I am getting close to making an expensive and foolish decision. We went down to Portland yesterday to look at a couple of Defenders. One was too far gone (), and the other had some odd ball mods that I'm not sure I approve of .... 4.2 litre Discovery motor, converted to carbs, auto and Disco transfer box and axles. Reasonably solid, interior needed finishing and some mechanical things sorting out. So now I am on the fence .... LWB 94/95 Range Rover? 2004 Discovery? Be patient and hold out for the Defender that I really want? Pay out the cash for yesterday's Defender, because it's nearby and available? Decisions, decisions ...
Hello, all! I'm new here, coming from the supermoto world, looking to get into something with a bit longer legs. It seems every forum I'm on has a thread about our beloved Rovers. I do a bit of restoration work on Defenders, and would like to share some of the projects I've completed in the last few years. '94 NAS 90 that got a facelift, wheels and tires. Another '94 that received a new galvy chassis, turbo diesel, toyota axles, lockers and 35's. Before: Somewhere in the middle: After: An '85 110ST that also received a galvy chassis, along with fresh paint, interior an an automatic transmission. Before: Middle: After: And lastly, a '95 that received a full custom treatment, both inside and out. Before: After:
Finally pulled the trigger!! I'm picking up a 1998 Disco with only 137k km on Saturday!! ps, It's the one on the right...
5000 mile genuine Camel Trophy Defender on Ebay right now, for $60,000. Seems like a good price for a fully restored, fully equiped vehicle with history. Whitham wants!!
Duuuude... that is a DAMN good price for a vehicle of that provenance. ECR re-built 110s go for north of $100k easy. Even beater import 110s with 100k+ 300tdis and TD5s are $30-50k trucks. 1983s are perfectly legal and easy to import into the US. I have a bunch of reputable Rover import contacts if anyone goes for this thing. Man, I wish I had that fucking cash right now. That rig is sweet. Goddamnit. Legit old school CT trucks don't come up for sale very often and when they do they're usually Discos and Rangies that have all the kit and decals stripped off, or they're support trucks from the late '90s.
A little off topic question but I still need to ask.. How come I can buy a range Rover like this for a $1000dollars and the Old land rovers sell for more money than they where purchase new...:huh Yes I know of the incredibly bad reputation of the range Rovers, but this blue thing is been really good to us even if we treat it like crap.
LR sold a million Discos and Range Rovers into the U.S. and so now, combined with their terrible consumer ratings, they're basically worthless. LR imported Defenders into the U.S. from '94-'97 -- that's it. For most Rover people, Defenders are the most desirable cars in the world. There were not many NAS Defenders sold and so the used market reflects the demand. You can import Defenders from England/Europe/wherever, with diesel motors, so long as they're 25 years or older. This can be relatively affordable if you buy a tired old English 90 or 110 Station Wagon -- which many do -- and fix it up. In 2016 we'll be allowed to import proper 1990 Euro-spec Defenders. I'm already saving my pennies. By the way -- get some stiffer springs in that poor Rangie!
So the trucks are equally crappy is just a lot less of them so that makes even more desirable, Or are they better machines (I know they are much simpler)..:huh Oh man that is a long story a day for of mistakes, Yes we did have the stiffest springs that you can get for the Range Rover, the next step was to get some additional "airbags" to help out the springs.
Yup. I dragged a pretty good-sized two-motorcycle trailer across the USA (Florida to California and back) with my Range Rover Classic and while the Rover would tow, it wasn't particularly comfortable as the trailer tended to drag the Rover around in a cross wind. I might add that the short wheelbase Range Rover had a "Nivomat" suspension; it may appear low in the back at rest, but after a few pumps an internal pump has added some pressure and corrected the height. After you have driven a few feet it's no longer sagging at the rear. That was replaced with an active air suspension on the long wheelbase versions as I recall.
I had just assumed you had ditched the terrible airbag suspension for springs, like every single Rangie owner who knows the first thing about Rangies does. :huh It's funny how there are thousands of blissfully ignorant RR (P38s too) and Disco owners just driving their trucks into oblivion without issue, while the "enthusiasts" are always the ones you see on the side of the road or broken down on a trail.
Defenders are widely regarded as the most capable "off the shelf" 4x4 you can get. Extremely compact design and short wheelbase, rugged drivetrain, etc. I won't bore you with the details. But while the reputation for capability of all Rovers is excellent (longevity and reliability notwithstanding), the Defender's has soared into legend. Of course, opinions are like assholes... I'm sure someone will come along and tell you about their body-lifted XJ.
95's had the R380 gearbox - more better than the 94 models all US model year 97's had the ZF automatic Most of us Defender nuts prefer the 95's unless you're a girly man that doesn't want the stick shift (actually the automatics have some advantages in rocky off road situations) Watch for rust and leaking head gaskets - one good thing about Defenders is that they are almost infinitely rebuildable. Get used to stopping every 125 miles for more fuel unless you have a diesel.
What Solaros said... I have my R380 mated to a 6.2L diesel -- it's a stout transmission. For more affordable imported Defenders/Series IIIs, check out www.roversouteast.com Dale over at www.theroverbarn.com has a pretty sweet 110 TDi up for sale right now. Not terribly priced either.
