I've lost count how many LR's I've picked up or rescued over the years, but last Monday was certainly an interesting one! A little back story I had purchased this 02 LE sight unseen from an auction nearly 2 years ago. My friend that lived near there was was nice enough to go pick it up for me and store it at his moms house just NW of Waco, TX. Well I finally had time to go grab it so my good friend and I took off after picking up a Uhaul trailer (we tried to rent from local trailer places so we could get one with a winch on it, but NO ONE called us back). The drive up was uneventful and we got there quickly. Once we arrived we we're asked to relocate a rooster that was messing with my friends moms dogs. Me and my friend said sure, well that rooster knew something was up and completely evaded our capture attempts. We got back to the D2 and let the rooster relax (we would try again or shoot it for her). We had to air up the RF tire, and she offered to let us use her 4x4 Jeep Liberty to drag the D2 out from it's tomb. I got the keys to the Liberty, moved it into position while my friend attached the strap. I got out to check his progress, and then when I went to get back into the Jeep all 5 doors had magically just locked themselves..... I asked if she had a spare key and she told us oh it does that from time to time so I always keep a key on me. Disaster avoided! I drag the D2 out and to where we should be able to push it up onto the trailer. Well the E-Brake was apparently half way on or rusty because it barely would move. We used the Jeep to push it up onto the trailer carefully with no fuss. Then it was rooster time, we tried another round up, but nah he wasn't having it. She handed us a pistol and that rooster immediately headed for the woods lol. He didn't go down without a fight (won't get into the details, but it didn't end well for him lol). We got back just before dark, unloaded the D2 from the trailer and went to eat. Later we dropped the trailer back off and called it a night.

Next day I started looking over it. 85% of the LE trim was in excellent shape. Both front seats had wear, but were the best condition LE seats I've come across. The steering wheel top is worn, but that can be fixed. Ebrake handle can be dyed along with the shifter, and 4hi/n4lo ****. The door cards = flawless, and the wheels just need a respray but didn't have any road rash. I bought it just for the LE Indiana trim. I had no idea they had special door trim like on the 98 D2 LSE's with aluminum accents with "Land Rover" on the front two and silver plates on the rear passenger doors. I removed those and installed them onto my 02 Red D2 along with a few other pieces that were broken on the Red D2, but mint on the LE. While under the hood we noticed the coil packs were unplugged, as were all the wires. Someone had messed around and never put it all back together. The ignition switch was destroyed, but I got down to the main bit and simply used a screwdriver to turn it. The 2 year old battery which had been disconnected was actually in great shape which normally never happens. We spent about an hour getting the upper intake on/off and getting all the wires put back in (wires were so cheap they barely even clipped into the coil packs). It showed 3/4 of a tank of fuel, so I went ahead and primed the pump a few times, then went to start it. It coughed and immediately fired up..... It was misfiring and not sounding so hot, but eventually it didn't sound so bad and we topped off the oil, and the coolant (it had appeared to have puked itself of all coolant as the hood liner was stained white). It ran for 1hr and finally the thermostat opened and it burped all the air out. We let it idle for another 30min and started just checking electronics, and what worked and what didn't. All windows minus passenger front, all locks minus driver door, and all the lights. The AC was probably the coldest out of any D2 I've had, and the heater worked good as well. We got brave and said but does it move?? Since we had already removed the front LE seats my friend used a little work shop chair to sit on and we took it off roading. Once under load the engine sounded normal minus the random misfires. The transfer Case shifted into 4lo like butter. It went mudding, rock crawling, and didn't skip a beat. We were inside just laughing at this thing I paid 500.00 for that someone had left for dead.

We parked it, and were smiling from ear to ear as another LR just refused to die lol. Also for everyone saying 02's DO NOT have CDL this is like my 4th random D2 to purchase and it has the CDL nipple. The build date = 01. It will probably just end up a parts rig for me and my friends, but it was another fun adventure for the books. Figured y'all might get a kick out of the story.