Not sure about this Landy.. thoughts welcome!

Hi there,
I am new to this forum so any advice is very much appreciated!!
I am looking to buy a Land Rover defender 90 and came across this one for sale close by for £7550. I am viewing it today.

It is exactly the vehicle I am looking for but does anyone think this a good price or should I haggle!


Cheers in advance for your help!!

Always haggle!

Seems about right for the money, but you should be able to knock it down to £7k!
Being an early td5, you’ll need to check to see if it’s had the plastic dowels in the head replaced with steel - there was a problem with early engines that could cause premature HGF/head damage. If not, this would be a good bargaining chip to get the price down!

They could have cleaned the interior! And fitted a new pedal rubber to the clutch.
But maybe it’s good to see it “as is” rather than tarted up for sale.

bluedog333 said:

Seems about right for the money, but you should be able to knock it down to £7k!
Being an early td5, you’ll need to check to see if it’s had the plastic dowels in the head replaced with steel - there was a problem with early engines that could cause premature HGF/head damage. If not, this would be a good bargaining chip to get the price down!

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Thanks for that I will ask the seller

That's not a genuine CSW is it? Did they do one at that age with just bench seats and no belts?

lightning said:

They could have cleaned the interior! And fitted a new pedal rubber to the clutch.
But maybe it’s good to see it “as is” rather than tarted up for sale.

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Aye, does look like farmer Giles has been growing tatties in the front

Its not had an mot since March 2016

Had 112001 miles on the clock when MOT'd in 2015, so been lying a while

I realise there are fees to pay with Paypal by not accepting it, is that not leaving any potential buyer with less of a comeback should there be problems along the way.

I'm slightly sceptical with the 'Land Rover Centre near Kirkby Lonsdale' and a mobile phone number.
Google doesn't throw up much re the garage

Iancorky said:

I realise there are fees to pay with Paypal by not accepting it, is that not leaving any potential buyer with less of a comeback should there be problems along the way.

I'm slightly sceptical with the 'Land Rover Centre near Kirkby Lonsdale' and a mobile phone number.
Google doesn't throw up much re the garage

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Excellent due diligence. If I ever consider buying another Landy, I'm going to ask you to check it out for me

His feedback as well, is all more than 6 months old and looks like he hasn't sold many Land Rovers, I would have thought if he was a Land Rover Centre, he would be selling loads.
As a garage as well I would expect to see 'Business Seller' details on Ebay.

Al2O3 said:

Excellent due diligence. If I ever consider buying another Landy, I'm going to ask you to check it out for me

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The power of the internet these days makes it a lot easier to sit at home and research to help make the correct decision.

Iancorky said:

The power of the internet these days makes it a lot easier to sit at home and research to help make the correct decision.

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That's very true, but you need to have a good idea as to where to look and what is there to find.

Not advertised as a County, and it isn't - black wheel arches etc. Bit high on price, but good opening for haggle, and if genuine the mileage isn't bad.

I'd check out the floors front and rear, esp footwells as no underwing protection that vintage (DAHIK......), head caution definitely - coolant marks, pressurised header ....? Is acoustic cover missing, or just off for photo's - it will be noisier without that's for sure.

Could be a good find tho, good once over and check out seller as said. Good luck. A

agew said:

Not advertised as a County, and it isn't - black wheel arches etc. Bit high on price, but good opening for haggle, and if genuine the mileage isn't bad.

I'd check out the floors front and rear, esp footwells as no underwing protection that vintage (DAHIK......), head caution definitely - coolant marks, pressurised header ....? Is acoustic cover missing, or just off for photo's - it will be noisier without that's for sure.

Could be a good find tho, good once over and check out seller as said. Good luck. A

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Yes, I've misread that! So, they're station wagon seats then?

bluedog333 said:

Seems about right for the money, but you should be able to knock it down to £7k!
Being an early td5, you’ll need to check to see if it’s had the plastic dowels in the head replaced with steel - there was a problem with early engines that could cause premature HGF/head damage. If not, this would be a good bargaining chip to get the price down!

Click to expand...

I asked him about this but he hadn't removed the head so he didn't know. As you say this could be good for a lower price!

lightning said:

They could have cleaned the interior! And fitted a new pedal rubber to the clutch.
But maybe it’s good to see it “as is” rather than tarted up for sale.

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Yes! I don't mind for the interior as I will be very happy to do this up myself. The landy was definitely genuine and didn't seem to be hiding any secrets

Iancorky said:

I realise there are fees to pay with Paypal by not accepting it, is that not leaving any potential buyer with less of a comeback should there be problems along the way.

I'm slightly sceptical with the 'Land Rover Centre near Kirkby Lonsdale' and a mobile phone number.
Google doesn't throw up much re the garage

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Yes thanks for all of your suggestions mate! He seemed to be a mechanic fixing up landys and he said he has only just started buying/selling in the last month. He is not part of LR, just the name of his garage. He also seems to be very genuine pointing out the flaws and admitted that it has been stored for a while explaining the lack of mot and stale mileage. He will run it through an mot before sale also showed the whole car up on a jack and didn't seem to hide anything. Seems to be a genuine seller and very helpful I may take this a little further and go down for another visit. I need to ask him about PayPal seems a little odd as buyers security would be very comforting!!
IF anyone has anymore pointers about the vehicle they would be great to hear.

There appears to be a Land Rover Centre in the location he gives

Flagshiplandy said:

I asked him about this but he hadn't removed the head so he didn't know. As you say this could be good for a lower price!

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it would be in the service history, if it doesn’t have one then you’ve got even more bargaining leverage as in my view it should have a decent history for that sort of price.

agew said:

Not advertised as a County, and it isn't - black wheel arches etc. Bit high on price, but good opening for haggle, and if genuine the mileage isn't bad.

I'd check out the floors front and rear, esp footwells as no underwing protection that vintage (DAHIK......), head caution definitely - coolant marks, pressurised header ....? Is acoustic cover missing, or just off for photo's - it will be noisier without that's for sure.

Could be a good find tho, good once over and check out seller as said. Good luck. A

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Is this not a county? I will check the v5c agin