Rebuilds, new Defender and neglects
LUCKY me, I am currently restoring two Land Rovers (Build 01 and Build 02) the deadline for each is drawing close. I would be lying if I said I was not beginning to feel anxious. Build 02 is, in fact, a surprise Christmas present for someone (who also happens to be a bit of an Australian celebrity). No pressure then. Unless you can afford to outsource, you really do need to be versatile when rebuilding a Land Rover. With these builds I have dabbled in all manner of things including: mechanicals, wiring, upholstery, welding, panel beating, plumbing, fabrication and, of course, paint spraying. I have rebuilt several vehicles and quality of paint has always been an issue for me. It’s such an important aspect of any rebuild – end up with a bad paint job and it will detract from the most thorough of restorations. I get asked a lot about paint, which makes me laugh given my struggles. A popular question I get on Instagram is ‘How do you paint a car?’ My usual answer, ‘With great difficulty!’.
There are many variables at play including: Quality of your equipment (my advice is buy the best paint gun you can), humidity (especially challenging when you live in the tropics), technique (combined with a correctly set up paint gun) and how much panel preparation you have done. My advice for anyone painting a car is to do their homework and refer to the experts (not me!). Some of the panels I just painted had to be sanded back seven times and redone before I was satisfied. Perhaps little wonder then that I have decided to get Build 02 painted by a professional.
Since sharing my thoughts on the new Defender quite a few of you have been in touch to say you agree with my sentiment. I had been expecting a bit of a backlash so it is reassuring to hear I am not alone. When I wrote my column I still had not set eyes on one in the metal. That has now changed, I spotted one a couple of weeks ago. I was driving my Defender and there were no waves exchanged (have you noticed how people like to use the waving metric when discussing the new Defender). It really is a completely different breed. I felt even more disappointed. Were it not for the Defender badging on the bonnet I would have thought it was a Discovery.
Prices of the old Defender still remain strong over here and I wonder if that will continue. Our Defender 110 was Aus$61k (£32,940) when new; it is now eight years old and similar vehicles are advertised at Aus$55k (£29,700). Not bad depreciation: there cannot be many vehicles that hold their value like this. We certainly will not be selling ours. Over the last few days I have been driving our Defender quite a bit – we have had a bit of rain and I cannot be bothered to put the roofs back on either of the Series.
You really do feel like king of the road driving about in a Defender. There is nothing like it! It is also a pleasure having luxuries such as air conditioning, disc brakes and power steering. Is it as fun as driving either of my Series? No, but it’s not far off and the DNA is ever inextricable.
One of the negatives of working on other people’s vehicles is I get less time to spend on my own. Poor Old Girl is midway through bodywork preparation for a respray. I have managed to remove the paint on one side but the rest remains a patchwork quilt of assorted colours. She carries it off quite nicely though and her rather rough exterior means other road users tend to give you a wide berth!
Then there is poor Grandma. The other day I was en route to pick up some wheels (five ex-australian Army Perentie rims for $30) when a guy in a Ute shouted out to me that my battery was about to fall on the road. You do not hear that every day and I figured he must be crazy but I did pull over to check! Sure enough he was right. The only thing holding the battery in were the terminals. With the V8 conversion the battery is relocated under the passenger seat and the steel tray had failed. I suspect a combination of salty Cornish air and those corrugations on the trip to Uluru finished it off. With some rope I was able to lash it all back together and collect the tyres.
I fixed it properly later that day – any excuse to try my hand at welding. Much like paint spraying, my success with welding seems to be a bit hit and miss. Some days I am delighted with it whilst others I find myself having to grind it all back and do it again (indeed, very much reminiscent of my paint spraying).
In other news, I have two weeks to vacate my workshop. Now, how do I move two immobile Land Rovers?
When Brit Jack Dobson emigrated to Australia in 2010 he took his passion for Land Rovers along with him.
“Unless you can afford to outsource, you need to be versatile when rebuilding a Land Rover. I have dabbled in mechanicals, wiring, upholstery, welding, plumbing, fabrication and paint spraying”