Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Buying a series III Land Rover - good idea or bad idea?

I love as original as possible, unfiddled about with, 70s/early 80s series 3's. So many Land Rover's have been messed about with, had all kinds of things bolted on and suffer from 'chequerplate rash', but you can still get nice original vans that have been left alone and used as intended for reasonable prices if you know where to look, and they always come in the classic green:

Or marine blue:

The 2.25 petrol seems to be the one to go for, and I'd want an 88" station wagon for 7 people lols/ease of parking. There are some obvious cons, which I'm aware of: it's basically a tractor with seats, in stock form it won't go faster than about 45mph, thirsty, sod all security and people like pinching landies, I live in Hackney, etc.

But the pros are you can fit seven people in with the rear seats, road bikes in the back with the front wheels off, a fairey overdrive will take the top speed to c.60, mechanically simple, parts are cheap, plenty of advice/publications/mechanics/aftermarket parts available, a slightly tatty landy basically looks better than a pristine one, and finally that with Defender production supposedly ending this year (it might go abroad) an original as possible series 3 doesn't seem like a bad buy for the right price and definitely seems to have 'future classic' potential. Also I could always stick a TDi engine in (or buy one that's already got one) and have something a lot more usable.

I think the real problem is that I haven't drive one since I was about 1o and need reminding what the experience is actually like, and hire prices are ridiculous. You could easily pay about 10% of the purchase price to hire one for a weekend!