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ROVER-HAULIN
8:00AM THURSDAY
The last day. Mike M. and Steve got the rear body under paint last night and now we have one day to get everything finalized, tested and ready for delivery. Steve came in early and de-taped the Rover for us and Ian moved it into the mechanical shop.
We have to install the top, fit the tailgate and make everything work the way it should. A expected a number of issues surfaced. The oil feed line to the gauge blew up and meant a massive leak. Better here at the shop then down the road though. Luckily we had another line and could replace it. The brakes and clutch then needed adjustments after some initial road test. Items that we looked at during the build up that were good and not leaking, now have started to leak. The 88 has now become hungry for more new parts (we think it likes them and wants more). Brake adjusters are stripping, hub seals going and all the typical last day stuff you don't want to see. Unfortunately day 6 was a bit hectic, so no good photo documentation was done.
We knew it was coming though, bringing a 40 year old Rover back from near death is never that easy, especially when you look at the mountain of parts that we had to throw away because not even ECR could save them. This image is just the scrap pile, refurbishing the 88 basically filled our dumpster as well.
Towards the afternoon we were able to wrestle all the issues out of the 88 and get it cleaned and ready for delivery. Thursday was our last day before our holiday break, and we were coming in on Tuesday after Christmas to hand over the 88 to Jeff, so it was close, but we got the top installed, the all important ECR sticker stuck on and got the shop cleaned up... it is done.
6 days, 4 guys, 1 now very nice Series IIA 88 and one soon to be very happy owner.
Oh yeah, did we forget to mention that Jeff Aronson has no idea we did this. He still thinks we are going to patch the Rover up somehow, and he thinks we haven't gotten to it yet.
Was this a full restoration? No, but we still think it came out better than a whole lot of "restored" Rovers we have seen out there, and we did it all in 6 days.
Do we ever want to do it again? No way. So as much as we have enjoyed some of the emails with people wanting us to "Pimp their Ride", we are sorry, but it isn't going to happen. If we ever did do it again, it would be because of the person, not the Rover. So after we recover from this, if you have been putting yourself on the line for others for a long time like Jeff has, and if you hang around ECR for about say,10 years, well... maybe, just maybe...
Seriously, the goal here was to reunite this Series IIA 88 with a true Land Rover owner and get them both back on the road again. If we hadn't stepped in, with the help of Rovers North and the other suppliers, it would have never happened. Call it Christmas spirit, or whatever you like, but sometimes you have to give a little to those who give a lot, but get little in return.
Now we just want to see the look on Jeff's face when we pull that cover off!
Click the days below to see the progress of that day. These pages have lots of images.
INTRODUCTION
DAY 1: THURSDAY
DAY 2: FRIDAY
DAY 3: MONDAY
DAY 4: TUESDAY
DAY 5: WEDNESDAY
DELIVERY DAY