When I first saw her, it was love at first sight. Timeless, classically beautiful lines that hearken back to the desires of my youth. Even though she was showing a little age with a dent or two and some faded paint, she is still beautiful. Coming from Land Cruisers, I have admired the Land Rover aesthetic for years as much as I admired the Toyota reputation for durability and reliability. My trusty FZJ80 series "Shrek" still awaits in my garage for me to show him some repair love...drunk driver

But like all European women, Pippa is a bit fussy. I knew at the onsite she was going to be expensive and I would spend the equivalent of the purchase price getting her back into top mechanical form. And I knew that either the transmission or transfer case was an issue that would need to be addressed. And I knew that the electrical bits are probably the worst design in modern history since the Hindenburg. And I felt the steering box that needed to be replaced. And I smartly confirmed that the sunroof opened.

The confirmation in my smart purchase came as I drove her around town. A software engineer at Chipotle wistfully eyed her and reminisced about his own classic he had sold back in the 90's. A (very) attractive woman that I can only assume was a soccer mom in her Audi Quattro wagon chatted me up at the stoplight remarking how "hot" Pippa was. Another almost as attractive women driving a brand new Range Rover Sport pulled up beside me, gave me a thumbs up, and mouthed "bad ***" to me as we were driving through the prestigious part of Denver known as Cherry Creek. The cosmetic surgeon around the corner gave me a thumbs up as he saw her for the 1st time, not realizing it was me driving her...and on and on and on...

But the repairs and replacements are mounting up. I've owned her since August, and since then I've had the following done:
-Borg Warner transfer case swapped with a LT-230 with CDL
-Steering box replaced
-Transmission filter replaced
-New distributor and timing set to factory specs
-New front driveshaft replaced
-AND the sunroof closed (it opened, but I never checked to see if it would close)

And yesterday she wouldn't start, exactly 4 hours after getting her out of the shop. The Optima battery showed a date of 2002, so I couldn't be mad at that. But even after swapping out the battery, she still wouldn't start. The starter was tapped...still wouldn't start. We (the mechanic and I) suspected a loose ground or something like that. I dunno. He's towing it back to the shop today.

I still love driving this thing. I was looking forward to taking her wheeling with some other LR guys this weekend. I want to driver her through Cherry Creek and enjoy the admiring stares. But right now, I feel like I'm staring into a black hole known formerly as my bank account. She teases me with slutty slogans like "Best 4x4 By Far" and "Above and Beyond", but I can't make it 24 hours without something else going wrong.

My to-do's are growing. How much more can a brother take???

But damn she's sexy...

 

I hope this won’t be a common sight...

 

Sounds like your in my boat. Check out my build thread in the section above. Once you get caught up w the maintenance that it hasn't had the problems should slow down for you.

 

I sure as hell hope so! And I know everyone loves the green Rovers, but whie is my favorite. Great looking rig. Sorry about the dog. That’s awful...