[Mike Kelly]

The Land Rover appeared on the scene in 1948 and Australia became the major export destination, around 10,000 were sold in Australia up to 1953, they could not get enough of them . I guess land owners would prefer to buy new, rather than a half worn out WW2 Jeep .

Nowadays early Aust. delivered Land Rovers are being repatriated back to the UK where they bring very high prices , the chassis' are not rotted out for a start . The series 1 club in the UK were re-manufacturing new chassis but the current holder of the Land Rover registered business name put a stop to that little enterprise.

Each state had its own agents where the CKD packs were assembled and the experts can tell where a particular LR was assembled because some local sourced fasteners were fitted , the fasteners varied in each state . A few came out already assembled. The Grenville motors NSW records still exist and its possible to track down where certain survivors were dispatched to, ie properties all over NSW . The Snowy Mountains Authority purchased many.

The RAN was a user of early series 1 Land Rovers , a fleet of around 80 I think , The New Zealand army also .