Like I said, if you're getting into it because you enjoy Rovers, and you keep your expectations reasonable, I say go for it and have some fun. Like everyone's always telling prospective buyers on here, though, be prepared to walk away from certain trucks...

 

used rovers start at 2000 if they run and 1000 if they dont and have been sitting for a year or two.

the used car market has gone way up for anything. trust me our auction cars get at least a 1000 bucks for 150k ford escort that runs.

 

If I can do it anyone can.

 

^ Love it Spike....as I recall, you made out like a bandit in that little transaction

I've come across my biggest obstacle...the wife! She's got a kung-fu grip on the pocket-book these days, so something would have to almost literally fall into my lap.

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions, one of these days I'll pull the trigger on one, just going to try to keep my eyes open of a 5-spd, or one with 'sought after' accessories so I know I can at least get something back.

 

...and yes, I would do this because I LOVE Rovers and would enjoy temporarily driving another one around while I 'revive' it enough to give someone else a decent ride.

I'm wouldn't be taking on anything needing a new engine, or any major work, just looking for the ones needing a good deep clean, a couple window regulators, some new brakes, tires, fluids....things like that. Hell, maybe even find a cheap used brush guard, throw some aux lights on there to sweeten the deal!

There have been a handful for sale meeting those criteria, over the past few years that I wish I could have jumped on, but will need to wait until the time is right

 

re: Spike pix -

Is that the tie-dyed under the truck shirt with oil, tranny, coolant, and other colors?

 

Recently, my wife's cousin and son's employer called me and asked if I had time to come to his warehouse and take a look at some equipment they had acquired when they bought a closed down training center from US Steel.

It turned out, they had over 50K worth of training equipment and some various other odds and ends. We ended up fiundin a school to donate the bulk of it to for a tax write-off for his company (thanks Savannah).

I was given three large 6 foot tall enclosures full of PLC related equipment. I resold the guts to an electronics buyer and ended up with the frames and some other items to further srap or repurpose. Total income so far exceeds $500, plus two large metal frames that look like each one will make two bumpers to fit the Discovery with some creative rework. A front and a rear bumper basically by cutting these frames into two pieces and welding on an attachment piece.

I plan to re-invest part of this into further repairs/mods and go from there. And all of that just fell into my lap. Talk about a lucky day.

 

My kids made me that shirt, it has a iron on RRC and then was tie-tyed,

 

I've done it with VW's for years. I've lost money on one car out of probably 30. But there are plenty of others who have tried it and lost. In my opinion, the biggest factor is keeping it in the right price range. It's much easier to buy a $1000 vehicle, put a weekend's worth of work into it, and sell it for $2000 than it is to give a car the full treatment and try to get $5000 for it. I purposely look for ads on craigslist that don't have pics... that's where I've found my best buys, because 95% of people won't even pursue them. I bought my '96 manual trans Disco for $500 from a cl ad with no pics, running and driving. My personal best was a GTI VR6 that I bought for $600 with a bad heater core. I fixed the core, drove it for a few months, sprayed $150 worth of paint on it, a used set of wheels, some other odds and ends, and sold it for $6500.

before:



heater core project:



after:

 

If you can find them cheap, and not too screwed up engine wise, you can do well.

Lots of people these days do not have the capability or the where with all to tear into something that is very involved.

I grew up in the 60's when you could buy something, work on it yourself and keep it going without much of a problem, very few vehicles made like that any more.

But I have also bought some pretty cool cars that needed very little other tires and brakes also.