My first entry into classic Land Rover ownership started in 2019 with the purchase of a 1995 Discovery 1 SE7 in Avalon Blue. The car had been posted on the Defender Source forum for a bit and I stumbled across it after almost pulling the trigger on a late 80s Defender 90 that had been imported to the US. It was a 2.5L turbo diesel that was running but needed quite a bit of work. Thankfully it didn’t work out and I pulled the trigger on the Disco after some encouragement from my then girlfriend, now wife.
The truck was located in North Carolina. I was currently living in Texas and prepping for a move to California so I put quite a bit of faith in the seller not being able to see the vehicle. He was very knowledgeable and provided many pictures and videos upon request so after some back and forth I decided to go for it and purchased the truck. We figured out shipping and the Monday before Thanksgiving 2019, the truck landed at my parent’s house in San Diego. During the shipping process, one of the Bilstein dampers was pulled out of the housing so my dad took the truck over to a local Land Rover shop, had the rear dampers changed, and by the time I landed Tuesday night, I saw the truck for the first time. Needless to say, I was more than pleased with the purchase.
The truck was originally purchased in North Carolina and owned by a Land Rover Enthusiast for many years. He added a 2 inch lift with some heavy duty springs and oversized tyres. Many parts were changed out and standard maintenance was performed so the truck was in very good mechanical shape. Upon initial inspection, the truck was all but rust free. The Underside has some light surface rust on things such as the brake calipers and steering components, but overall, it is a clean truck
The biggest source of issue turned out to be the windshield finishers. The winter rain in the central valley of California is a weekly occurring during January and February. I was out working on the car one day after a good rain and the windows had some light condensation which I found odd. The underside of the rubber floor mats were also wet in the front seats which again I found unusual. After some further exploration, it turns out the windshield trim had been attempted to be resealed with silicon but was nonetheless still leaking.
This brings me to an aside. Most people think that the sunroofs on Discoveries are source of major water leakage due to clogged drains and failed seals. My truck as dual sunroofs and while I don’t doubt people have issues, I have come to find that the major source of leakage is in fact the windshield finish trim. Water gets behind the seals and drips down the A pillars and pools on the floors. The sound deadening material soaks up copious amounts of water and does not dry out unless the trim is pulled up and the car is aired out for a decent period of time. I have another 1997 D1 that has no sunroofs and also had wet floor mats which tells me again it is the windshield finisher and not the sunroofs that leak. The rust was light, really only the mudflap mounting brackets that I have removed and will be replacing. I cleaned up the rust, sprayed down some rust inhibiting primer and put down a new coat of Avalon Blue on the floor.
Anyway, some more details on the truck. The truck had 65,xxx miles when I purchased it. Over the last 5 years I have only put about 2000 miles on the truck due to various deployments and detachments I have had to go on with the Navy. Various dealer options installed included rear air conditioning, load space seating, a load space cover, and a Rare Saudi Grille. For those not acquainted with Saudi grilles, it is a mesh front grill cover that replaced the original plastic finned grill resulting in greater airflow to the engine bay. The grille was designed for hot climates (i.e. Saudi Arabia) to help with engine cooling and it also offers a more unique view from the front.
I have performed some light maintenance, such as oil changes and coolant top offs, but overall the truck has performed well. The rear quarter window seals were cracked after 25 years so I replaced those, an easy Saturday Afternoon job. I am currently in the middle of replacing the rubber rotoflex coupling on the rear drive shaft and will be updating the rubber brake lines to new teflon coated ones as well as flushing the brake fluid as it has not been changed for quite some time. I also have plans to flush the coolant, power steering, and clutch fluid as the clutch is a little clunky when getting into first gear. I will be posting pictures and some tech write ups as I get more into the work. Stay tuned and enjoy the photos!
