pomonastik
8th February 2008, 09:50 PM
It's a long story but i bought another range rover today.
the steering box on my '88 highline had been giving me the irrits, losing 500ml of fluid a day so on wednesday i took it off to fit a new seal. BAD MISTAKE. by thursday night i'd buggered two input seals trying to force a new one in and in desparation i slapped it all back together so i could go to work today. the test run confirmed my worst fears, to the point i was worried the gushing fluid might ignite on the exhaust manifold. scouting around the web priced secondhand ones at $500, reco units at $650+ and a brand new one at $1100. what to do ? no car = no work = no money !
luckily the rain genie came overnight so i didn't have to go this morning but i was still going to be struggling for tomorrow etc.
my good lady wife, knowing i was a bit stuck, magically produced $500 for me to potentially make a 200km round trip to melbourne or ballarat in the hope of finding a reasonable second hand one. i'm about to start making 'phone calls when she mentions that another local mum had said that her husband's RR had gone wrong recently and he'd gone and bought another car. why didn't i give them a ring first in case it might have a usable bit on it ? lo and behold,
"yes the car is crook, would you like to come and have a look with a view to buying it for spares?"
the couple are the caretakers at a large house used by a church for priests to holiday at. so the car turns out to be an '88 model and the steering box is identical with minor stains but no real leaks. a price is agreed of $1500 spread over a couple of months with $500 down now, take it away today.
this all happened so quickly i was barely aware that a few details were different about the car and it wasn't 'til i got home that i bothered to look closely. i'd seen the rocker covers were red and the air meter looked different but i'd been more focussed on the steering box and after all, the engine was said to be crook and mines ok. it had been parked back against a hedge so i hadn't noticed the badge on the back that said 4.2 Vitesse. it must be a grey import because it has a land rover uk chassis plate (SALLHAML3EA324494).
ok, so i reckon its got a holed piston but it drives ok, has 6 months rego and has easily saleable goodies like a full gas conversion dated from 2006 and a brand new a/c compressor. it's also only recently been fully rebushed all round, has good wood, a few good tyres and aftermarket steel bull and rear bumper bars.
the bad things are a dinged up bonnet ,signs of collision damage to the drivers door, no indicators and, of course a dud motor.
so folks what exactly have i bought ? is it rare? should i simply part it out or would that be a crime?
the steering box on my '88 highline had been giving me the irrits, losing 500ml of fluid a day so on wednesday i took it off to fit a new seal. BAD MISTAKE. by thursday night i'd buggered two input seals trying to force a new one in and in desparation i slapped it all back together so i could go to work today. the test run confirmed my worst fears, to the point i was worried the gushing fluid might ignite on the exhaust manifold. scouting around the web priced secondhand ones at $500, reco units at $650+ and a brand new one at $1100. what to do ? no car = no work = no money !
luckily the rain genie came overnight so i didn't have to go this morning but i was still going to be struggling for tomorrow etc.
my good lady wife, knowing i was a bit stuck, magically produced $500 for me to potentially make a 200km round trip to melbourne or ballarat in the hope of finding a reasonable second hand one. i'm about to start making 'phone calls when she mentions that another local mum had said that her husband's RR had gone wrong recently and he'd gone and bought another car. why didn't i give them a ring first in case it might have a usable bit on it ? lo and behold,
"yes the car is crook, would you like to come and have a look with a view to buying it for spares?"
the couple are the caretakers at a large house used by a church for priests to holiday at. so the car turns out to be an '88 model and the steering box is identical with minor stains but no real leaks. a price is agreed of $1500 spread over a couple of months with $500 down now, take it away today.
this all happened so quickly i was barely aware that a few details were different about the car and it wasn't 'til i got home that i bothered to look closely. i'd seen the rocker covers were red and the air meter looked different but i'd been more focussed on the steering box and after all, the engine was said to be crook and mines ok. it had been parked back against a hedge so i hadn't noticed the badge on the back that said 4.2 Vitesse. it must be a grey import because it has a land rover uk chassis plate (SALLHAML3EA324494).
ok, so i reckon its got a holed piston but it drives ok, has 6 months rego and has easily saleable goodies like a full gas conversion dated from 2006 and a brand new a/c compressor. it's also only recently been fully rebushed all round, has good wood, a few good tyres and aftermarket steel bull and rear bumper bars.
the bad things are a dinged up bonnet ,signs of collision damage to the drivers door, no indicators and, of course a dud motor.
so folks what exactly have i bought ? is it rare? should i simply part it out or would that be a crime?