Old Land Rover Sales?

[dfritter]

So, I was driving the Rover today, and got to thinking... where the hell did it come from? I mean, obviously, mine being an ex-military vehicle, I have part of the answer, but I was more wondering about other, civilian Series trucks. There's plenty of info on the NAS Defenders, but all the old Series trucks in Canada... did they come from Land Rover dealerships? Could I have walked into a showroom in 1973 and purchased myself a 109 or 88? Or did they all come in through more obscure methods; logging companies and the like?

[Dave_F]

I think that alot of the series trucks that you still see on the road today are probably x-mod trucks from the BATUS group from Alberta, along with a sprinkling of 110's. I would venture to guess that almost all of the 110 3 door trucks are all probably BATUS trucks as they were never available from Land Rover direct.

Some of the series trucks were probably purchased here, when they did sell them through dealerships.

It would be an interesting Poll to see where our members trucks came from???

[DaveB]

A number of Series IIIs came from BATUS, but there were many active dealerships in the 50s, 60s and into the early 70s. Here is a list that you may find interesting:

http://www.lrfaq.org/USdealerships1969/index.html

cheers, Dave

[sailourboy]

Interesting that Deeley's on Broadway in Vancouver was not on the list . I know our 3 109's spent a whole lot of time in their repair shop!!
Cheers
Ted

[Roverworks]

West coast 4X4 was a place on Kingsway. It had a line up of Series Land Rovers outside many still had the new car smell and unspoiled interiors…nirvana!. In the upstairs was a parts room run by a wonderful old gentleman who shipped out parts from the wooden shelves….no bubble wrap,,,oh no…each shipped package was carefully covered in crisp brown paper and brown tape then the package was treated to intricate string work with the company stamp featured prominently.

I think the owners son is/was still involved with Land Rovers up to recently.

Great memory….

Alan Simpson
Rover Works B.C. Ltd

PS. I was there the day they were taking the unsold S1 parts to the dump…it makes my toes curl now.

[DaveB]

Yes I remember visiting there a couple of times. East Kingsway, right?

Ron Troche or something similar wasn't it? It whet my appetite for Land Rovers back in the days before I could afford one. I saw Ron at one of our Founders Days about 4 years ago with a black series 3. Is he still around working on Rovers?

Dave

[sailourboy]

There was another repair shop in the early 70's (though I can't remember if they sold landrovers) in North Van on Pemberton I believe. His son lives just down the street however his name escapes me at the mo.
Cheers
Ted

PS Still have some of the invoices from those days somewhere in my paperpile(s).

[Greg S]

That dealer list at LRFAQ doesn't include many dealers in BC. There was one in Victoria, Courtney and Vancouver that I personally visited. They aren't even mentioned on the list. I kind of think there was one in Nanaimo at one time too.

Dave F, I think you're wrong. Most Series trucks you see on the road were purchased from dealers, pre 1974 when they stopped being imported, with a few sprinkled in the mix that came out of Suffield (BATUS).

My opinion.

[Dave_F]

Could be Greg, however I still think we need to poll our members to see where our trucks came from...Dave???

[mouse666]

Dave F made a commetn about trucks being bought out of suffield Albt from BATUS, does anyone know if it is still possible to purchase ex MODS that way
thanks
steve

[rick.m]

i noticed the list of DEALERS didnt include COURTENEY CAR CARE, it was a dealer right up till there were no more being imported by land rover into canada new.Robert has the last 88 that was on his lot, and it has a GENUINE LAND ROVER PART NUMBERED plow option. the rover is used most every day to move trailers around the lot, rick.mx

[DaveB]

I think that the list is either incomplete, or a snapshot of 1969. Dealer status changed from time to time, so perhaps some of the one's you're referring to weren't dealers at that specific time.

Or, perhaps there was a designation like "Authorized British Leyland Service Centre" which was considered different from an actual dealer. I know we had something like that in Abbotsford until the mid 70s. It was located where the Taco Time is now.

Dave

[Dave_F]

Dave F made a commetn about trucks being bought out of suffield Albt from BATUS, does anyone know if it is still possible to purchase ex MODS that way
thanks
steve

You can keep an eye on http://www.maauctions.com/

This is the auction firm where you can bid for them when available. They usually show up in the Calgary industrial auctions...but beware because usually they are either wrecks or close to it.

Cheers,

Dave_F

[Bill E.]

Hey Boys, I'm sure this topic is pretty amusing for some of the old timers reading it and I wish some of them would share their knowledge here. I don't have a ton of info about early purveyors of Land-rovers in BC but I do know that batch loads were sold to crown corporations like Hydro and the Ministry of Forests. They constitute a huge share of the old stuff kicking around today. Mining and Logging companies dialed in pretty heavily in the early years as well. Ex-militaries are certainly a chunk of what is out there but by no means the majority. Like Dave points out, the term dealership when it comes to Land-rover has come in many guises since 1948. The right to sell, or display for sale Land-rovers over the years does not fit neatly into our present concept of dealership. British Leyland didn't treat Rover very well in the dark days before its collapse and the earlier days when Rover flogged Land-rover around the world by hook or by crook as CKD or special order trucks has left a very colourful sales history. For every attempt to generalize about distribution history you are going to find dozens of exceptions to the rule.

[gudjeon]

My ser1 belonged to the BC Ministry of highways and was used during the construction of the Creston-Salmo Pass on Hwy3. Before that, I dunno.