The seller of this 1980 Range Rover two-door clearly has a bone to pick with his fellow British truck enthusiasts. He claims he bought the truck back in 2007 and has been awaiting a customer with enough cash and vision to see it through to completion. Apparently, your typical Range Rover enthusiast is “boring”, which seems to stem from the fact that no one wanted to hire the seller to build this truck to a level he deemed adequate. Personally, I wouldn’t have waited that long for the right customer to walk in the door, as two-door Rovers that aren’t rusty and are left-hand-drive have an impassioned following. Regardless, the two-door Rover is listed here on eBay with a $12,500 asking price and the option to submit a best offer.
I guess it’s possible to understand the seller’s frustration if he runs a shop and bought this Range Rover on behalf of a customer who claimed to have big visions for the build. The buying of the vehicle is the easy part; the finishing and spending on a proper restoration are where a project can hit the skids. Based on the numerous upgrades and rare parts this Range Rover already possesses, I have to believe the seller did have an agreement in place to build this project for someone before the money or desire (or both) dried up. As you can see here, it is in a fully disassembled state aside from some accessories like the platform roof rack being installed.
The list of enhancements and new parts is quite long, with a mixture of OEM+ upgrades and sensible aftermarket components. The drivetrain features a 4.2 liter fuel-injected V8 mated to a 5-speed R380 manual with an LT230 C.D.L. transfer case. It also comes with power steering and power brakes along with four-wheel disc brakes without ABS, which the seller claims help to avoid the perils of nuisance ABS pumps. The truck rides on Old Man Emu medium duty coil springs, along with an Old Man Emu steering damper still sitting new in the box. Numerous other parts are included with the sale, like matching bumpers and a custom grill.
The five-speed manual is a sought-after feature in old-school Range Rovers and quite hard to come by. The other rare component included in the sale is a non-sunroof roof panel, which shows you the extent to which the seller was going to build the Range Rover two-door of someone’s dreams. The seller is quite explicit in stating that this is a project (which seems pretty obvious) and does not come with every part needed to complete the restoration. It’s hard to tell for sure what happened here, but we do know this: a two-door Range Rover is a special truck and this one is made even more so with a 5-speed and an upgraded V8 under the hood.
He needs to ship it back to the UK 2dr ones are fetching silly money here!
He’s going to be quite disappointed. I wouldn’t give $125.00 for this piece. Non running, disassembled, and too high priced equals no bidders, as evidenced by the eBay ad.
An ’81 that has to conform to 1993 emissions… No thanks. I’d suspect it will take about $35,000 to put this right, assuming the engine is good. With no way to confirm, the engine, transmission and transfer box are suspect. Too many unknowns. Also, these are notorious for inside frame rot – where are the pictures of the undercarriage?
The best way to gain new customers is to talk smack about them before they buy.
I’m a Rover enthusiast, I have a Tambora Flame one in my driveway. This seller is in luck, because now Rover builds bespoke older vehicles for customers. Their new website also has a few finished ones for sale from the 1980’s for around $240k..
Hopefully it’s from a dryer state as the early o
nes were rot boxes, my Dad was a Welder by trade & I remember him doing an earlier one & it required, complete floors & the usual Drop down tailgate & also fitted door skins & patch panels for the bottom 6 inches all round the vehicle so good luck with that as a project to whoever is brave enough to actually take it on!
$12,500. For this one is ridiculous as you will practically be rebuilding this one from scratch. Buyer will have to install all the windows go through the engine and trans. plus tires for all 4 wheels and possibly the spare as well. Add to that will be the need to finish the interior besides.
Does it come with the glass? I tried to read carefully but cannot find where glass is mentioned.
The gas can is a nice touch – I guess they’re suggesting
that you could buy it,put a lot of insurance on it,& then torch it.
The seller hasn’t found anyone stupid enough to waste their money on this overpriced English dog? That’s too bad. Has he tried marketing this thing to the east coast trendy’s over on Martha’s? Or the plastic people in LA?
Maybe it’ll turn up at Beverly Hills Car Club.