I have never done this before

My Daughter would like a Land Rover 90 for her first car. Ideally what she would like is a soft-top with back seats in it. IN addition to this, she would like a roll bar, bucket seats and harnesses for seat belts. My budget for buying the 90 is about £4500.

I have had a few Land Rovers but have never tried converting them. This will make an interesting project for us both and really would appreciate any advice people could offer.

My first thought was to get an ex MOD as I have seen a few of them with soft tops. Speaking to a couple of dealers, it would appear that these are way beyond my budget. Therefore, I am now thinking about a hardtop, which would mean she could have the hardtop in the winter and we could it off in the summer. Is it possible to fit an after-market soft top? I have noticed that a company offers a Bikini top for the series. I wonder if this is available for the 90.

Bottom line is we have an idea and would really appreciate peoples views.

Cheers

id check insurance costs and availability first

HI @Kingly

I did the same thing.

Bought a hard top, modified to a full soft top, which I change to either a bikini top or completely off in the summer. I never bother putting the hard top back on, but I keep it safe just in case. Plus to do it properly is not a 10 minute job.

A company close to you , who you might want to talk to, or look at their website is allwheeltrim , in Witney. So not far from you. Be prepared fro a shock for all the bits required and the total price.
http://www.allwheeltrim.co.uk/

You can obviously buy parts second hand, but then you are searching and waiting for the parts to arrive, the tilt is generally not worth getting second hand unless you are lucky.

I found insurance easy enough to arrange, it is a modified vehicle so is just included in that long list of changes. One thing if She wants seats in the back is to make sure the one you get has seats already.

One thing I found was that the vehicle I purchased , did not have the holes for the hood frame to attach too, I had to fabricate a set of holders for the hood sticks to sit in, not difficult but a bit of a shock as I assumed all vehicles had this.

Any questions please feel free to give me a shout. You are not far away so would be easy to meet up to show the parts required if needed.

Cheers

Oh,

Plus do not forget the tailgate , as that will also need changing if you get a hard top.

Cheers

Kingly said:

My Daughter would like a Land Rover 90 for her first car. Ideally what she would like is a soft-top with back seats in it. IN addition to this, she would like a roll bar, bucket seats and harnesses for seat belts. My budget for buying the 90 is about £4500.

Click to expand...

Not fussy is she?

As a community we would be glad to welcome her to the fold, but I feel from what she wants and the budget she has she may be better suited in a Vitara or something. But daughters will be daughters so I guess you need to make it work!

It's her first car, I would keep it stock or else her insurance is going to have a field day or point blank refuse: new driver, 1st car AND modified!?!

You have commented on your budget, bear in mind that around a 1/4 of that minimum will go on insurance in the first year. To get a decent runner in good nick that will pass MOTs easily, be reliable and work well for her, and do those mods and insure it your talking about a lot more money.

Personally if it was me and I am sure others will agree I would start with a decent machine in good working safe condition; like most women she would probably want it to look all pretty and smart and totally ignore the leaking clutch cylinders and dodgy brakes but this sort of thing should be top of the agenda. Get it as safe as it can be for her to get out there in the big bad driving world. Then get her in it and driving it for 8 months - a year, then worry about the mods once she really decides it is what she wants (25mpg, heavy to drive, cold and leaky etc...) and possibly more importantly the insurance becomes less insane.

Fair play to her for wanting a landrover. I can't even get my daughter to sit in mine. I agree with Discomania's comments. Has she tried driving one yet on private land or anything. Old landys are a shock to even experienced drivers when they first drive one, I thought I was prepared after my years of old banger ownership but driving my series 3 for the first time was a real eye opener and a bit of a heart stopper when I tried the brakes.

Col

For the budget you've got, you could get her a 3 door Freelander (horror! wash mouth out!). That money would get you a reasonably good one 55/56 plate. The roof comes off, (but not very practical). Insurance will be a little less and it won't be nicked, and dare I say? a little more reliable.

A half decent 90, with a rag top, roll cage AND seats in the tub!!
Presumably, she wants bull bar, driving lights and spots, along with Recaro seats and a 2" lift thrown in???
Not looking for a lot is she??
And why not, it's The Bank of Dad after all!!

Dear all - thank you for the replies - they make perfect sense. Insurance is OK, I have just checked. I must admit, I didn't think about the vehicle being modified, a really valid point. We have a few months to go before we really consider buying one. I agree with the comments about buying a decent one and modifying it in time. If the right one comes up before our intended time, I will undoubtedly buy it. It seems to me you can no longer go to an Indy for old 90s - looks like ebay here I come.

If you do fleabay :-
1/. take someone with you that you can trust and knows what they are doing with Landies, and most importantly, remember that the bodywork will always look good, and the seller is after your hard-earned cash!
2/. BE PREPARED TO WALK AWAY IF YOU, YOUR FRIEND OR ANYONE ELSE FINDS SOMETHING WRONG OR SUSPICIOUS!!
3/. if and when you get one, be kind to her and either teach yourself or better still, your daughter, to do everything that's needed, otherwise you stand to throw pound notes away as if they are going out of fashion!
4/. ENJOY !!

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you don't know a Landy Nut, ask on here, as support can even be done on Skype.

It's great to hear that your daughter would like a Defender. Colthebrommie and me have the same problem. My two eldest daughters hate the Defender, the youngest isn't so bad, but only because it takes her all over the place with horses for her favourite pastime

I can't help feeling that it's not going to be the best vehicle for her, noisy, smelly, high fuel costs and cold. Having said that, and assuming that she is happy with the downside of driving a Defender, let's go for it

My eldest is studying to be a vet and I keep telling her that it's a vehicle that she should consider for her work, if not her life style. If you're anything like me, I suspect that this is a project for Daddy and would be a great project for father and daughter

This will be an interesting project. If I can find an ex mod 90 soft top, would this be classified as modified?

Kingly said:

This will be an interesting project. If I can find an ex mod 90 soft top, would this be classified as modified?

Click to expand...

Mine is actually listed as a soft top in the vehicle description on the insurance paperwork.. Another point , is to make sure She understands with a soft top there is very little security. A cubby box witha lock and that is it, unless you are prepared to lose a part of the rear area.

When you say an EX MOD soft top, do you maen a complete landrover that is a soft top? or just the soft top components to modify a hard top?

Cheers

neilly said:

Mine is actually listed as a soft top in the vehicle description on the insurance paperwork.. Another point , is to make sure She understands with a soft top there is very little security. A cubby box witha lock and that is it, unless you are prepared to lose a part of the rear area.

When you say an EX MOD soft top, do you maen a complete landrover that is a soft top? or just the soft top components to modify a hard top?

Cheers

Click to expand...

In terms of security, I don't think this will be an issue. She certainly doesn't have money on her as I'm always paying . When I say soft top, I mean a complete landrover that is a soft top.

Hi Kingly,

If it is an EX MOD soft top then it will not be classed as modified. But as you have mentioned they do seem to have a premium on them costwise. If in doubt you can always ask Jordan @Adrian Flux if he could run the numbers and see what a difference it makes if any.

I was thinking more in terms of keeping items safe in the car. When she leaves it anywhere. I have found the female of the species tends to carry a lot of junk around in a car, i.e. not useful stuff like tools etc.....

Cheers

Thanks, Neilly.

You make some valid points. We will cross the security bridge once we have actually got the Landy. I do have a slightly ulterior motive behind this. If she doesn't like it, dad will be forced to take it on . Not that I would discourage her!

I have an ex-mod soft top and security is non-existent. Not from people nicking things out of the car but from a nicking the whole car point of view.

I think you will be very hard pushed to get all those things she wants, and a decent condition vehicle for £4500.

Have you considered looking at series vehicles? Bit cheaper in all ways, can be soft top aswell. Bit different to drive though compared to a defender.

Whatever excuses people might come up with, a Landy has THE most 'street cred' of them all, including the 'hot hatches'!!

Perhaps my initial post wasn't well written. I am looking to buy the Landy for about £4500 and then add to it. Hopefully, this may allow me to get a reasonable vehicle.

Kingly said:

Perhaps my initial post wasn't well written. I am looking to buy the Landy for about £4500 and then add to it. Hopefully, this may allow me to get a reasonable vehicle.

Click to expand...

Oh okay, yeah that's a better bet. 'Should' be able to pick up an ex-mod soft top for that if you shop around but it's likely to be a bit rough cosmetically