Discovery 1 drivers restoration
 

Hello all. I've been stalking the LR forum and a few others for the last 12 years or so and finally decided to join.
My wife bought her first Land Rover about 12 years ago. It is a willow green 1997 Discovery SE7. It was a dream truck of hers and she loved it to death. Fast forward 6 years and with another baby on the way and the Disco getting a little long in the tooth she decided to replace it with a newer (2006) King Ranch Expedition. She loves her expy too but always regretted selling the Discovery.
Well in April of 2024 while scrolling through FB Marketplace she happened to stumble across a listing for her old truck. As in the actual truck she owned over a decade ago.
We messaged the seller right away and long story short, we brought it home!
Unfortunately, time had not been good to the old girl. The oil light would occasionally come on at idle, both the exterior and interior were in very rough shape, the wiring had issues, the stereo system had been all cut up, tires were miss matched and dry rotten, but the truck has a lot of sentimental value and was still good enough to work with. It drove an hour and a half home without issue, the heat and AC both work, actually just about everything but the cruise control and passenger power seat still worked.

Over a year in we have accomplished a LOT. It's still a work in progress but I plan to slowly detail everything I can remember fixing/restoring in the last year in this thread.
Here are a few pics to show our progress:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...421ee10520.jpg
As she sat when we brought her home.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...71b191dd71.jpg
Near finished and close to how she sits now.

Paint looks great in the second pic. Did you respray it?


did the in between owner install those bumpers?

the D2 rear bumper doesn't look as bad as I would have imagined.

1997 Willow Green is a winner.

Thanks!
I repainted it myself in the barn and I built the front and rear bumpers for it too. I have a lot more pics and info I plan to add but haven't had time yet.

I put the D2 bumper on the first time we owned it as the D1 bumper was damaged. It did look ok although the lower body lines were a little off. I have since built a new rear bumper for it.

And imo willow green is the best color Land Rover ever made!

Shortly after bringing this rig home last April, we got right to work getting the body work cleaned up a bit and ready for paint. I didn't get too crazy with it since she fully intends to do some light wheeling in this truck. But I did want to make it somewhat presentable.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...c777b9f3da.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...d595f29749.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...5ee460c5b2.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...924fb837d3.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...e3ba19b816.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...249a18b7a9.jpg

Fast forward a couple weeks and the body was straight enough lol. So it was on the cleaning and taping everything off that wasn't removed.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...b34dab51bd.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...52b56726ab.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...918a6ff30d.jpg


​​​Gotta love the flake in willow green!!!

​​​https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...5a7847fcd6.jpg

Next job was laying down some color. I got a new paint gun specifically for this job and failed to test prior to use so it took a bit to figure it out but it ended up looking ok when it was all said and done. I am not a body guy by any stretch of the imagination so the fact it even turned out this good was rather shocking 😂


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...4381cc3a85.jpg
Safety first ha ha
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...2a341fb06f.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...bf81340e17.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...c3cc253a53.jpg

Clear coats are my nemesis. I always seem to end up with orange peel or it doesn't harden regardless of the care I take mixing it or some other issue. Again. More than happy with the results.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...f9557ceb69.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...6e2843049b.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...5a4a22c7a9.jpg

Prior to painting the body we also cleaned up and painted all the trim and repaired a few pieces of molding. I didn't really get before and after pictures but you can kinda see it with the tape and plastic pulled off.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...e3c3f63fbd.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...7585f2a43b.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...97d5d45131.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...125b5a68fa.jpg
This angle shows the color really well