Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel

History

Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, S.A. was founded in 1955 in Linares, in Spain's Jaén province, with state incentives to industrialise Andalusia. After building agricultural machinery it reached agreement with Rover in 1956 to build Land Rovers under licence, and production from Complete Knocked Down kits shipped from Solihull began in 1958. Local content grew rapidly behind Spain's protected market - by 1968 the vehicles were 100% locally made - and by 1962 Santana was supplying Land Rovers to Central and South America and parts of Africa.

From 1968 Santana increasingly went its own way, developing its own versions of the Series models and, in time, its own engines. Vehicles that worked hard in harsh export markets exposed weaknesses early, and Santana answered with features that often preceded Solihull's equivalents: tapered leaf springs, disc brakes, anatomical seats and, later, turbodiesels. The company's proudest piece of independent engineering was its six-cylinder engine family. Rather than adopt Solihull's ageing 2.6-litre inlet-over-exhaust six, Santana stretched the rugged 2,286 cc Land Rover four by half again, producing 3,429 cc inline-sixes in both petrol and diesel form.

The six-cylinder diesel - 90.47 mm bore, 88.9 mm stroke, 23:1 compression, around 94 bhp at 4,000 rpm with 152 lb ft at 1,800 rpm - gave roughly 50% more power and torque than the four-cylinder diesel. A one-tonne six-cylinder military forward control entered production in 1976, the first six-cylinder diesel 109-inch Land Rovers followed in 1977, and in 1978 the Santana 2000 forward control adopted the six exclusively. In 1981 the company renamed itself Land Rover Santana, S.A., reflecting a relationship in which Linares was by then developing as much as it was assembling.

Santana's Series-type models, in 88- and 109-inch wheelbases, continued into the 1980s alongside increasingly independent derivatives. The non-compete agreement with Land Rover ended in 1983 and the licence itself in 1990, after which Santana carried on with its own Land Rover-derived ranges before turning to Suzuki and Iveco production; the Linares factory finally closed in February 2011. Spanish enthusiasts recall the works Series colours as a light 'pistachio' green, a blue-grey and olive and grass greens, with Limestone cream reserved for wheels and tops - close cousins of Solihull's palette, though Santana's exact paint records are poorly documented.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, S.A. (from 1981 Land Rover Santana, S.A.), Linares, Spain

Manufactured

Six-cylinder diesel models from 1977; Santana Series production 1958 into the 1980s

Engine type

3,429 cc Santana inline-six diesel (2.25 four stretched by two cylinders), ~94 bhp at 4,000 rpm, 23:1 compression

Production run

Not reliably documented for the six-cylinder diesel models

Country of origin

Spain

Status

out of production; factory closed 2011

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Santana

Family

Land Rover Series

Body style

station

Wheels

4

Nominal wheelbase

109″

Series

3

Nominal wheelbase

109″

Roof

station

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Related base model variants

• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — No roof Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · No roof
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Canvas soft top Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Canvas roof
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Hard top Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Hard top
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Station wagon Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Station wagon
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Cab top Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Cab top
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Cab top canvas Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Cab top canvas
• Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel 109″ — Trayback Series III Santana 6cyl Diesel · 109″ LWB · Trayback · Cab top

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Santana Motor (1956 agreement, 1958 production start, 100% local content by 1968, licence ended 1990, closure 2011) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Santana - the story of the Spanish-built Land Rover (timeline: 1976 six-cylinder military one-tonne, 1977 first six-cylinder diesel 109s, 1978 Santana 2000, 1981 renamed Land Rover Santana SA) ↗ — AROnline (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Santana LandRovers (six-cylinder 3,429 cc engine specifications: 90.47 mm bore, 88.9 mm stroke, diesel 70 kW at 4,000 rpm, 207 Nm, 23:1) ↗ — allisons.org (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Land Rover Santana (six-cylinder engines created by adding two cylinders to the 2,286 cc four; diesel 94 hp at 4,000 rpm, 152 lb ft at 1,800 rpm) ↗ — Revivaler (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Color para pintar un Santana 88 super de 1982 (period Santana colours recalled: verde pistacho/light green, blue-grey, verde hierba, verde oliva; Limestone for wheels and tops) ↗ — Club Land Rover TT (forum) (accessed 2026-09-09)