Big day for The Land Rover Project. Mr. Wolf (left) is in San Marcos doing a final inspection on the truck. Luke Richards (right) was in charge of the restoration. Assuming the truck does well on this afternoon’s test drive, it’s back to the Bay Area for the final shakedown cruise.

UPDATE: Okay. Looks like the restoration is done and the truck will head for Mr. Wolf’s garage before the end of the month. Not sure how long he’ll need to “break it in” but I’m hoping to have it before the end of the year.

The ride up to Mr. Wolf’s shop in the Bay Area was on open transport truck. Only thing available on short notice. Last night he sent it back to Lucra Cars in an enclosed truck.

Looks like it had some pricey company. Perhaps one of you car guys can ID these high-end rides.

No idea when I’ll finally get behind the wheel but if I had to guess I’d say December. Gonna call it a Christmas present.

The Northern California Land Rover Club held a rally in Hollister, California this weekend and Mr. Wolf took The Truck down to show off and test drive. He discovered some “issues” that have to be addressed and will almost certainly delay the delivery date. But that’s why we went with Mr. Wolf in the first place. Here are some photos from the rally:

For my money, nothing captures the Land Rover mystique like this 1951 Series (1) truck. I think he said these guys drove it down from the Bay Area (with the windscreen down!)

Serious off-roaders love to make their trucks go where they shouldn’t be able to go. Mr. Wolf called these “tank traps.”

So The Great Land Rover Project has hit a bump but — as you can see — Land Rovers love bumps.

The transport truck taking the Land Rover from San Diego to San Mateo couldn’t get to Mr. Wolf’s garage because the traffic was so horrendous. (I didn’t ask Mr. Wolf to clarify that) Since he was headed south for the weekend anyway, he met the transport truck on the way and transferred the Land Rover to his trailer. Now it’s off to the weekend rally. Photos to follow. We’re now in the final phase of The Great Land Rover Project. Next milestone will be my trip on the 20th.

The restoration is complete and The Truck is on it’s way to the Bay Area, scheduled to arrive at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Mr. Wolf says he’s going to drive it a bit and then put it on a trailer and take it the annual get-together of the Northern California Land Rover Club. He promises some good photos.

For the next several weeks he’ll be driving the truck, looking for anything missed during the restoration and making a few modifications and additions (fire extinguisher, different rear seats, etc. The final truck ride to Missouri will be in an enclosed truck. I confess this picture makes me a little nervous.

[Updates at bottom of post]

Before I tell you about my new Land Rover, let’s recap how we got here. I’ve been admiring vintage Land Rovers for years but the idea of owning one never occurred to me. In May I spotted another one on the Cool & Vintage website. A beautiful frame-off restoration of a Defender 90 Land Rover. I clicked the “more information” link and, following a brief email exchange, learned I could buy the vehicle for about $60,000. I decided I had to have it and spent a week or two begging the folks in Lisbon, Portugal (where the company is located) to take my money. They were too busy with their latest photo shoot.

A friend of a friend told me about a UK company called Arkonik that specializes in frame-off restorations of Land Rovers. I called and learned they’d be happy to build me one for $100,000 but there was a 13 month waiting list. I strongly considered it.

At this point a friend put me in touch with a “concierge buyer” in the Bay Area. I call him Mr. Wolf and he’s an expert in vintage Land Rovers. For a finder’s fee of 10%, he agreed to find the Land Rover of my dreams. And he did. It took him a bit more than a month.

We started searching for a Defender 90 but along the way Mr. Wolf suggested I consider a Land Rover Series (I,II,III) model. These are more truck-like (loud and slow). I loved the look so we expanded the search. Last week Mr. Wolf located a 1979 Series 3 Land Rover in San Diego. The restoration was still underway and the vehicle hadn’t been spoken for.

Mr. Wolf looked at  a few hundred photos and talked at length with Luke Richards, the man in charge of the restoration. He was impressed. This was it. I wired the deposit and the Land Rover was mine.

When the restoration is complete, probably by August September October. Mr. Wolf will take it back to his facility in the Bay Area and drive it for 1,000 miles to find and fix any problems (that can occur with the most perfect restoration). Then he’ll put it on a truck and send it to me. I plan to visit Mr. Wolf during the shakeout period.

I love the idea of frame-off restoration. I love the look and charm of the older Land Rover… but I want it to be “new.” In the absence of time travel, that means taking the old car apart and rebuilding it bolt-by-bolt, nut-by-nut. I find it amazing anyone can do this, for any amount of money. Clearly a labor of love.

I don’t know the full story behind Luke Richards but at one time (perhaps still) he designed and built high-performance cars. Watch the video on his website. Somewhere along the way he and his team started restoring vintage Land Rovers.

I’ll have more photos of my Land Rover as it nears completion and I’ll share them here. The color (Stone Gray) is not a Land Rover color, it’s by Mercedes. I love it.

If you had asked me yesterday how long I’ve been working on this I would have said six months. It’s been less than two. Some serious time distortion at work. I’m eager to climb in this rascal and chug up my hill but I’m enjoying the anticipation, too. Watch this space for updates.

UPDATE (August 21, 2017): The pieces that make up the hardtop have been painted. In the home stretch.

UPDATE (August 12, 2017): Back from visit to Lucra Cars in San Marcos, CA. Met Luke Richards and some of this staff. Got to put my hands on The Truck.

UPDATE: (July 19, 2017): Starting to get a few more photos of the restoration. Will update this gallery as more come in.

UPDATE (July 17, 2017): Best estimate now October 1 on the short side; November 1 on the long side. Looks like an early Christmas present.

UPDATE (July 7, 2017): We’re sticking with the new drum brakes. This truck is small and light enough that front-wheel discs won’t be necessary. The restoration was going to be a soft top but they have a hardtop in stock so that’s the plan. Will had some dollars and time to the project and I can always order a soft top down the road.

UPDATE (July 1, 2017): Brief chat with Mr. Wolf as we enter what I believe is the final phase of the restoration. I had a question about the gearbox in my truck. Some of the older Series trucks did not have synchro in all gears and that is not a good thing. I believe the Series III gearbox is synchronized. He suggested converting the front wheels from drum brakes to disc, adding that drum brakes probably wouldn’t be a problem since the truck goes so slow. I like the idea of disc brakes up front.

1979 Series III Land Rover Santana. Mr. Wolf sees the truck in the background of photo on Craig’s List/SF.

“Pending a visit to San Diego to visit this guy, I think this might be the one. I am very impressed with the quality of this build. Not only does the work look beautiful, but he has done lots of invisible upgrades to improve the overall look and reliability.”

“After looking through probably 500 of Luke’s pictures I haven’t seen a single thing that I don’t like, and talking with Luke has been nice, he really knows his stuff. Let’s do it! I’ll call him in a little while to get all the info.”

Things have been moving quickly on the Land Rover front. As impressed as I was with the folks at Arkonik, I decided I couldn’t wait 13 months. And the Universe seems to be cooperating with me at every turn. A friend put me in touch a “concierge buyer.” He’s an expert when it comes to vintage vehicles in general and Land Rovers in particular. Let’s call him Mr. Wolf.

“I intentionally keep as small a footprint as possible. I have zero social media, I keep my face off of the internet, etc… I’m one of “those guys” I guess, ha! I don’t mind if you mention me by name, or put up pictures of my vehicles or whatever, but no links to me, please. However, if someone asks (and they don’t seem like a complete toolshed) I would be happy to help other folks.”

“All of my car work comes from word of mouth, friends recommending friends, which works beautifully because it tends to weed out the jerks, and keeps it fun for everyone involved. At the end of the day, I don’t do the car stuff as a real business, I do it because I get to play with all kinds of interesting cars, and I get a huge hobby shop to play in. I am completely, hopelessly in love with vehicles of all sorts. I love researching, repairing, and modifying cars, but mostly I want to use them the way they were intended to be used. If it has four wheel drive, I will find new trails to explore. If it is a sports car, I will get it sideways every chance I get, take it on road trips, and then take it to the race track and wring its neck.”

“Somehow I find a way to incorporate cars or motorcycles into everything I do. Rent a Nissan March to explore the twisty roads outside Tokyo? Yes! Buy shitty Russian motorcycles and ride them through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia? What could go wrong? Drive a notoriously unreliable Range Rover Classic through Baja with no backup plan? You know it. Heck, nobody died the first time, let’s do it twice! Drive a leaky Alfa Romeo 1,000 miles in the middle of winter to look for fun roads through the redwoods? I think you get the idea…”

“Really what I want is to be an enabler. Put people in the vehicle they have always dreamed of, but never bought, because where do you get the fuel injection tuned on a Morgan Plus 8, anyway?”

I’ll share some of his work in future posts. Before this is all said and done, I plan to jet out to The Coast and meet Mr. Wolf. He promised to take me off-roading.