I planned to hike today, but it’s been pissing down with rain. Also out of books to read, I truly have nothing to do. So I figured making an old school forum post would kill time!
I’ve had a lifelong attraction to Land Rovers. During childhood, my family traveled constantly. Which meant if we passed a LR dealer, I made my family stop. This was back in the 90s, and very early 2000s when most of the dealers had off road demo courses on site. Vehicles parked on rocks, and the interiors looked like a bass pro shop. A wonderful time! Throughout this time period, I tried persuading my parents to purchase a Disco but they were too small for our family.
When I was 17, one of my friends purchased a lightly used Disco 2 that was still under warranty. Which we took off road the day he got it. It saw jumps, slid down hills into trees, and blasted through shrubs. By the end of that day, it had a cracked windscreen, every panel was heavily scratched and dented, and the front bumper was nearly gone. Given he used the truck in such manner, it saw the dealer a bunch. The techs there would tell me to never buy a Land Rover product. This scared me into staying away from Discoveries.
In my early 20s, I had a few Disco 2 but that’s because I owned a dealership. I would only purchase one owner, low mileage examples and was petrified to touch them. I would buy them, and wouldn’t touch it unless someone was interested.
I did own a few l322 Range Rovers, and RRS during this time period. Which in hindsight is hilarious, given I was afraid to own a Disco 1 or 2.
Finally pulled the trigger on a UK import 300tdi Discovery during COVID. I bought it to travel cross country. It was supposed to be perfect, and not needing a thing. This was far from the truth. I put a lot of cash and time into making it road worthy. Shockingly, it traveled cross country and back!
After living out of this thing for over a month. Once we got back, it was parked and I didn’t want to even look at it! No AC, rough riding lifted suspension, etc will do that! I sold it, and ended up with an LR3 for my adventure mobile a year or so later.
This LR3 was a one owner truck. Optioned with the HD package, and dealer serviced its whole life. I did a few minor mechanical upgrades, tossed a RTT on it and enjoyed putting a ton of miles on it.
It started to acquire a bunch of scratches, dings, and interior tears from tossing dirtbike boots inside. I felt bad it went from a pampered life to the lifestyle I was subjecting it to. So I sold it!
Which brings things to the Disco I recently purchased. I wasn’t planning on buying one, but I crawl marketplace for more than one should and stumbled upon the ad. It was a one owner 1997 Discovery. The owner was selling due to not finding a shop to keep it going. He purchased it new in CA, and moved to NC in the mid 2000s. Bringing the Disco with him. It was dealer serviced, till they wouldn’t touch it. He then struggled to find a reliable shop over the years. So it sat. Sometime last year, he decided to try one last time to get it back on the road. He paid a shop a TON of cash to install a used low mileage engine, regasket it, along with new bearings, and other non engine related work. He had to bring it back several times for stuff, as it was never 100%. So it ended up sitting for another year till he decided to finally part ways.
When I bought it, the truck was in rough shape. None of the windows worked, the sunroofs leaked. LOTS of mold. The headliner was covered, along with almost every panel. The paint was toast, it leaked fluids, and ran poorly.
I’ve had a lifelong attraction to Land Rovers. During childhood, my family traveled constantly. Which meant if we passed a LR dealer, I made my family stop. This was back in the 90s, and very early 2000s when most of the dealers had off road demo courses on site. Vehicles parked on rocks, and the interiors looked like a bass pro shop. A wonderful time! Throughout this time period, I tried persuading my parents to purchase a Disco but they were too small for our family.
When I was 17, one of my friends purchased a lightly used Disco 2 that was still under warranty. Which we took off road the day he got it. It saw jumps, slid down hills into trees, and blasted through shrubs. By the end of that day, it had a cracked windscreen, every panel was heavily scratched and dented, and the front bumper was nearly gone. Given he used the truck in such manner, it saw the dealer a bunch. The techs there would tell me to never buy a Land Rover product. This scared me into staying away from Discoveries.
In my early 20s, I had a few Disco 2 but that’s because I owned a dealership. I would only purchase one owner, low mileage examples and was petrified to touch them. I would buy them, and wouldn’t touch it unless someone was interested.
I did own a few l322 Range Rovers, and RRS during this time period. Which in hindsight is hilarious, given I was afraid to own a Disco 1 or 2.
Finally pulled the trigger on a UK import 300tdi Discovery during COVID. I bought it to travel cross country. It was supposed to be perfect, and not needing a thing. This was far from the truth. I put a lot of cash and time into making it road worthy. Shockingly, it traveled cross country and back!
After living out of this thing for over a month. Once we got back, it was parked and I didn’t want to even look at it! No AC, rough riding lifted suspension, etc will do that! I sold it, and ended up with an LR3 for my adventure mobile a year or so later.
This LR3 was a one owner truck. Optioned with the HD package, and dealer serviced its whole life. I did a few minor mechanical upgrades, tossed a RTT on it and enjoyed putting a ton of miles on it.
It started to acquire a bunch of scratches, dings, and interior tears from tossing dirtbike boots inside. I felt bad it went from a pampered life to the lifestyle I was subjecting it to. So I sold it!
Which brings things to the Disco I recently purchased. I wasn’t planning on buying one, but I crawl marketplace for more than one should and stumbled upon the ad. It was a one owner 1997 Discovery. The owner was selling due to not finding a shop to keep it going. He purchased it new in CA, and moved to NC in the mid 2000s. Bringing the Disco with him. It was dealer serviced, till they wouldn’t touch it. He then struggled to find a reliable shop over the years. So it sat. Sometime last year, he decided to try one last time to get it back on the road. He paid a shop a TON of cash to install a used low mileage engine, regasket it, along with new bearings, and other non engine related work. He had to bring it back several times for stuff, as it was never 100%. So it ended up sitting for another year till he decided to finally part ways.
When I bought it, the truck was in rough shape. None of the windows worked, the sunroofs leaked. LOTS of mold. The headliner was covered, along with almost every panel. The paint was toast, it leaked fluids, and ran poorly.
