Not one to want to swear in church however...
A good LOOKING P38 might still be a handfull. I bought my 1998 autobiography with just 140K on the clock in november of 2015. Good looking, low mileage and even the engine was (seemed) in good shape. I have taken it onto very rough tracks and I have upgraded quite a few bits along the way but all in all (including buying the car itself) I have spent 20K on the damn thing
Before I got into this adventure I was aware of the stellar reliability stories of landrovers but I thought they were simply the best thing to have Now, if I strip away all the extra's that I spent, I think total spending comes down to 5k. For a car that has been sitting around for so long quite a few things may have gone wrong. The electrics could be in proper shape unless caps have dried out. I reckon you can simply plug a good battery in there and try out most of the electrical funtions.
On my car, most things that have gone wrong, and I am sorry to say that there were a lot, almost all were simply worn due to age or expedited wear due to my offroading . Speakers simply deteriorate in the doors over time due to heat, vacuum hoses for the cruise control likewise. The blend motors of the hevac unit are suspect and most likely will need work. BECM, ECU, EAS, ABS/TC are pretty reliable computers and don't break often if ever afaik. Cruise control on GEMS do, the BOSCH units are far more reliable. hevac is a mixed bag. The head unit usually does not break but the display can go bad.
In order to restore the air suspension I would factor in that you'd need to be doing a complete overhaul: compressor and valveblock rebuild, possibly some new hoses, 4 new airbags (go with arnott gen III) Since you take the motor out anyway, working on the car becomes so much easier I would suggest you do it all in one go, if you have the budget. Also, if it is a GEMS I would suggest very firmly you rebuild the ETC unit to ensure safe breaking.
All in all, if you have the time and money to do the needed work on a P38, they are one of the best 4x4's by far imho. Just new enough to have a lot of comfort, just old enough to have solid axles and solid performance (not to mention looks!) 1500 would be my top offer though since I know by know what to expect...
-P
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