Martin Gregorie wrote in news:kg50u4-
:

I'd never knock the series II or III. Mine did a London-India out and
return in 10 months without any problems apart from a tendency to
consume speedometers that I never got to the bottom of, a clutch change
in Mysore and a clutch slave cylinder replacement in Turkey.

I had a series II with a 4litre perkins diesel engine.
Yes, it would pull the skin off custard, and yes the
engine mountings and transmission spiders were problematical.
Never had any problem with the speedo, but the fuel guage
was calibrated in Roentgens per hour (that being the best
one I could lay my hands on at the time

It was a simple machine and easy to maintain with relatively few tools:
almost everything could be removed and reinstalled with only 3 or 4
different ring spanners and a screwdriver.

Mine seemed to have a lot of parts in common with Minis,
e.g. rear lights and driver's seat.