THE owners of an old Land Rover stolen from a rural property south of Bathurst have called on the public’s help in having the vehicle returned.
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The light blue, long wheelbase 1972 model Land Rover was stolen from Porters Retreat on Friday, December 19.
The vehicle went missing about the same time an inmate was reported missing from the Oberon Correctional Centre at Shooters Hill, and it is possible the two incidents are related.
But, as Lyn Isles told the Western Advocate, the vehicle has much more sentimental value than commercial value, and her family is desperate to see it returned.
They fear it may have been dumped in rugged terrain, but hoped holiday campers or bushwalkers may stumble across it.
Ms Isles said the vehicle had been part of her family – off and on – for many decades.
“[The vehicle] was built as a pre-production evaluation model in the same factory in Sydney as the army Land Rovers. My father was the managing director of that company,” she said.
“As it was a prototype, its chassis number is not on any product records. The vehicle was retained by my father and kept at his rural property at Tarana.
“The property was sold in 1994 and the ‘Landy’ was brought to Sydney where my son drove it while he was a university student.
“But when he was transferred to work overseas the vehicle was sold to a collector in Victoria.”
Ms Isles said that when her son returned to Sydney after 10 years away, he bought a farm outside Oberon and began searching for the Land Rover.
“He repurchased the vehicle, which was only partially restored as the owner had become ill,” she said.
“It arrived back at the farm on a trailer and was housed in the shed.
“The vehicle is of huge sentimental value to the family and of no value to anyone else. The steering is stiff and tends to lock, the battery is weak and is hard to start, plus it is unregistered.
“It will most likely be dumped in the forest or the bush and no one will know who it belongs to.”
Police have been given details about the stolen vehicle along with other items stolen from the property, including a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Anyone with information on any of the stolen items is asked to contact Crime Stoppers or local police.
