Bought a Land Rover Defender 110:

[zluster]

I pretty much only buy Jeeps, its been over 5 years since I bought anything other than a Jeep. This time I'm doing something very new.

Short of it is I got married this summer and the wife and I are planning our honeymoon to Europe. As part of that I was looking for a vehicle to purchase there that we could use for our trip, camp in, do some offroading wherever possible etc, and then ship back to the US.

I was looking at a couple of different things, WV T3 Syncro Doka, Mercedes G-Wagon, Pinzgauer, but found a Defender 110 that I am happy with.

We will use it in April of 2019 and then I will work on getting it shipped back to the US, likely a west coast port, and then work on the import/paperwork process.

I purchased this far ahead of our trip because I found a decent deal, 10400 Euro, and this allows me to plan out all the other little things related to this that I need to do.

I'm looking forward getting it back and taking it out in Ouray and Moab, I already have plans to park it here to get some awesome photos:

https://youtu.be/NzunBbn4B2A?t=47

 

[Cottontail]

Nice buy. Where did you find it (which country)? I hope you've studied up on the importation of the Defender. I did a little research on it about two years ago as I was considering doing the same thing.

You may want to check out this: https://eastcoastrover.com/imports.html

 

[zluster]

Found it in Belgium even though it is RHD. I have not imported before but if done plenty of research and I’ve been looking to import something from japan or Europe for quite a while. I’m sure I will have a learning process to go through with it, but I’ve been researching and looking for a few years, and I still have some time to get everything lined up.

 

[DutchVDub]

Is it a diesel? That’s bad ass

 

[zluster]

Is it a diesel? That’s bad ass

Yup 2.5 Diesel.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Make sure every part of it is 25+ years old.. customs grabbed up some Rovers the last few years for updated chassis and powertrains. Expedition Portal would be a good source of info on importing Rovers.

Beautiful rig Sam.. best of luck. That rig has been FS for awhile..

 

[zluster]

Make sure every part of it is 25+ years old.. customs grabbed up some Rovers the last few years for updated chassis and powertrains. Expedition Portal would be a good source of info on importing Rovers.

Beautiful rig Sam.. best of luck. That rig has been FS for awhile..

Ya it’s mostly all old, and vins match between frame and brake booster. “should” not be an issue to import but there is so much vagueness and subjective interpretation that makes it hard. It’s got an aftermarket puma fiberglass hood, but it also came with the original hood. Not sure what I’ll do about that for import, if I put the old one on or what. Depending on who you ask and what interpretation they have the updated hood wouldn’t fly, but others also say the verbiage call out other things as being more important like replacement chassis.

Then you have the contradictory information out there from the various government agencies. Enough to make your head spin when one agency says the same hole body can be replaced as long as the chassis stays, but others says it must be as originally configured, but doesn’t care if parts have been replaced with original type.

Then there is all the stuff you see that has been imported with all sorts of different flavors, recently there was an 03 TDI for sale in Houston, no way that should fly, yet it’s here. Meanwhile I’m trying to figure which hood should be on it when it arrives in the us so as not to bother customs about it, or if I should even keep the second hood.

Again been planning and reading on the process for years, talking with as many others as I could about importing, and still planning for the import process.

Curious, do you watch for vehicles for sale in Europe? You make it sound like you had seen it for sale before.

 

[OverlandZJ]

I don't watch Euro vehicles.. but i'v seen that for sale somewhere, at least once. Flat paint with checkered diamond is pretty unique. It is a nice looking rig.. and a 110!

Could the seller have advertised it here stateside? There's a few guys out there importing Defenders, Cruisers, Delica's etc..

Hope it all works out for ya. Again, you'd find some knowledgeable input over there.

 

[zluster]

I don't watch Euro vehicles.. but i'v seen that for sale somewhere, at least once. Flat paint with checkered diamond is pretty unique. It is a nice looking rig.. and a 110!

Could the seller have advertised it here stateside? There's a few guys out there importing Defenders, Cruisers, Delica's etc..

Hope it all works out for ya. Again, you'd find some knowledgeable input over there.

I’m going to guess it was another one, he could have listed it stateside, but he repainted it from the original red to the Matt black and set it up for commercial use in Holland.

 

[zluster]

An update, its on a boat, headed to Tacoma, should arrive July 14th in Tacoma then it will need to clear customs and I'll pick it up.

I made a quick tour video while in Scotland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF-3VgZHbbA

If anyone is curious you can watch the progress of the ship its on here:
https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9553115

 

[zluster]

More update, its back home and it went to ouray:

 

[trippled]

Way cool!! How'd that kj handle tow duty?

 

[zluster]

Way cool!! How'd that kj handle tow duty?

Great! It got kinda hot going up the long passes unless I dropped the speed down to 55 or so. Fuel economy when towing dropped down to about 14-16 when I was going 70-80. I was debating if it was better to drive faster and get fuel more often or slow down. In the end slowing down won out as I could only get 300 miles on a tank of diesel, which when you are driving cross country the stopping really kills your average speed.

I've towed cross country with it a few times before, NJ to CO, Houston to CO, LA to CO, ND to CO, and lots of local towing.

After this last one though I was really wishing I had an EGT gauge, I have all the tuning tools I just have never bothered to tune past stock.

 

[zluster]

Scored a new set of wheels and tires for it it:

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Pretty cool Sam!

I guess I hadn't realized until seeing that last pic that your rig was right hand drive. That had to take a little getting used to....?