IT'S MINE STAV SERGIOU
I’VE HAD IT about 10 years. It was sitting in the garage for a while and I decided to uncover it and start restoring. A mate of mine and I stripped it overnight and we started on the bodywork.
It was a really dry car, so the rust was minimal. There were a couple of little spots on the guards and under the back window. We knew when we bought it that this was a good car.
The fella selling it was being dicked around by people, low-balling him and making silly offers. I sent him a message, asked how much, went and had a look and bought it. He was a good bloke and was going through a divorce at the time.
I took the car back to him once it was done and let him drive it. He gave me all the service books and paperwork for it. He was very appreciative.
They’re more or less a GT under the body, with the 351, the FMX transmission and nine-inch diff. They were still low-key compared to the XA-XB coupes and they didn’t sell a lot – around 1400.
"I TOOK IT BACK TO HIM ONCE IT WAS DONE AND LET HIM DRIVE IT. HE WAS VERY APPRECIATIVE"
"YOU END UP KNOWNING EVERYONE WHO DOES OWN ONE"
I did all the bodywork on the car, sorting out the panels, then I got someone to paint it for me.
Some of the external trim parts are hard to find, such as rear tail lights and headlight covers. It pays to build up a bit of stock once you have the car.
The motor and driveline is all stock and as it left the factory. It really hasn’t needed anything done to it.
The interior has been retrimmed. While the door cards are the original vinyl I didn’t like the original vinyl/leather finish for the seats and went full leather. The trimmer reckons it’s the same material as used by Bentley – it’s really soft. It makes a big difference to how it feels.
I had wide Centreline wheels on the car but swapped them for the standard rims for the photo shoot and it drives really nicely.
They’ve gone up in value in the last 10 years. I think if you were looking for one you would want to know its history and particularly see any before, after and progress shots if it’s been restored.
Overall it’s a good cruiser – not something that you thrash around.
A lot of older people know what the car is and come up for a chat. They talk about how they wanted one or should have kept the one they had.
You don’t see a lot of them around. But when you own a Landau you end up knowing everyone who owns one!