Dooming a vehicle to scrap
 

I've done it after an accident. However, I've never used a vehicle as a parts car and thereby doomed it to non-existence.

The situation is I have 2 Land Rover Disco 2s that were my kids college cars. The one in the best shape had the front drive shaft let go and punch a hole in the transmission. The other one (which I like better for originality and color) likely needs a frame.

I can pull what I need of the rusty one and fix the one with gearbox problem. It's hard for me to get over the line to essentially scrap the one.

Anyone ever done this and have words of encouragement?

Blue one has transmission issue. White gold is hiding its sinful underbelly:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762138306.jpg

I’ve had two. And a bunch of other LRs.
I have made poor decisions with daily drivers over the years…

My vote would be to scrap them both. They were troublesome new - they lived at the dealership with electronic issues - and I can’t see how age has made them better. Especially when rust is involved.

But since that seems facetious and glib, go look at FB marketplace to see what they are worth. You can pick up another one for pocket change, so you could always buy a third that runs and has a decent frame and do twice the work to keep your pair.

Rusted out frame in Tejas ?!

I’ve scraped cars before. I like to cut out the front clips completely, then send the rest scrap yard. Once I’ve picked all the meat from the bone, I’ll send the remainder to the scrap yard for the 50 bucks or so.

Disco twos are cool from the alumn body/ off road capability perspective. We looked at them and test drove them new. Never drank the cool aid through.
Still, ive always wanted one. If I were to do it knowing what I know now, id build it like a hot rod. Body off new hotrod wiring harness and possibly a better power plant, an ecotech turbo 4 cylinder? A plug in Hybrid system?
The battery pack down low would be awesome.
Anyway if you like them that much, go for it! Just dont get the idea its going to be a simple job, treat it like a labor of love... and at a minimum remove that "prince of darkness " wiring they came with.
Oh... and unless you drive it till you, or it is dead you'll never get your value from it.

At some point, maybe it makes sense to sell both of them and buy one better one. Or something else.

Let them both be someone else's projects.

I've sold several cars that I just didn't want to mess with anymore.

About 40 years ago I had a Renault 17 that needed bits and pieces. I bought a Renault 15 which had better bits. I didn't mind at the time because there was no other source for the parts I had to have. When I finally sold the POS, I made sure the deal included the parts car. By that time I was SO glad to get rid of them both.

I think this is good advice, no way I’d invest time in a vehicle with serious frame rust. D2s are dirt cheap, pick up a nice one, take the pieces you want off of the other two, then scrap them both. You could end up with a nicer truck and a really great spares hoard of nothing else.

Glad to see somebody still showing these some love, I daily drove a D1 for a while and really liked it. So much character, so much bad engineering….:D

The amount of time it takes to repair things I won't use used parts because I only want to do the repair once. Even if the part is free.

I have a 1996 Jag XJ6 that has served me well. It has rust due to a poorly installed windshield way before me. It has to live outside so the moisture in half the year, mostly dew, is constantly working the rust. The only solution is to R and R the glass and the new seal is really pricey, even if I could pull this off myself. I have installed a Targa glass, so I am able.

However, to be a great touring sedan it needs a lot I suspect in the way of suspension bushings and lots of other parts of that nature. Great car, but not worth putting 2-3 grand in refurbishing.

Did I mention that this is the best riding car that will handle well that I've ever owned? Yes, they are hard to let go. But in today's market the $440 I have been offered at the salvage place seems a lot easier than selling. I had it up FS a couple months ago on FBMP and that was such a CF that I will never ever advertise on FB again. The kind of people that respond to something like this must all live in Barstow CA. You don't want to be in Barstow for any reason.


I was looking for $500 and that alone brings out the worst dregs of society. For 500 it is a great project for the cognoscenti. You don't find that caliber on FB apparently.

So when I can cut the ties, I will drive it to the bone yard.

We got that truck in Arlington VA. Some person working in Congress or whatever had abandoned it on the street and the tow company got title. We paid nearly nothing and I just had to address the brakes and AC to get it back on the road for my kid that was in college w/o a car due to a wreck. It has served us well!

This is the thought/goal:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762196316.jpg


Someone else mentioned moving to another project. Here is my other project that used to be my daily:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762196370.jpg


It is a sickness!

Have you thought about posting it on a Jaguar enthusiast forum? Should be way less flakes, and maybe you’ll find someone willing to give the old girl new life? When I had Jags, I preferred Jag-Lovers but there are others out there.

As a son of a man that had, as a family car in the 1960's (three Rug Rats), a 3.8 Jag Sedan, there is no cure.

The picture above is goal worthy. I love the look.

You should have seen the young woman driving it.

I hate to see this car head to a boneyard. I always loved an XJ6 of that era and I used to rent them from one of the rental car companies (I think it was Budget) whenever I vacationed in northern California. Great road car and so different (in a good way) from everything else in its class. Still on my bucket list to own someday.

How bad is the rust?

I've scrapped out a lot of vehicles, mostly VWs and Porsches.

.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762268852.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762268852.jpg

There was no question about this one. I bought it for the SC engine, which turned out to have a cracked crankcase. In fact, the only parts of the car that weren't bent or broken were the transmission case, a couple of wheels, and the gas filler door.

The most memorable scrap out was an old, very rusty Karman Ghia. I had taken every good part off of it and I still had to get rid of the carcass.
There was a railroad spur beside my shop. After they delivered lumber to the lumberyard down the street, the lumberyard would push the empty boxcar onto the spur to get it out of the way until the rail carrier came to get it. So - six friends and I, sharing a case of beer as friends do, opened the boxcar door, threw the VW carcass inside, and slammed the door. A few days later it was gone. I still think about was on the mind of whomever opened the door and found a dead VW inside.