Buy An Old Land Rover In Thailand

[nptontadd]

Hello,

Hope you guys are well.. I am travelling to Thailand in March, and currently applying for a non-immigrant visa as i will be studying Muay Thai in Sakhon Makhon, then travelling down to Phuket to take a TEFL course. In between I want to go travelling and maybe some volunteering.

I would like to try and buy an old land rover - maybe a series III (3). I used to have one here in the UK and would like to have one to travel around in while in Thailand. Any ideas on price and where to buy?

my hope and intention is to get a job after the TEFL course and stay in Thailand to teach - but until then I would like to travel around the beautiful country in a landy - and take my time exploring.

Does anyone have any info to help me find a place to by a battered second hand landy?

I've actually worked in IT for 14 years - and quit my job - so while I am looking for something different.. and a landy is a good place to start.

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

Mark

[Thairish]

To get an approximate price you can go to here, then select Land Rover from the pull down menu on the top right and click the search button below. Just remember cars are not cheap in Thailand!

[Dave the Dude]

And Thai/Jap cars are cheaper & easier found, plus air con is as essential HERE as a Heater is THERE!!

Dave

[sriracha john]

To get an approximate price you can go to here, then select Land Rover from the pull down menu on the top right and click the search button below. Just remember cars are not cheap in Thailand!

There's no Series I, II, or III's on that site, but that's not surprising.

To the OP, good luck with your search. There are a number of restoration dealers that do very good work on them here. We have a Series IIA ourselves that has been redone and have driven it the length and breadth of Thailand in many very memorable trips. The problem you'll encounter is that most of these restoration dealers only work on vehicles that you've found yourself and brought into them. The trick then obviously is finding one and for that luck will probably play the biggest role. I lucked out as ours has been in the missus's family since it was imported brand new in 1972. I have seen the odd vehicle laying dormant in someone's old carport or seemingly abandoned in a field.

I would recommend scoping out Thailand Land Rover Club's website (it's in Thai so you'll need a Thai friend's assistance to browse the text). They sometimes have older vehicles for sale. Otherwise, it's a good place for all things Land Rover.

http://www.thailandroverclub.com/

[thunder30101]

Not trying to burst your bubble but have you looked into ownership issues ? Alot of restrictions fo r foreign ownership here.

[Cuban]

Agree with above, best place to find a bargin will be a farmyard or breakers. Your face turning up to ask how much they want for it will be as if they have found an open ended lottery ticket.

You are looking for a project to invest it (hahaha) or something that already has a Toyota engine installed?

I have seen Series 3s for 130,000 Baht in Bangkok from time to time.

For the price of a restored working vehicle you could get a new or newish 4x4 from Ford or Toyota.

I used to want a 101 FFR but I got over that years ago.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Cuban

[samran]

if the OP is into exploring and his preference is a land rover, he should remember that he could buy a beat up old version here in Thailand, and take it down for some repairs in Malaysia, where from previous accounts, parts for land rovers are infintetly cheaper.

But remember, it must be a Thai registered vehicle. Trying to import one from Malaysia will knock your socks off in terms of duties and taxes.

[Isee]

To the OP, you obviously have a sentimental attachment to LR's, but why not be practical about it? If you really need a 4x4, why not get a Suzuki Caribbean which would be equal to the task. A caribbean to thailand is like a LR to UK. Not only would the initial outlay be cheaper, but parts etc would be cheaper as well. Don't under estimate these cars, I had one for 3 years, 20 years ago and never missed a beat and I took it to some places where other 4x4's were having major problems. The secret with the original motor is to put headers/extractors on the motors, increased benefit across the board. Like any other piece of machinery, how much problems you have with something 2nd hand is directly proportional to its previous care. Also, as someone has already mentioned, look at whats involved in owning a car in thailand and what involved in transfering ownership etc BEFORE you hand any cash over.

[stingray]

To the OP, you obviously have a sentimental attachment to LR's, but why not be practical about it? If you really need a 4x4, why not get a Suzuki Caribbean which would be equal to the task. A caribbean to thailand is like a LR to UK. Not only would the initial outlay be cheaper, but parts etc would be cheaper as well. Don't under estimate these cars, I had one for 3 years, 20 years ago and never missed a beat and I took it to some places where other 4x4's were having major problems. The secret with the original motor is to put headers/extractors on the motors, increased benefit across the board. Like any other piece of machinery, how much problems you have with something 2nd hand is directly proportional to its previous care. Also, as someone has already mentioned, look at whats involved in owning a car in thailand and what involved in transfering ownership etc BEFORE you hand any cash over.

How someone can compare a Suzuki Jeep with a Landi. A Landy is mucm ore spacious and strong. Even the design liiks excellent. You can play and make it look like Adnventure Style and it looks great. A Suzuki Jeep? Yes' i'm agree, a good car but in my opinion to small and very boring look.

[Isee]

How someone can compare a Suzuki Jeep with a Landi. A Landy is mucm ore spacious and strong. Even the design liiks excellent. You can play and make it look like Adnventure Style and it looks great. A Suzuki Jeep? Yes' i'm agree, a good car but in my opinion to small and very boring look.

Having driven various LR's both on road and off and the suzuki - at the end of the day both do the job and the suzuki has definite benefits over the LR in Thailand imho. I would easily pick a suzuki over say....a Series 3 LR - price difference would be the determinate of picking the suzuki over a series 90 or 110. For the most part, suzuki's in Thailand are the LWB version, so I'm not sure why you are saying that a LR is much more spacious. Why on earth would you want to spend money on customising a vehicle in Thailand if the OP isn't sure if he is staying or not - sounds like a good way to throw away money imho. Buy cheap, spend cheap, sell cheap - the equation is more likely to work than buying dear, spending dear and trying to get your money back - if you can sell it at all before leaving. I just don't see any benefit that the LR offers to offset the cost and resale unless the attraction of driving a LR is more appealing then saving money.

[sriracha john]

To the OP, you obviously have a sentimental attachment to LR's, but why not be practical about it? If you really need a 4x4, why not get a Suzuki Caribbean which would be equal to the task. A caribbean to thailand is like a LR to UK. Not only would the initial outlay be cheaper, but parts etc would be cheaper as well. Don't under estimate these cars, I had one for 3 years, 20 years ago and never missed a beat and I took it to some places where other 4x4's were having major problems. The secret with the original motor is to put headers/extractors on the motors, increased benefit across the board. Like any other piece of machinery, how much problems you have with something 2nd hand is directly proportional to its previous care. Also, as someone has already mentioned, look at whats involved in owning a car in thailand and what involved in transfering ownership etc BEFORE you hand any cash over.

How someone can compare a Suzuki Jeep with a Landi. A Landy is much more spacious and strong. Even the design liiks excellent. You can play and make it look like Adventure Style and it looks great. A Suzuki Jeep? Yes' i'm agree, a good car but in my opinion to small and very boring look.

Completely agree. Definitely apples and oranges comparison.

I'd be curious to see how a 37-year old Suzuki operates.

Also, our Series IIA is rated as a 12-passenger vehicle on the blue book. I seriously doubt any Suzuki is.

Edited February 18, 2009 by sriracha john

[paulfromphuket]

I have looked a a Lot of old landys and would love one but whilst the body is indestructible the engine is not so they get replaced with Toyota and Nissan units which in turn leads to the gear box moving back wards and the the seats been moved so unless your 5 foot 3 inch you cant drive them.

now LR is in Indian ownership maybe we will get a tax break on these superb vehicles and can pi$$ all over the usual rubbish 4x4 on offer here

[sriracha john]

I have looked a a Lot of old landys and would love one but whilst the body is indestructible the engine is not so they get replaced with Toyota and Nissan units

or Isuzu diesel, even...

which in turn leads to the gear box moving back wards and the the seats been moved so unless your 5 foot 3 inch you cant drive them.

the right shop can do wonders... for us it was removing all the seats and replacing them with 4 matching bucket seats... which anyway makes for a much more comfortable ride than the original thinly-padded, small-sized bench seats.

Edited February 18, 2009 by sriracha john

[paulfromphuket]

<br />

I have looked a a Lot of old landys and would love one but whilst the body is indestructible the engine is not so they get replaced with Toyota and Nissan units

<br /><br />or Isuzu diesel, even... <img src="style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="ph34r.gif" /> <br /><br />

which in turn leads to the gear box moving back wards and the the seats been moved so unless your 5 foot 3 inch you cant drive them.

<br /><br />the right shop can do wonders... for us it was removing all the seats and replacing them with 4 matching bucket seats... which anyway makes for a much more comfortable ride than the original thinly-padded, small-sized bench seats.<br /><br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

wanna sell it?

[ignis]

http://www.thaibuycar.com/mysell/car.detail.php?mkid=0024413

http://www.thaibuycar.com/mysell/car.detail.php?mkid=0019994

http://www.car-today.com/alldetail.php?id=8882

Of course for the price you would get a much newer Suzuki Jeep a 2004 around 220 -250k, and the almost indestructible..

[sriracha john]

I have looked a a Lot of old landys and would love one but whilst the body is indestructible the engine is not so they get replaced with Toyota and Nissan units

or Isuzu diesel, even...

which in turn leads to the gear box moving back wards and the the seats been moved so unless your 5 foot 3 inch you cant drive them.

the right shop can do wonders... for us it was removing all the seats and replacing them with 4 matching bucket seats... which anyway makes for a much more comfortable ride than the original thinly-padded, small-sized bench seats.

wanna sell it?

and face the wrath of three generations of owners? not on your life...

Seriously though, there is too great an emotional attachment to it for them to sell, despite what I thought were very reasonable previous offers from others.