This 1980 Land Rover Series 3 is claimed to be an excellent survivor that was built under license by Santana Motor S.A. of Spain. This is an interesting wrinkle in the Land Rover story, as multiple companies in different countries were allowed to build popular Land Rover models practically in kit form. The seller claims the Santana-built examples were actually finished to a higher quality than ones built by the factory, and this preserved commercial-grade example certainly appears quite sound. Find it here on eBay for $29,500 and the option to submit a best offer.
The Rover sports some kind of tow attachment, but I’m not sure what the hook assembly could be used for. I dig the old-school mudflaps that reference a dealer group that’s still in existence in Spain today. The body looks fabulous and the seller claims it never spent a night outside – always garaged. I’m not sure what some of the other stickers and emblems reference, but the period-correctness oozing off of this Rover is hard to ignore. Mileage is claimed to be low at just over 22,000.
Pictures aren’t the greatest but the seller does work hard to show off the Rover’s solid body and frame. The floors look good, and as any old-school Rover enthusiast can attest, it’s not hard to spot flaws in a vehicle as utilitarian as this. The seller notes that this generation of the Santana Series III benefited from improvements made by the factory, and there actually is a specific footnote in various Land Rover web archives regarding the 1978-1983 Series 3 (as opposed to the earlier 1974-1978 Series 3’s) that indicates engineering improvements were made on this specific generation.
Although the seller is located in the Netherlands and the Landie is in Spain, the seller says that importation won’t be a problem to most major countries thanks to ample port access. You can view this low-mileage specimen somewhere near Barcelona, but given the number of videos we’ve seen of Land Rovers being destroyed by our over-attentive government, you’ll want to be sure all the paperwork and VIN plates are in good order before paying for sea transport. Have any of you inspected a Santana-built Land Rover in the flesh?
Very cool but shipping to Missouri would probably kill the deal for me.
Great car, it would fit really well into the museum of the Landy workshop nearby. They even have an original Rover car transporter in their collection, which would be the ideal addition.
BTW:
The worn blue sticker on the back right should be the sticker of the Spanish automobile club “Race”, i.e. the workshop provides free breakdown assistance on behalf of “RACE”, the members of “RACE”.
The round sticker with the 80 on it means that the car may drive max. 80 km/h with a “suspended” car. In Europe, the maximum speed is 80 km/h if you pull an unbraked trailer with your car and 100 km/h if the trailer is braked.
Massive price, dubious miles. Decent pickup like this is €5000 here in Spain. So nearly 25000€ sign-writing budget.
We owned a ’77 4-door Santana in the Nevada desert back in the ’80’s….great truck, better construction details than our ’77 LR Dormobile camper. Both were good to 51 mph without OD.
I think it’s equipped 2 go out’n pick up heavy stuff.
“…80 km/h with a “suspended” car….”
Don’t know Y it’s got a “tow sticker”…
The 80 on the back means its only legally aloud to drive at 80kph the B / taller mechanico means its registered as a recovery truck for a garage im not 100% on the last one but we had a truck at the garage i worked at in spain with a similar crane but it had a cross bar with rubbers and chains on it much like the recovery trucks in the US have
the hook assembly on the back is most likely used with a snatch strap for recovery. the plate that it is mounted to is usually used for a pintle hook.