Thread: Flew interstate - defender not as described!

Went up to Victoria Yesterday, flying up at a cost of $129 x 2 (me and my mechanically inclined buddy) + fees, booking a cabin for 2 and a vehicle spot on the ferry back to tassie at $625 cost. A bit of a risk to take but I had to look at the vehicle some how! The seller crowed about how great it was and that it was in fantastic condition, so i took the risk...

Quote from the add:

"This defender has been an incredibly reliable and trustworthy vehicle while it has been serviced on time and looked after very well. No dents, rust or damage"

We got from the airport, took a $75 taxi 40 minutes out of the city to pick up the vehicle. When I got to the place I realized I had been duped!

It took us not 2 minutes, to find at least 13 spots with rust and not just "A little surface rust & dust" the seller was calling it - I put my finger through one in the bulkhead...

Ontop of that, the bushings were all dried and cracked, anything rubber on the vehicle had perished and cracked, the tyres, while having a lot of tread were cracked along the side walls and the interior was in very poor condition. This was all before we even turned on the ignition...

The car turned over but threw blue/black and brown smoke in fits and farts. This was after we located the kill switch for the battery. Which was on. That the owner didnt know how to operate...

We tried the ARB air lockers. Nope. No compressor, no relay - nothing. The whole system was completely dead or disconnected somewhere. The air lines under the car were cracked and wouldnt have worked even if it was connected.

The winch didn't function. Didnt matter cos the seller had lost the remote anyway...

We continued to find stuff wrong with this car like weeping joints, leaks, issues with the engine etc etc...

We jump in for a test drive, thouroughly convinced to run a mile but thought it would be better to get a laugh from the $1200 travel costs at least than to just start running.

Couldn't get it into gear but according to the seller it was just me and it was fine. I know the LT77 can be a pain, but when your foot is ON the floor and the gears still crunch theres something more at play. Finally with the sellers instruction to "just lean on it" we got it into reverse and out onto the street.

Certainly was fun. The clutch was completely shagged, various lights didnt work. heater didnt work, AC didnt work. We got back and gave him the list of screwed items to which he replied

"The AC WAS working!" as if we had done something to it... He swore black and blue that the clutch was fine.

Eventually I asked for my meager deposit back that I paid for him to hold onto the car until I got there which he did thankfully.

I gave him some friendly advise that if he genuinely wanted to sell the vehicle he would need to get, at the very least, the clutch looked at to which he replied that he had a quote from the mechanic already.... and we left.

Turns out the photos were 4 years old - Tassie rego plates with a VIC plate number on the add... seller said it was because he didnt have it reregistered until recently! Should have been a giant red flag...

I felt horrible for the defender. It looks like someone had taken ages to setup and it has since been left to rust and die in suburban Melbourne for 4 years. Not a suitable end for such a vehicle...

In the end, I took a $150 taxi from old mates place across the city and wound up finding a 95 300tdi 110 for a 'suitable' price in great aesthetic condition. It has some mechanical issues to sort out but nothing in the league of the previous piece of !

Many beers were had on the ferry.

Shocking - I found one for a little under $100,000 USD for you. Travel costs might be a little more than the Melbourne trip though

Land Rover : Defender Defender 110 in Land Rover | eBay Motors

I wonder which one will be for sale longer. The 100k Massachusetts, United States one our the shocker you visited