Thread: Talk me out of buying this County

Originally Posted by cjgraham92

Hi All

New member here. I’m looking at buying an unregistered 86 Isuzu county with 5 speed gear box. Electronics don’t work, doors full of rust, chassis recently painted (red flag), rust in bulkhead (in fact rust everywhere you’d expect), rear cross member replaced, drives - engine sounds good and gets through the gears without anything too scary.

My goal would be to get this car to a point where I can drive it to and from work locally. Ideally I’d like to be able to do some trips in it but am I just completely kidding myself?

I’ve spoken to a local LR specialist who advised upwards of $2k per door for rust fix, up to $10k for bulkhead… very quickly does a cheap buy become very expensive.

I realise everything can be fixed for a price but am I completely kidding myself on this?

You could certainly find better ones, but it all comes down to $$ I guess.

What ball park figure are they asking for it?

If they are genuine about the cost of repair, I should really quit my day job and start fixing them for a crust

Originally Posted by shack

You could certainly find better ones, but it all comes down to $$ I guess.

What ball park figure are they asking for it?

If they are genuine about the cost of repair, I should really quit my day job and start fixing them for a crust

Hi Shack

thanks for the reply - c. $11k

Are you planning to work on it yourself at all or will it be a case of handing over the cash and a big bucket of money to get everything done?

Purchase price aside for a minute, if you were taking it on as a resto project yourself the doors and bulkhead don’t look too bad.
Doors aren’t a big deal, but there’s a fair chunk of time in a bulkhead removal/refit if that was required.
Chassis you’d definitely want to have a close look at - if it’s rotten then you’re looking at a ground up rebuild so it’s really just a collection of parts rolling on county axles.

Nothing hard about them, just a big boy’s mechanic set and if you’ve got the time/space and capability to plug away at it it’s definitely doable.

But If you’re having to pay somebody else to do all the work I think you’ll be north of $25k before you blink.

Steve

Originally Posted by cjgraham92

Hi All

New member here. I’m looking at buying an unregistered 86 Isuzu county with 5 speed gear box. Electronics don’t work, doors full of rust, chassis recently painted (red flag), rust in bulkhead (in fact rust everywhere you’d expect), rear cross member replaced, drives - engine sounds good and gets through the gears without anything too scary.

My goal would be to get this car to a point where I can drive it to and from work locally. Ideally I’d like to be able to do some trips in it but am I just completely kidding myself?

I’ve spoken to a local LR specialist who advised upwards of $2k per door for rust fix, up to $10k for bulkhead… very quickly does a cheap buy become very expensive.

I realise everything can be fixed for a price but am I completely kidding myself on this?

$2K per door seems a little steep.... I mean, you can get these from Turkey Land Rover Defender Brand New Front Doors Full Kit - For Sale Land Rover Defender, but surely a hunt for SH ones is possible.

The same mob do bulkheads. After that it's just work. Land Rover Defender Bulkhead galvanised - For Sale Land Rover Defender

I'm not recommending those bits from Turkey, as I've never seen them, but they are an example of what's available.

Originally Posted by steveG

Are you planning to work on it yourself at all or will it be a case of handing over the cash and a big bucket of money to get everything done?

Purchase price aside for a minute, if you were taking it on as a resto project yourself the doors and bulkhead don’t look too bad.
Doors aren’t a big deal, but there’s a fair chunk of time in a bulkhead removal/refit if that was required.
Chassis you’d definitely want to have a close look at - if it’s rotten then you’re looking at a ground up rebuild so it’s really just a collection of parts rolling on county axles.

Nothing hard about them, just a big boy’s mechanic set and if you’ve got the time/space and capability to plug away at it it’s definitely doable.

But If you’re having to pay somebody else to do all the work I think you’ll be north of $25k before you blink.

Steve

Cheers Steve - definitely keen to do as much myself as I can. My big issue is keeping my wife on board with this plan... More than happy to plug away but i'm keen to get it on the road ASAP (if wife doesn't veto)

I think the quote probably falls into the category “I don’t want to do the job so I’ll try to scare him away”. SP4x4 make nice gal doors for a few hundred dollars each. You can also get pre-fab bits to weld into the bulkhead in the common rust spots. Be careful to check the chassis though, as while pre-fab bits are also available to weld on for repair, some may involve challenging welding positions or stripping of the vehicle to do properly. I get all my body/chassis repair bits from the UK direct, it’s usually quite a bit cheaper than sourcing locally. It all really depends on how much effort you’re willing to sign on for, time tends to cost more than parts for this sort of work, but I personally find it therapeutic and rewarding…