Defender Restoration - buy or not to buy?

julianf said:

I just had a scan of ebay's completed items, with a minimum price of £1500. There looks to have been plenty of 200s and the like for around the £2k mark.
Ive not gone through the details of all of them, but, from the little photos on the side of the ebay list, they look to be parked on public highways etc. so id infer that they were on the road (mot'd) at time of auction.

Unless the OP has real dedication, i really suspect that one would turn into an unfinished project. My fore mentioned 110 is in bits at the moment, and it gets drawn out when it keeps raining and you run out of space, have other stuff to do, etc.etc.

Its always tempting to get somthing thinking "ill make this good" etc. but there are really so many easier 110s than that one.

But you make your bed, and you get to lie in it.... : )

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julianf said:

I suspect its worth more to a breaker for the salable parts than it is for a restoration.

The bulkhead will take you a load of time. The chassis may be more bother than its worth.
It looks like its been out of use for long enough that the clutch might be stuck on, etc.etc.
Then all the standard mot things like track rod ends, bushes etc. (noone cares for a vehical when they know theyre about to lay it up forever)

Its doable, but you can do better for £1500 than this.

What's your budget? A richards chassis is, what, about 2.5k. A bulkhead probably the best part of £1k, once its blasted, dipped, and sprayed.

So that's 3.5k. Say another £1k on all the other bits. 4.5k. Then whatever you pay for the vehical. If that's £500, then youve got a 5k truck, which would be a nice vehical, but is still 5k, which is maybe abut £3k more than youre expecting.

By all means get a defender and take it apart, but just buy more wisely than that one. Or buy that one for a load less cash.


As an indication, there's been a chap selling two 90s on ebay (one ID between them) and he keeps relisting them, as noone is bidding at £1k. Id rather spend £1k on them, than £1.5 on that one.

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300bhp/ton said:

And the rest. Those axles don't look too hot. And the interior and body is tatty. Not too mention the actual effort involved in actually doing a chassis swap. And of course all the little bits you don't think of but end up needing to buy.

If you are a novice doing this as a resto. I'd think you'd be better off budgeting £8000-10,000 but with the acceptance that you could sink another £2k at the drop of a hat.

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