Repainting questions

I'm looking into buying a Defender 110 Puma. It seems most in my area are pretty boring colours. My absolute favourite Defender colour is Camel trophy so I'm looking into a potential repaint. And the long term plan is to have it turned into a complete "Camel Trophy" flavour.

First of all. Professionell repainting is expensive. Probably around €3000. I'd rather put that money into the obligatory land rover repair savings account. Also, a Land Rover will not necessarily look good in a professional repaint? These are cars where patina adds to its value. So maybe in this it would be possible to repaint it yourself? It doesn't have to be perfect?

What do you think about my reasoning? As long as you know what you are doing, repainting yourself maybe is a viable option?

Also, another question. How does repainting into a rare colour like Camel Trophy affect long term value?

I think you'll be doing well to find someone to do it (well) for £3k. I was quoted substantially more when I enquired!

I agree with this. I have just driveway resprayed mine, and I wouldn't do it for 3K for someone, let alone a "proper job".
I did it in white to hide all my sins and errors, so it looks smart enough, but nowhere near, absolutely miles away, from a professional job.

StickyMittens said:

I'm looking into buying a Defender 110 Puma. It seems most in my area are pretty boring colours. My absolute favourite Defender colour is Camel trophy so I'm looking into a potential repaint. And the long term plan is to have it turned into a complete "Camel Trophy" flavour.

First of all. Professionell repainting is expensive. Probably around €3000. I'd rather put that money into the obligatory land rover repair savings account. Also, a Land Rover will not necessarily look good in a professional repaint? These are cars where patina adds to its value. So maybe in this it would be possible to repaint it yourself? It doesn't have to be perfect?

What do you think about my reasoning? As long as you know what you are doing, repainting yourself maybe is a viable option?

Also, another question. How does repainting into a rare colour like Camel Trophy affect long term value?

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"Patina" may add value to a 1960s Series. Whether it adds any to a 10 year old Puma, I wouldn't be certain of.

It is quite possible to paint a Land Rover yourself, and several people on the forum have done it. Tractol enamel seems to give reasonable results.

Partly depends on your skill level, and what facilities you have. For example, a large garage or shed will make the job much easier, and spraying is generally considered to give a better result, but will require quite a lot of kit, and some previous experience. Brushes or rollers are easier, but don't usually get such a good finish, particularly rollers.

As stated above^^^^^^^, it is very hard to get a good finish on a vehicle outdoors. The weather is never quite right, either too hot or too cold, or raining, which means you can't work at all. And insects don't mix well with wet paint, although they like to get stuck in it.

StickyMittens said:

I'm looking into buying a Defender 110 Puma. It seems most in my area are pretty boring colours. My absolute favourite Defender colour is Camel trophy so I'm looking into a potential repaint. And the long term plan is to have it turned into a complete "Camel Trophy" flavour.

First of all. Professionell repainting is expensive. Probably around €3000. I'd rather put that money into the obligatory land rover repair savings account. Also, a Land Rover will not necessarily look good in a professional repaint? These are cars where patina adds to its value. So maybe in this it would be possible to repaint it yourself? It doesn't have to be perfect?

What do you think about my reasoning? As long as you know what you are doing, repainting yourself maybe is a viable option?

Also, another question. How does repainting into a rare colour like Camel Trophy affect long term value?

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Forgot. Camel Trophy colour is called Sandglow. I don't know if you can buy it, or where, but you might be able to get some mixed. I doubt that will be cheap either.

And, could be just a personal opinion, but I would guess that painting a Puma in that colour would reduce it's value, or at least make it difficult to sell.
Reason for this being that Pumas never had any connection with Camel Trophy, which finished in 2000.
The nearest current equivalent of Camel Trophy is known as G4S Challenge, and the vehicles used are Orange.

Patina looks good when it is 50 plus years of wear/tear, and there is a story behind it, but often just used as an excuse for a shtibox.

Have you thought about wrapping it?

lynall said:

Have you thought about rapping it?

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I doubt he can make all that rhyme, let alone get it in time with the music!

Oh, Wrapping!

There was a puma 110 which was converted to almost camel spec in LRO a couple of years ago. It cost a lot more than 3k to do including the paint.

Long term value .... Yes

Get the car steam cleaned underneath and in the engine compartment.
Dry it out and then spray the chassis (inside and out, top and bottom, allover) with a 'rust convertor' (tannic acid), let it dry for 12 hours and them spray it again.
Take the wheels off and the brake callipers, lightly coat all the bolts/nuts etc with copperslip and reassemble.
Remove the doors, spray inside the frame and pillars inc any holes in the bulkhead (with tannic) lightly grease the bolts and reasemble.
Once that is dry spray everything with a waxy coating (Lanoguard for example) everything, under the seats, under the rear tub, around the fuel tank, inside the chassis, axles, everywhere.
Take the suspension apart and grease everything and reassemble.
Remove all the wheel arches and liberally spray all the exposed metalwork and innerwing/bulkhead/rear bodywork area with Lanoguard (or similar).
Any/evey bolt/nut/fastener you can see, take it off, lightly grease it and put it back.

Cost around £300/400 if you do it yourself £1500 if you take it somewhere.


Long term value ... No

Painting a Puma to look like a Camel T ....

Rather than a Puma conversion why not look into getting an actual Camel truck if that is what you want, they do turn up now and then and is a vehicle that will retain value if looked after.

tottot said:

Rather than a Puma conversion why not look into getting an actual Camel truck if that is what you want, they do turn up now and then and is a vehicle that will retain value if looked after.

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Real ones are few and far between. I don't know if any made it to Sweden.
The ones that came back to the UK, all the extras were removed at the LR factory before they were sold off.
There is also the issue that they have been used in pretty horrible conditions, so may have sustained some damage along the way.
From memory, the last edition of Camel Trophy actually used Freelanders, he might get one of them, I suppose!

But the reason why many of us like defenders is they're just a big box of meccano. Everything is fairly straightforward to repair or replace.

There are groups on FB dedicated to both genuine and replica camel trophy vehicles (shamels I believe they call replicas…) Worth joining to see how others have made replicas or to find a genuine one.

Knappster said:

There are groups on FB dedicated to both genuine and replica camel trophy vehicles (shamels I believe they call replicas…) Worth joining to see how others have made replicas or to find a genuine one.

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There are many more shamels in existence than vehicles that ever went in the actual event.

In terms of repainting it is perfectly feasible to get a decent finish using enamel and rollers as mentioned above. I have done my series twice, and am in the process of doing my 110 a second time as part of is rebuild after the fire (thread). I have also done my tractor using the same method. If you are planning on keeping the vehicle in good condition I see no issue with painting it sandglow if that is the colour you like. A friend is in the process of painting his 110 in that colour after deciding he didn't like the Fergie gray he had previously painted it. both times were roller applications of enamel paint. most of the modifications needed to make it into a replica will just bolt on and off if someone doesn't like it they can remove it. As has been mentioned that is the point of a land rover is everything unbolts and is interchangable. The only things I would think carefully about is modifications that involve cutting bodywork/chassis than make it difficult to put back in the future.