ASSESSING THE BODYSHELL

adly, the early Range Rover is becoming harder to find and more expensive to purchase. Many were dismantled for their mechanical components to be used for upgrading or rebuilding utility Land Rovers, specials and racers. Years ago, I myself took the 3.9-litre V8 engine from a Range Rover for the first vehicle I ever built – an AC Cobra replica; the donor Range Rover having cost me the princely sum of £150. But more Range Rovers are now off the road because of advanced corrosion.

The right hand drive donor vehicle for this project is a case in point. It has all the mechanical and interior components that we require, the chassis and the body structure however have rotted beyond economical repair. Having cost us £500, it is the ideal donor to make our subject Range Rover into what we want – but it is nonetheless a shame that another classic car becomes dismantled and scrapped.

SCutting out bad metal and welding in fresh new metal is not particularly difficult. The difficulty lies in getting at the area to effect the repair properly. In this feature, the photographs show numerous structurally rusted areas – rear wheel arches, sills and floor panels – all of which are difficult to repair in a fully kitted out working Range Rover. By taking this route, namely a complete strip down and dismantling, we are making identification of the problem areas easy, and the subsequent repairs simpler to carry out. The man hours required to fully dismantle a complex vehicle such as this is considerable. After the repairs are complete, the rebuilding and trimming is going to take much longer. So, commercial garage rates for this job would add up to an eye-watering amount. As it is, we anticipate the final bill will be considerable, but the finished Range Rover will also have a fairly high value when complete.

The best way to ensure all rust is