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Military Rebuilt 2.5 N/a Diesel With Low Miles on 2040-cars

Year:1980 Mileage:47513
Location:

Portland, Maine, United States

Portland, Maine, United States
Advertising:

With a heavy heart, I list my Land Rover for auction. I've owned it for almost three years and, sadly, I need either more space or better towing capacity (if you've never owned a D90 before, go see one in person, trust me, it's not as big as it looks back there). I'm open to trades on something along the lines of a 110 or 109. So if your into these ugly, slow moving vehicles like I am, let me know and maybe we can set some sort of trade up! Here's what I can tell you:

The Good:

- I purchased it with help from GMR4x4 of Vermont, and had it shipped in from overseas. Those guys are pros and have a person in England that does quality control for them before it gets purchased and loaded onto the boat. It had no rust (save some surface spots) and only 20 something thousand miles on a rebuilt engine (block has a plate that says it was done in 2006). It didn't come with nor does it have a title (Vermont and Maine don't require it, PLEASE check with your state to see if this is the case) and the VIN is a UK VIN so it doesn't show up through Ebay. Also, the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side- wrong for North America, perfectly acceptable for a Land Rover

-From what I gather the military did an excellent job at maintaining it until it was decommissioned. Based off the paint shades and condition, it has a relatively new hood, firewall, and tailgate. The chassis was waxoyled before it came over and I've been keeping the rust at bay with linseed oil and Fluidfilm.    

-It originally had a canvas soft top (but that doesn't fly in Maine year round) so I purchased a hard top (which is in great condition, save the poor paint job and surface rust on the interior of the rear door) and had the new problem of it being WAY too hot whenever the sun is out. The dual sunroofs make it a solar oven during the summer. The new top came at the expense of the roll bar, which still has the mounts and holes for it, but no actual bar. The next "mod" (I use this term loosely) was to add more comfortable seats, so it has re-purposed Minicooper seats. I drove it to Utah and back and didn't want to get whiplash if I was hit from behind so I looked for the smallest seats that fit and had good support. I also hated how I couldn't reach the wheel with my leg to steer with my knee. Problem solved. I have NO idea how legal this is, but it was way better than getting a spinal cord injury. If you have big thighs, it might be a tight fit.

-There are jumpseats that face eachother with no seatbelts and an interior mount on the inside for a hi-lift jack. The jumpseats went in so I could work on my laptop in the back, sitting at one and using the other as a table. The hi-lift mounts got put inside so I could leave it places and not worry about someone stealing my jack.

-I replaced the starter, battery and fuel filter within the last year. It really stemmed from one problem- the fuel filter was clogged, which caused the engine to crank too much when starting, which killed the battery and eventually the starter. Everything works fine now, the old starter was garbage anyways.

-I wired in a 12v outlet to charge a cellphone, run a GPS etc.

-Radiator muff is included for winter operation (this works like a charm, definitely keeps the cabin toastier) 

The Bad (arguably, the ugly):

-Depending on your tastes, the paint is a disaster. Basically an encyclopedia of cosmetic defects. There are scratches, uneven shades, areas where the paint is haphazardly caked on, dings, nicks, you name it. I tried to take pictures of the worst spots to get you an overall idea of the condition of the car. I thought about painting it... but honestly, it looks better like this.

-The windshield is cracked, under the rear view mirror. I don't even notice it any more, it hasn't spread, but its there.

-It doesn't leak very much of anything, which is rare for Land Rovers. It does weep a little though when it gets extremely hot or very cold (i.e. when the fluids and seals expand and contract)

-The rear door above the tailgate should be sanded and repainted. Solid, but it doesn't look very nice. I just bolted it shut because people kept on opening it at night.

-Contact corrosion put a hole in the exhaust which I repaired with one of those wide, generic autozone exhaust clamps. I think stainless steel would be the way to go eventually, but it works fine for right now. 

-The front left signal will not turn on when the head lights are on. Your guess is as good as mine. Turn the lights off... no problem. Same goes with the passenger side map light.

-Temperature gauge was acting erratically for a few weeks and decided to park itself at cold. Hasn't had any effect on vehicle operation.

Most of these problems are hardly noticeable day to day. Bigger issues to think about if you're considering a vehicle like this are:
-The complete lack of acceleration that a 2.5 diesel engine has.
-The fact that there is a learning curve driving on the other side of the vehicle
-The matter there is no power steering (city dwellers beware, parallel parking can be painful)
-On the highway, you will never see 70MPH nor will you be able to hold a conversation with your passengers over the engine noise at 40MPH.
-If it rains, you will get wet. If it's hot, you will sweat. If it's snowing, you'll get covered in snow. Look at it like an upgrade from a motorcycle, not a regular passenger car.
-My state doesn't require inspections for antique vehicles, yours might. Will it pass with right hand steering, aftermarket seats, etc? 

There's no warranty, but like I said, I drove this from Maine to Utah and back with NO problems. That being said, you could in theory drive this home, but if you've never driven something like this before, you will crash without some practice. I might be willing to drive it to you, depending on my work schedule and provided you don't live somewhere like Alaska, if you would pick up the fuel costs. If not, shipping or pickup is the buyers responsibility. Ask as many questions and you want and I'll make sure to answer them- thanks for looking!

Auto Services in Maine

Van Ess & Son Auto Repair ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Electric Service
Address: 28335 5 Mile Rd, Salem-Twp
Phone: (734) 422-0320

Thurlow`s Transmission & Auto ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Auto Transmission Parts
Address: 243 Shaker Rd, East-Poland
Phone: (207) 657-3902

T N Import Auto Service ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service
Address: 130 Thadeus St # B, South-Portland
Phone: (207) 741-2770

Sunset RV Storage ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Boat Storage
Address: 12641 Stark Rd, Salem-Twp
Phone: (734) 422-3220

Sovel`s Service Centers Inc ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Gas Stations
Address: 41425 W 10 Mile Rd, Salem-Twp
Phone: (248) 348-7337

Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Air Conditioning Equipment-Service & Repair, Auto Oil & Lube
Address: 6181 N Canton Center Rd, Salem-Twp
Phone: (734) 582-7280

Auto blog

Jaguar Land Rover building new R&D center for hybrids, EVs, autonomous cars

Wed, 25 Sep 2013

The success of Jaguar Land Rover in recent years has largely been down to a resurgent product lineup, but a recent move into the research and development will see the British-based, Indian-owned brands take the fight to its German rivals more aggressively than ever before.
JLR is investing 50 million pounds ($80,345,000, as of this writing) in a joint R&D center in central England. The move will more than triple its staff dedicated to research, from 150 to 500, with Wolfgang Epple, JLR's Director of Research and Technology telling Automotive News Europe, "In order to play among the big animals in automotive and to be anchored in the mind of customers you have to have offered something unique, to be first in market. We want to be one of the key premier automotive manufacturers."
Jaguar Land Rover's 50-million-pound contribution represents more than half of the 94-million-pound tab, on the so-called National Automotive Innovation Campus. Based at Warwick University, Tata's European Technical Center, Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Higher Education Funding Council, an agency of the British government, are all chipping in for the facility.

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Mon, Oct 24 2016

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

Thu, Feb 10 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.