I've been thinking about this for awhile and would have expected a greater and more sustained demand for a Range Rover Classic galvanized chassis. Now, I'll admit, I haven't looked at the RN website to see if they offer one but that is where I think the demand could be sustained for years. I think it is the Classic that will ultimately reach a cache similar to the Series Rovers and Defenders. The low number of them, the initial upscale target market (in 1993, the year I bought my first Range Rover the median income was $400,000) and the clear enthusiasm amongst current owners to keep their trucks running at all costs would point to the type of customer desirous of a galvanized chassis.

The fact that Zack points out that three have been sold and two are on back order hardly represents a pent up demand. But, maybe overtime the demand will show itself. I remember putting a deposit on a D90 in December of 1992 at a dealer on Long Island. At the time, I was told there were a few other deposits and that I was the first to put money down on an Alpine white version. When the vehicles first arrived in October of 1993 there was certainly a flurry of demand. However, that demand died out after a few months.

I remember seeing a Rioja Red D90 sitting on the showroom floor of the dealer I was using for service for what appeared to have been months. I also remember sitting in a 110 at the dealer in NYC in December of 1992. My friend was getting his RRC LSE serviced. At the time I didn't know about the limited number or potential value of the 110. I do remember sitting in the front seat thinking $40K for this truck was a reach when a RRC was only a few thousand more. I could have easily bought that 110 that day for the price on the sticker but just didn't know of the potential. I think that was very common for people shopping Rover dealerships back then.

So, I guess what I'm getting at is, I don't own a crystal ball and all I'm offering is opinion. Clearly, I was wrong about the Defenders. Demand was there initially, fell off and then ultimately came back like gangbusters. That could be the same for the D2 galvanized chassis. Frankly, I hope it is. I just feel the greatest demand for restorable coilers will be with the RRC's and not the DII's.

 

Whoever keeps their D2 running the longest wins. So I would buy this frame.

 

got to be for people who put far to much money into their DII, and have no way out

 

I hear you Paul, they're not flying out the door and I didn't expect them to. I would expect RRC chassis to sell, but getting parts for the classic is getting to the point where you might as well get a spare parts truck.

Defenders on the other hand are still being produced in the rest of the world, so there are fewer part-availability issues. D2s are slowly being phased out as far as parts support, but there were also 250,000 of them or so that came into the country, so more used parts available.

 

I spent DOUBLE that on a Ring. Now don't get me wrong, when I bought the ring, the rest was "MINT - in every other way", but 20 years later....

We have already done a Headlight Lift, so that helps, but now the rear is sagging a little.

Any opinions, Air Bags, or Spriings???

 

It only takes 4 minutes. Not sure why the labor price is SO high. Maybe it's all the CRANK to keep them moving so fast...

 

`haha. that's pretty good, ss. always could go the "trading a 50 for two 25s" route
might help to put some of those limb risers on the back.

 

I think I remember reading somewhere that from 1989-1998 roughly 440,000 DI's were made worldwide. The number for DII's over a shorter period from 1999-2004 was roughly the same. There's a site that offers US and NAS saled for all models:

Land Rover FAQ - History, Production, Sales - North American Sales

Adding up the DI and DII sales for NAS (quickly, in my head) and you get roughly 70,000 DI's and 90,000 DII's (I estimated '04 DII's sales at around the same level as the '03 figures). Compared to the RRC figures (33,000 from 1987-1995) that's a big difference. One that should certainly help to move these chassis off the shelves at a quicker pace than a similarly galvanized RRC chassis, logically speaking. We'll have to see.

Of the three rolling chassis DII's I sold, two went to a former Land Rover tech. He had a tractor with a forklift attachment for removing and reinstalling the shell. One chassis was for his truck, the other was for a family member. I sold him the parts at a steep discount which helped to entice him into the endeavor. The third chassis went to another customer who wanted to build a Rover for the ages. I wished him well and have yet to hear from him since (it will be a year in September). The point I'm making is that neither of these two customers, albeit avid Rover enthusiasts, would have been your target customer. They were too motivated by price.

Getting back to the Range Rover parts availability, I agree, the well is drying up, especially after the destruction and theft of so many legacy parts occurring in the midst of the Ford/Tata transfer. But, I cannot believe the prices RRC owners are willing to pay for hard to find parts, particularly in the case of the soft dash '95. I also cannot believe how many Classic parts I ship out to customers in Russia, Korea, Australia, ect. Classic owners are willing to scour the earth in search of the parts they need. I think it's a shame to right them off.

 

SuperSport, that may be the best analogy of all time!!!!!

 

Sorry, my mistake! 111,000 D2s(calculated using the LR Retrospective books we have, as well as the mystical 04 that I found at LR Scarborough).