The SIIA brought only minor refinements over the SII, in particular the diesel grew from 2L to 2286cc (nominally 2.25L), the same capacity as the petrol engine. Many think the SIIA is the classic Land Rover - they had got most of the bugs out and it was still quite simple. Towards the end of its run, ~1970, the headlights moved from the grille to the wings to satisfy new vehicle regulations.

88", picture by Craig Murray

Always get someone - e.g. a close friend or your spouse - to test the depth of water before driving into it.

On the SII / SIIA Transition:

I had a 1959 series 2 around twenty years ago, which had a 2.25 petrol engine. I next had a 1963 series 2A swb Safari (a real one) which was later written off. My current car is a September 1961 swb petrol hard top (with side windows) which I have had for the last twelve years. I was looking over some old photos of the previous Land-Rovers and noticed that the 1959 series 2 had large chrome bezels around the headlights that stuck out quite proud, whilst the 1963 S2A safari had a more subdued and flusher bezel. The current 1961 also has large protruding chrome bezels which made me wonder about the pedigree. I have now found out from tracing the serial number that mine is one of the first official series 2A's, which had a similar look to the previous series 2. So there may well be some other differences, and I look forward to finding out what they are, but they are likely to be cosmetic.
- Graham Alcock

The steering arms moved from the top of the swivels on the SII Land-Rover to the bottom of the swivels on the SIIA, but I bet you can find SII's and SIIA's with either arrangement.
- L_Allison

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