I have someone trying to sell me a '94 D90 that was said to be restored by East Coast Defender. This would be my first D90 purchase, so I am curious to know if anyone has bought a truck that ECD restored and what their overall experience was?
Modernized in house at East Coast Defender with fully rebuilt engines, new LED lighting, BFGoodrich tires, brakes, accessories, and upgraded sound system this Land Rover Defender NAS is truly the most sought after Land Rover Defender in America! Fully rebuilt Rover 3.9L V8 fuel injected motor Inspected and re-sealed transmission and T case Axles stripped, resealed and re-finished Upgraded disc braking all round Terra Firma suspension upgrade with 2'' lift Chassis hand stripped and re-finished New 16'' wheels with BFG TA tires (18'' optional) Stripped and re-trimmed interior with sound deadening and marine grade carpet Stripped and re-trimmed seats in leather Repainted exterior in Coniston Green, High performance LED lighting all round, and upgraded stereo.
Suggest doing a search for Denver shop owners, or post with similar title to misc chit chat to get attention from folks in that area. I believe there is a pretty large D90/LR community there... so, someone should be able to help.
I have never seen one in person (and I'm pretty sure I don't need to), but I would stay away from the truck if I were you. These seem to be homemade bastardizations in my opinion that lack real quality. They have a ton of ugly aftermarket bolt ons and they consistently ruin NAS trucks.
I think it's also consensus that their name is 100% unoriginal and they use it to ride the coattails of ECR, a company who actually does quality work.
East Coast Defenders, like West Coast Defenders, gained recent popularity by offering a unique product (no longer made Defenders) at very high dollar amount ($100k+) to some folks with deep pockets. Bloomberg has done segments on these two boutiques fixer-uppers (search youtube).
In terms of quality of work for the money, that is debatable. And different people will have different opinions about what's good quality vs not. E.g., the TerraFirma suspension upgrade mentioned in this D90 ad.... some (maybe most?) will say they're not exactly quality parts for a well build D90. In sure they work, but a builder intended on building a solid D90 would probably have picked a higher quality brand. You can always replace the TR after purchase, but then it begs the question of where else did they cut corners...
If price is right for you, get it inspected and go from there. Good luck!
Restoring a Defender is not rocket science. Not even close. The Defender is a very simple vehicle. Repairing a Defender is simple. Evaluating the value of a vehicle can be done via inspection.
I think what everyone is saying is that reputation of a vendor is meaningless when it comes to specific Defender restorations. I agree. Virtually every Defender restorer has some good trucks, some bad trucks, etc. It all comes down to what the original customer was willing to pay for and how the restorer was feeling that week/month/year.
OTOH If the price is low enough, then it's probably worth buying anyways.
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personally I always look at the bulkhead to see if its been painted on both sides.
Thats my barometer for a 'full restoration' meaning they stripped the vehicle and replaced all brake lines ect.
if they haven't removed the bulkhead and covered the rest in carpet its hard to be sure exactly how far its been 'restored'
resprayed is more likely, agree with the TF comment, why not install OME if you have done such quality work? its twice as expensive but widely regarded as superior
Just spotted this East Coast Defender restored 110 here in Jackson Hole today - looked amazing from the outside and no doubt it was $200k ish cost but I'd only trust ECR with that kind of coin
I have had good help from PPR Automotive in Colorado Springs. The did work on my ROW 110 and when I'm deployed the wife brings her ROW 90 there.
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