Description
1975 Range Rover rebuilt by me in 2011.
Standard Body in original Lincoln Green colour. Standard interior, chassis, suspension and steering but the powertrain is 4169cc Diesel Nissan Patrol straight six installed to a high standard. It also has been turbocharged and intercooled.
This configuration gives many advantages including giving 5 gears and a two wheel drive mode, it is very torquey and not heavy on fuel. It has a servo-assisted clutch and very light power steering making it a delight to drive. Other features include Rear diff lock and adjustable steering column. It basically drives like a Nissan Patrol and is as tough as one. Very little in the way of rust as all steelwork was blasted and repainted in 2011 and most items were refurbished or renewed. It had a brand new steering box from Adwest, and the the Garrett T3 turbo was rebuilt by Turbo Technics. It has a 50mm body lift.
This vehicle been used by me for towing a transporter trailer around the country for many years which it did superbly but isn't needed now. This vehicle is not only incredibly reliable but is a delight to work on as nothing is seized, difficult to work on, or covered in oil.
Engine is tuned for economy (standard fuelling). If you modify the injector pump you could see some impressive horsepower.
The headlining is missing. I do have the remains of the door cards but I never bothered to fit them. There are a couple of rust holes on the left sill but the rest of the structure is incredibly solid. The chassis is quite frankly superb. The concept of this build came about after spending a few years towing cars around, the best vehicle by far for this was the Nissan Patrol with the TD42 engine. Although mechanically unbreakable these beasts were getting rusty and body parts are almost impossible to get for them. Early Range Rovers on the other hand are the opposite, they are weak and unreliable and don't have any torque, yet consume vast amounts of fuel partly due to the full time 4 wheel drive via a train of gears in the transfer case. The parts availability for them is however fantastic, so this one-off vehicle solved all my problems, bulletproof mechanicals (everything is truck-sized and rear axle is driven directly from the gearbox without transfer losses) and a body that is not only modular (I am assuming you know early Range Rover shells are bolted together like Series Land Rovers) but has aluminium outer panels and good availability of replacement steel inner body sections. The Range-trol has performed flawlessly for many years collecting and delivering cars all over the country. My needs have changed and the money released from this will be put into other vehicle restorations.
