The Landrover Defender 130 below is our dream car. It's owned by an Australian and French couple who've travelled the world in it, and they have a Youtube account and Instagram with 100K followers, many of them avid Landrover fans like my husband and I. Why this 130 in particular? Well, it's got a slide on camper on the back, which is exactly the kind of thing we wanted to drive to London from Australia in. We really love Landrovers - despite what failings others may see, we see as quirks, and adventures. Plus, they've got a strong British heritage, and my husband's English, so even though he's in Australia, he was never going to choose a Toyota Landcruiser, which is also popular with the 4x4 commuter here.
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The wheelbase of a 130 is actually 127", not 130, but it was rounded up. They were a longer version of the 110 Defender chassis, and have a dual rather than single cab. Whilst there was a moment there that everyone thought that Landrover wasn't going to make new Defenders let alone the 130, that's been proved wrong as the new Defender 110 came out recently and a new 130 is meant to be coming out in 2022. I notice JEEP also has a dual cab ute new out, so looks like there's a market for it. The new 130, however, is rumoured to cost around 130k Australian - ouch! No way is that in our price range. Even a 2016 Defender will cost between 30 and 40k, and even then, you'd still have to spend a lot of money kitting out it exactly the way you want it, and you'd certainly expect wear and tear.
So, whilst we were dreaming about our dream car, it just happened to be lockdown here, and idle hands make for the devil's work, as they say. In this case, the devil's work was buying 1991 Td5 model. It cost us just over 20K, which is about the going rate. It arrived on a flatbed truck, and we were beyond thrilled - except, of course, when we started looking closely, and my husband decided that it wasn't just perfect. It started with noticing some rust in the bulkhead, and went from there. Since then, of course, we've been on a journey of sourcing parts, spending a hell of a lot of money, and me being on my own a lot whilst he works on the car. It's got a 300 TD5 diesel engine, which, thank god, didn't need much work - he's just replaced a lot of pipes, filters, the turbo and other things to make it as good as possible. I'd be more specific, but hey, I'm not a mechanic. All I know is that a lot of parts have come through the post, many from England, as parts can be expensive here. And, anything that should be done has been done - even a new clutch. We were a bit gutted we had to spend a lot of money fixing it up, but we've kept careful records and because of Jamie's labouring and our thriftiness and clever sourcing of parts, we think that the whole rebuild is only about 10K, and then we'll spend another 20 on top of that for the flatbed tray and the camper. It seems like a lot but when you see the going rate for 130's that will be as good as ours, we're still ahead by a good 20 grand. Thank god for crypto trades making this even more affordable for us!
It's bizarre looking back and seeing how much work has been done - the rear cross member, for example. The entire chassis has been cleaned, painted, rustproofed, and even repaired - look at the photo below to see an example of the work done on the rear cross member, which now looks as good as new! There are brand new shocks (super heavy duty), new windscreen, new seats (well, second hand leather Subaru Liberty seats which were cheaper than the Defender ones, and look even better), sound deadening, new head gasket - the list goes on.
We are now at the stage that we are putting it back together. After much deliberation, we went for the popular Keswick Green, which we are really happy with. There's a sneak peak of the colour below - we think it looks fantastic. There's still much to be done - the wings are doors are not in the best shape, and they are really expensive to buy. In fact, forget that, we'd paid for them if you could get them in Australia, because shipping them here is a ridiculous expense. We decided instead to repair them, and live with the fact they won't be perfect, or at least have 'character'. We can always replace them down the road - the important thing is to get the vehicle back together!
There's still a lot to do to build our dream car. We have a steel tray on the back that needs to be replaced by a lighter aluminium one, and we have to decide whether we're going to buy a slide on camper or make one, which would push our project out by about a year. Considering we can't travel a lot yet due to COVID, that might not be a bad thing.
Turns out that to get your dream car, sometimes you just have to build it from the ground up.
This is in response to an OCD Community Challenge for the Planet Auto Community, which is everything to do with cars. You can find that here, and the challenge post here.
With Love,
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmcGSZxvsXD8YbSCNAo6KWc4a9RjXyRCjWupZdPXJapkXk
You can read our other Landrover posts by clicking on any of the links below. Follow us on Instagram @wildtrackdreaming
Landrover Club Meet Up Victoria
Sunday Driving in The Great Otways Park
In Which We Buy A Series 2 and a S3 Military
RedNeck in the Australian Bush: A Landover Horror Story
Buying the 130
Landrover Camper Improvements
Progress on Series 3
Series 3 Restoration Complete
Nut and Bolt Restoration Ending - Series 3
How to Trick Your Wife Into a New Landrover
Series 3 Build Progress
Starting the Rebuild
70th Anniversary at Cooma
Cool dream and ideal setup!!!! Nice to see progress on dreams
Thanks mate! I can't wait to reveal it when it's proper done! It may not be brand new but it's ours and we'll feel satisfied when it's done.
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Nice thinking and a good dream...Your hard work will give you a better result soon ❤️❤️
Keep progressing 😌
Thabks!!!
Oh wow! Fantastic you mob have done a great job at rebuilding the engine. I did enjoy your post the other week about your weekend away. Great camping experience and can't wait to see more.
Yeah can't wait to take the Def on a camp trip!
Can't wait for the stories and the pictures! Makes me want to pack up and head out onto the road.
Looking forward to more updates on this👍
Lol me too. At the moment he's sanding wings . warm wkd so hopefully they will get painted
Love that he can do all the work. My husband was like that too. :))
He was! You must miss him.
That's awsome, we know only too well buying cars then realising there a touch bigger project than anticipated, touch nee being polite,😀 we've subscribed just to see this project and it's progression, we had a series 2a however when our previous partner left the automotive assets were split and instead of sellin both the C124 Mercedes Benz and the Series - he kept the series we got the MB -sadly he sold it for just over £1k granted it needed a new chassis but it would have been the ultimate project.
The thing with this type of project you'll have a real affinity with it, you made it what it is, and it'll take you on many adventures, we love the use of the word quirky too, our surname, mine and Annabelle's is Quirk, Manx heritage-
Have you seen the Ineos Grenadier?
Oh and I found another.photo in my gallery this morning to add to post
That's a fantastic shot, it just shows you the depths you go to with a Land Rover, thank you
Fantastic!
Quirk, what a great name, what's the etymology of that? Love it.
Yeah the Ineos Grenadier.. be interesting to see the take up here, they look so much like a Defender! I wonder how much they'll cost?
Ahhh the 2A.. so cute. I know you guys have issues with rust because of the salt on roads so a lot get sent from here to UK. When we were home last March.. yeah I know great timing.. we were loving seeing all the Landies about in their true home, green lanes and country roads.
That's so true, you do get an affinity with them. He did a ground up resto on the S3 109 and we could never part with it.
The name is Manx in origin (from the Isle of Man) as my husband's family come from there, and has been recorded there are far back as the early 1500's (although the spelling varied at points) and it is derived from the old Gaelic word corc and it means heart (there's also some Scandinavian in there as well)
By the time of the 1881 census Quirk was the tenth most common Manx surname and had spread across to England. For instance, Lord Randolph Quirk the linguist was born at Lambfell on the Isle of Man but spent most of his working life in London. Fun fact, he was my husband's great uncle.
That is a very nice Series 3 - thank you for posting the pictures of it. Ben and I will advidly watch your channel for updates.
I really mustn't skim read. I thought what the heck!! You buy cars like IKEA flat pack furniture now? 😂
The other day I saw a post title
"One more dream comes true - I am in Pergam!"
I read "I am pregnant"
#dyslexia #cantread
That makes two of if.
Love can be so difficult
That's gotta be the funniest typo I've seen all week. "If?" I couldn't have played that to more appropriate content if I tried.
😂😂 Much too reading post Hives.
river three times cuz for some reason my phone wanted you to be Rogerflows?? 🤔What a fun read @riverflows. Muah! Fun fact: I had to change
Hahah Roger is the name of my imaginary lover.
Ie. HUSBAND: where have you been all arvo?
ME: With Roger.
L o L. Love it.
The 130 used to be my childhood dream car, they are so beautiful and boxy. I am loving the Land Rover journals, keep em coming. After owning a Bajaj RE though, there is no other thing I would rather have, shame they are illegal in so many countries around the world. A guy can dream of an Ape Overlander though.
Ha we have a Suzuki carry in garden, we thought of putting a box on that lol.. the Ape is so cute but doubt it'll get us through some of those mountain passes in the Stans 😂
Wow, that’s allot of work for paying the price you did. But such is life. At least you know it will be a beast when it’s done!
Yeah we have gone through the pros and cons a LOT. But in the end, even if we'd paid 50 k we still wouldn't have had it the way WE wanted it, and that's just what they cost. Any 20k Defender WILL need mods and work. So we stopped crying about it and realized it was an awesome lockdown and beyond project! And Jamie's learnt so much, he's really got t9 know this thing intimately!
That's 15k USD mind..
Wow, this is magnificent. You kids got some serious mechanical skills. I changed a light bulb the other day and feel accomplished. Good luck with your dream car and enjoy the adventures!
Ha, the we is the royal we.. my husband is definitely the backyard mechanic and he's amazing for sure. He just works stuff out if he can't. What he's learnt in the 20 years we've been together blows my mind!
The title alone was enough for me to upvote. This was my moto when I built a motorbike on my own an age ago.
Wait what.. you had one?
My motivation (moto) not motor :)
I just LOVE your Landrover posts. They are so much fun to read! And one time I remember, hehehe, almost making a comment to one of them mentioning Landcruisers... Oopsie! Didn't even know how your hubby felt about them.
So I'm really looking forward to reading about your epic journey, taking Buttercup all across Eurasia. Wow, just thinking about the various routes already gets me excited. Anyway, until then I'll enjoy your stories about day-trips and road trips around Australia. Your landmass is of decent size, I'm sure it has lots of places to explore.
And as far as not being a mechanic... by the time you arrive in England I'm sure you will be! Though it seems like you have the perfect conditions for a head-start, the way you're getting involved in fixing her up.
Oh yeah mostly I make tea and occasionally sand something or take photos 😂😂😂 Yes, Australia has lots to offer. We would love to ship to Timor and island hop... we wanted to do Myanmar route to India but they need to sort their shit out too. May be to Vlavivostock... but now Africa's looking awesome too...come on world, get better!!
Oh yeah, crossing Russia in a Landrover... sounds exciting! But Africa, maybe even more so. India has never felt attractive to me though. But you're right, the world needs to get better first.
Your dream car is good for traveling. This is the first time I heard the name of that car even though I've seen several pictures of something similar. I'm familiar with Hilux and Landcruiser.
I simply like your story. Never could bring to life the same model of live + travelling across the world with my family, tho... I wish I could.
Excellent post! I have loved the history and everything related to his dreams, when I was a child I met this vehicle first-hand because my mother was a researcher at the main scientific institute of my country (Venezuela) and she had one designated as an official vehicle a Land Rover Discovery, bodywork made of aluminum, an extremely hard transmission as well as its damping, 3 gear levers and something very curious that I don't know if recent models still bring it a crank for manual ignition without battery. The vehicle was well known and popular in the town as it was the only one, they also always made references to that famous movie (the gods must be crazy) where one appeared. Greetings, luck and success in building your vehicle / dreams
simple awesome no words to describe your dream mate keep up the good work
I was wondering why go through all the trouble and expenses instead of just buying it till I saw you were going to save money doing it yourself. I immediately related. Saving money is the most noble thing in the world 😅
Ooah, that is a awesome dream, i hope that u can make it!!!
This is so fucking badass guys! I have kind of a similar dream car, we have friend that modified an english bus also. That would be dope to travel with it.
That's my life motto 😄