still in use.

Most series models feature leaf-spring suspension with selectable two or four-wheel drive (4WD), however series I's produced between 1948 and mid-1951 had constant 4WD via a freewheel mechanism, and the Stage 1 V8 version of the series III featured permanent 4WD. All three models could be started with a front hand crank and had the option of front & rear power takeoffs for accessories.

After adding a long wheelbase model in 1954, Land Rover also offered the world's first four / five door, 4WD off-road station wagon in 1956. Series Land Rovers and Defenders continually excelled in space utilization, offering (optional) three abreast seating in the seating rows with doors, and troop seating in the rear, resulting in up to seven seats in the SWB, and up to ten seats in the LWB models, exceeding the capacity of most minivans, when comparing vehicles of the same length.

Series IIA

The SII and the SIIA are very difficult to distinguish. There were some minor cosmetic changes. Body configurations available from the factory ranged from short-wheelbase soft-top to the top-of-the-line five-door station wagon. A 2.25-litre diesel was added to the engine line, which after 1967 included a 2.6-litre inline six cylinder petrol engine for the long-wheelbase models, which also had servo-assisted brakes. 811 of these were NADA (or North American Dollar Area) trucks, which were the only long-wheelbase models made for the American and Canadian markets.

The series IIA is considered by many the most hardy series model constructed. It is quite possibly also the type of classic Land Rover that features strongly in the general public's perception of the Land Rover, from its many appearances in popular films and television documentaries set in Africa throughout the 1960s, such as Born Free. In February 1968, just a few months after the Rover Company had been subsumed, under government pressure, into the Leyland Motor Corporation, the Land Rover celebrated its twentieth birthday, with total production to date just short of 600,000, of which more than 70% had been exported. Certainly it was whilst the series IIA was in production that sales of utility Land Rovers reached their peak, in 1969–70, when sales of over 60,000 Land Rovers a year were recorded. (For comparison, the sales of the Defender have been around the 25,000 level since the 1990s.) As well as record sales, the Land Rover dominated many world markets- in Australia in the 1960s Land Rover held 90% of the 4×4 market. This figure was repeated in many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

1968 LAND ROVER SERIES IIA
SAFARI PACKAGE

• CLEAN TITLE
• THIS LAND ROVER HAS 10,119 MILES
• MOSTLY STOCK
• CLEAN & SOLID BODY
• 4 CYL. ENGINE
• 4 SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION
• 4WD
• 4-WHEEL DISC BRAKES
• NICE INTERIOR AND GLASS
• UPGRADED GAUGES AND AIR LOCKERS
• CD PLAYER
• MAIN POWER SHUT OFF SWITCH
• ROOF RACK
• 6 ALMOST NEW TIRES
• WELL MAINTAINED, GARAGE KEPT
• REAL EYE CATCHER AND GETS LOTS OF COMPLIMENTS
• RUNS AND DRIVES STRONG