A lesson in the bleeding obvious...

[eddiec]

...that lesson being that you shouldn't buy a landy sight-unseen!

A few weeks back we picked up a very nice looking 96 Defender on ebay. Bright yellow, low km engine (although the chassis had done more), nice additions, a few noted problems.. Fine. The guy seemed ok, and had had it recently serviced. We got it for $8700, and figured a couple of few thousand for repairs and roadworthy, etc once we got it back to Vic.

Well, it's now three weeks later, and that entire time it's been at the mechanics. Total bill: $7,500... ouch. :( New gearbox, myriad of leaks and minor problems fixed, new and reconditioned brakes, power steering pump replaced, etc. So the repairs almost cost as much as the car! Oh well - lesson learnt. Foolishness punished...

Our only solace is that we now have a damn fine example for $16,000... not too bad I suppose... :eek:

[Quiggers]

Oh well, better than paying $16k, then having to fix it...

I would think a well refurbished (as you have done) 96 'fender for is reasonable for $7500 plus your refurbs...

one good thing about 'fenders, they don't change much... give it the right paint colour and it'd look like a newie...

(dealer recently had a mid 80s county wagon V8 for $7990, looked tired)

GQ

[JDNSW]

...that lesson being that you shouldn't buy ANYTHING (expensive) sight-unseen!
........:

A slight correction!

John

[cookiesa]

At least your honest enough to mention your bad buy! Amazing how many "bargains" are bought off Ebay.... I have seen a few examples of how bad these bargains have been.... Of course there is some good stuff on there too. I have bought a few things off Evilbay and so far, apart from 1 item all have been good (item was only relatively cheap but no where near the condition advertised)

[incisor]

...that lesson being that you shouldn't buy a landy sight-unseen!

A few weeks back we picked up a very nice looking 96 Defender on ebay. Bright yellow, low km engine (although the chassis had done more), nice additions, a few noted problems.. Fine. The guy seemed ok, and had had it recently serviced. We got it for $8700, and figured a couple of few thousand for repairs and roadworthy, etc once we got it back to Vic.

Well, it's now three weeks later, and that entire time it's been at the mechanics. Total bill: $7,500... ouch. :( New gearbox, myriad of leaks and minor problems fixed, new and reconditioned brakes, power steering pump replaced, etc. So the repairs almost cost as much as the car! Oh well - lesson learnt. Foolishness punished...

Our only solace is that we now have a damn fine example for $16,000... not too bad I suppose... :eek:

be brave, you only live once :P

i did similar, tho not of ebay, after a few repairs including gearbox, clutch, transfer and a timing belt etc i ended up with a pretty solid unit for just over 15k which was just a tad over my original budget.

cant wipe the smile of my dial as they say... was painful at the time though it has to be said :P

[eddiec]

good to know I'm not alone!

I think you've pinned the real problem, that for the last three weeks it's been all pain and no joy. Now that we've got it back and can start using it and having fun with it, I think/hope the expense will seem ok.

I know logically that 16k isn't too bad for an almost fully reconditioned 'fender. It's just having to pay that and still not being able to drive it, that it truly sucks.

Oh well - registration appointment tomorrow. Hopefully that's the last hurdle.

(Actually, the last hurdle is modifying the garage door so it'll bloody fit, but we won't talk about that! ;) )

[Cap]

Well, my $1000 rangie I picked up from Melb will be now around $5,500 by the time im finished, but at least it will have a lot of new or reco'd bits in it :D

Now you spent the money, enjoy it. Heck, in the end you cant take the money with you anyways ;)

[gelovaris]

I nearly bought that beast as well,
hope you now get to enjoy it. :)


gelo

1977 SIII
186 gas
camo.

[Outback 1]

[QUOTE=eddiec;622593]...that lesson being that you shouldn't buy a landy sight-unseen!

i disagree i bought my disco sight unseen{from a dealer though}and apart from the disconnected heater that i opted to fit myself {they would have}it's been great:D

[rangieman]

Sorry to hear of your pain , it will all be good in the long run .

I bought mine off carpoint unseen in canberra last year 20 months ago and never had a drama , so i was lucky there i guess:cool:

[Scouse]

Eddie,
What was wrong with the gearbox? It must have been bad to need replacement.

Did you get the VIN issue sorted out?

[eddiec]

i think the gearbox had just past its use-by date... it was very noisy, and when they cracked it open they realised it was going to cost more to fix than it would to replace... I'd already detected myself it was crunching badly into second gear as well.... It had had over 300,000kms on it.

as for the VIN - well, tomorrow will tell when I front up to VicRoads. I think I've got all the right documentation, so it should be ok.

[abaddonxi]

Been there, know the pain.

Cheers
Simon

[p38arover]

Don't ask what I've spent on my new 4.6 engine - but it is smooth.

Ron

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Don't ask what I've spent on my new 4.6 engine - but it is smooth.

Ron

all in and running then?:arms:

list of mods done please!