1976 Land Rover Series III
1976 Land Rover Series III
Engine - 2.25L petrol 4 cylinder
Transmission - 4 Speed Manual
Suspension - Stock
Tyres - BFGoodrich KO AT
Equipped For - Touring
This is my 1976 Land Rover Series 3, a small car with a big personality that goes by the name Sandy. I don’t know why I named her that, but in true Walksey fashion I had the name, logo and instagram handle and an order of 100 stickers all organised during a brief toilet break on the drive home from picking her up - so Sandy she has been.
I don’t have a personal story about Land Rovers involving something like a trusted family farm car or grandpa saving the entire town in his trusty Landy once upon a time, maybe I am the beginning of that tale for someone else. The reason I love Land Rovers is purely the fact I love how great they look. They are raw, no frills and suggest eternal adventure.
As I consider myself to be some form of low-level adventure wannabe, the Land Rover has always called to me. I think that to have one of these unmistakably shaped cars gives me the ability to label my feeble road trips as expeditions, turning all roads into opportunity.
I had always wanted to get my hands on an old Landy and do a large cross country trip. Back in 2020 and living in Victoria we were in the first statewide lockdown, so not only was I thirsty for big adventure, I was looking for a passion project to keep me entertained for however long I was confined to my home. I sold the plan to my wife as “a big bucket list item” in the hope she would take it more seriously than all my other stupid ideas. She saw right through me as usual, but, as per usual, she encouraged me with a smile. The plan was to find a car with the purpose of driving from home (Balnarring VIC) as far West as I could in my 4-week annual leave block, following the coast the whole way.
A chance interaction on Facebook with a classic fella named Mick had me find the perfect car in far North Victoria, so I snuck out of Melbourne at 3am on the day the regional Victoria lockdown laws ended, car trailer in tow. Sandy was mechanically great, but needed a large dose of TLC to be back on the road and trustworthy on a trip like this one. She definitely looked like a Landy but needed a fair bit of work on the cosmetic side, to create a car that was MY Landy. She needed to be close to but not quite original, aesthetically pleasing and suggest a mix of taste and exploration. My mechanical knowledge was small at best, but what I lacked I made up for with enthusiasm. I would go on to learn how to maintain and look after the car, diagnose and resolve any issues or suffer the consequences that are dealt to a stranded idiot on a long lonely rural road. The adventure had begun.
Sandy is a 88 inch 1976 Series 3 with a 2.25L petrol engine and came to me with a ton of quirky character. I don’t know if the original owner was also a self proclaimed adventurer, but I know for sure he would call himself a backyard engineer and a serial cigarette smoker. The car had 5 ashtrays screwed into the cabin, one on each door, 2 on the fire wall and one in the foot well, and they all came full of smoked darts. There was a D.I.Y fishing rod holder in the roof and one behind the seat. Each door had an old set of Levi jeans screwed to the inside, both cut off and sewn together just below the crutch, creating some uniquely disturbing door pockets.
Amongst the amazing fabrication, ciggy butts and stubby lids, there were 3 custom features I loved and have kept. The first is a parcel shelf for the hard top, sitting just above eye level with cut outs for speakers, probably an attempt to eliminate some car noise. The second is what some call a throttle control but I like to imagine is a home made cruise control. The lever, located at foot level next to the accelerator pedal, presses down on the gas when pushed. It fits from one bracket into another nicely at a rev range that is perfect for warming her up on a cold morning.
Although many old boys have told me "it’s low range throttle control, perfect for pulling a boat out of the ramp" - odd but literally 3 different blokes have said that - I disagree because in high range on the freeway, the car sits perfectly at 90km/hr, practical albeit dangerous. Who knows, who cares, could be both, but I think it's awesome and kept it.
The last feature is the cool little table mounted to the centre seat that folds up and clips into another bracket in the rear tub. Unless you are stationary, almost perfectly level and also a very small person, the table is not largely functional, but I hope one day to be stuck in the rain and find it to be super handy. It also hides a collection of stickers from any town souvenir shops from my adventures.
The car held up incredibly on the trip across the Nullabour and it turned heads at every stop. I was accompanied by my good mate Brook James whose matching Series 3 turned the solo adventure into a convoy of iconic cars, with all my best memories of this trip not only shared with a friend, but captured by Brooks incredible eye for photography. We drove on every beach in South Aus, tip-toed the Cliff face of the Great Australian Bite and sat at “as fast as we could” along the Nullabor highway before the Western Australian Border security turned us around, their state months behind ours with Covid lockdowns.
What I love most about Sandy is her patina body - every panel is so unique. There is wear on both front wings from people working to maintain her, plus a million small scratches that can only have been made on adventures. The only actual dent is quite small and was done myself, backing over a campsite fire. It’s on an aftermarket sill, so I’ve left it there as a reminder to myself to take care as next time I might not be so lucky.
Since the Nullabor trip, Sandy’s been for a dunes trip in Portland, through the Snowy mountains to the Land Rover 75th anniversary in Cooma and into some Victorian high country. I live 90km from my work so some days I will drive her to night shift purely to create an adventure out of my commute.
Sandy’s adventures have been incredible but what I’ve loved most has been the people I have met all because of land Rovers. I’ve got two car groups, multiple friends and a couple of really awesome older blokes who’ve turned from Land Rover mentors into good pals. For all the friendships I’ve made purely from driving an old Landy, I am extremely grateful.
Photos by Brook James & Guy Walker
Words by Guy Walker