Questions: Land Rover Defender 110 - 1991 - 111k miles

[wagenman]

Hello, new here, I found this forum accidentally after seeing a video of an old tricked out land cruiser that's for sale here in the forums. I think I became obsessed and have spent the last two weeks scouring the internet for an adventure vehicle of my own. I currently don't have a vehicle.

I'm looking at buying a 1991 Land Rover I found and well, I've never owned one and wanted to ask if there were any gotchas to watch out for.
Is there anything in particular I should be wary of? Am I biting off more than I can chew in terms of maintenance with this old Defender or would I be better off just buying a 4runner? It seems hard to find anything that has the kind of space these old Defenders have.

It seems like it's been well taken care of but the owner seems to be mistaken about the year of the vehicle (87) as I did a vin decode and it comes up as a 91. That seemed like a small red flag but figured since it's an import maybe he was just mistaken.

If I pick it up and later find the engine is shot what's a recommended replacement? I've seen one crazy defender with a corvette engine in it.
Are there any common issues to expect?

I appreciate your wisdom as I embark on my own first foray into adventure.

John

 

[Correus]

Make absolutely sure the title is clear and the numbers match. There have been some shipped to the US over the years that have had fake/fraudulent numbers attached so they could be imported in.

They also tend to hold their value and increase if it is decently maintained.

Parts are not difficult to get.