Dreadful things. Rode like a dray, broke axles faster than I could change my shirts, so gutless they couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, shocking brakes, noisy, and just plain agricultural.
Rolled over at the first opportunity with an inexperienced driver. Door seals had more gaps than a comb.
I can remember the legend about the Toyota and Landrover representatives having a get-together and the talk turning to dust-sealing of their respective vehicles. The Toyota reps poured scorn on the LR dust sealing.
They all agreed to have a test.
The Toyota people locked a cat in their 4WD, and they all went away, and came back an hour later - and the cat was dead - suffocated.
The Landrover people locked a cat in their Landrover, and they all went away, and came back an hour later - and there was no sign of the cat - it was gone!
LR bodies were totally rust free - but the chassis rusted instead. The first you knew of this was when the chassis broke in half. The chassis held corrosion-inducing moisture and mud in at least 20 points along it.
Unless you carefully pressure-washed the chassis regularly and ensured it was dry, it would corrode - horribly - and you couldn't see the corrosion until the chassis fractured on you.
The worst of any vehicle manufactured for total inaccessibility of components. If the cooling system got rusty, the welch (freeze) or core plug at the rear of the block corroded through and dropped all the coolant on the ground.
Guess where that plug was located? Yep, right against the firewall! You had to either remove the engine or cut a hole in the firewall to replace the plug. Guess how many LR's are running around with a patch plate on the firewall??
In the Australian Army, LR was King. The AMF bought them because no-one in the Defence Dept knew what a good 4WD looked like - and besides, they were BRITISH! - so they had to be good! - What Ho, Chaps!
In 'Nam, the AMF actually utilised a 106mm recoilless rifle in a SWB LR! It worked O.K. up to a point - until you started to give the 106mm a good workout - and then the LR started to fall apart!
LR Gunbuggy
The Defence Dept didn't really care what LR running costs were. They bought them because the British Defence Agencies used them - and us Aussies had to have compatible equipment, old chap!
Couldn't have the disastrous experiences of WW2 repeated, could we! We had 117 different vehicles during the War! What a schemozzle for Logistics that was!
I am utterly amazed that the Landrover has actually lasted this long in production. I'm sure it was because Defence Agencies kept buying them because it was a tradition - nothing else.
Despite all that, I bought my 1st Landrover in 1967 - a 1960 Series II - and it did sterling service for the largely paddock work it carried out. We didn't know any better back then, anyway!
And guess what - I still have a complete, excellent condition 1979 Series III LWB diesel panel van sitting on blocks in my workshop!
It's just awaiting the motor to be re-installed, so I can take it along to vintage motor shows - and show off just how primitive 4WD-ing used to be!