Turboman
Mab An Gov
Agree with that on all counts!Treat a car like many people treat Land Rovers and it would be scrap within five years.
Yet people will complain that their newly bought 25 year old seven-owner-plus-one farmer-veteran of numerous ham fisted off road excursions, home maintenance, pay and play weekends, towed-everything-from-horsebox-to-boat (including launching in the sea) stolen and recovered twice, never garaged or washed Defender is "unreliable"
As I use mine for work, and it is vitally important that it works every time, I adopt a completely different approach.
First off, I never buy anything with serious chassis and bulkhead rust.
When I buy an old landy, it comes home, straight into the shed, all fluids drained and changed. I would do this with any car that I bought.
But with a landy, I will also spend a whole day going right through it, checking for wear and worn out components. I measure springs, test shocks, go through all mot procedures steering, suspension, brakes, lights etc. Then the engine and trans are checked for wear, leaks etc.
And then I replace all the dodgy stuff, maybe not in a oner, but rolling resto over a few months.
May cost a few hundred, even a few k, but then it is as new mechanically, even if not cosmetically! And still vastly cheaper than a new vehicle when added to the purchase price.
To put it simply, I prefer to do the work first, then the motoring, rather than the other way round. More peace of mind!