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1979 Stage 1 Acquisition - Major Project

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:06 pm
by pumpkinboy1991
Hi all,
I'm in the process of acquiring this early stage 1, which I'm rescuing having sat in the elements in a field for over a decade. There isn't really a chassis or bulkhead to speak of as they are all but dust, to the point you can see the car has snapped in half. This will prove to be a bit of an issue in the recovery as moving it in one piece onto a trailer or transporter will just damage the body further. It'll be a case of dismantling in situ and trailering the parts back to my workshop.

A bit of investigation into the chassis number indicates that it started life as an export left hand drive vehicle and was then registered in the UK the following year in 1980, however it is quite clearly a right hand drive car. I've been told this may have been a bit of a tax dodge by the UK to export and immediately reimport the cars (not sure how that works but it wouldnt surprise me). Can anyone shed any light on this & whether being one of the early stage 1s is desirable or not?

I'm in two minds as to whether or not I should restore the car as a stage 1 or use the body on a modern coil sprung discovery 1 chassis I have along with the 3.9 auto box it had. I worry it would be sacrilege not to restore as a stage 1 but it wasnt initially what my build was going to be before finding this! Although, I do think I'm edging towards restoring it as a stage 1.

Suggestions welcomed 😊
Cheers!

Re: 1979 Stage 1 Acquisition - Major Project

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:48 pm
by Cliff4WD
Personally IMHO, I think you should restore it to what it was or allow it to die gracefully. Bits of old Defenders and Discoverys are ten a penny so if you want to build an hybrid, then do it with Defender parts. A restored Stage 1 will be so much more satisfying (and valuable). Not the easiest undertaking in the world to pull off mind.

Re: 1979 Stage 1 Acquisition - Major Project

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:16 am
by pumpkinboy1991
I think you're right Cliff. I tried to upload some pics of it as it sits but had difficulty doing it from my mobile due to the size of the images. I'll stick them on my laptop in a bit and post them. The java green is growing on me!

Re: 1979 Stage 1 Acquisition - Major Project

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 12:42 pm
by Cliff4WD
Think I saw it on FB. If you want to upload photos here then I'd recommend registering on https://postimages.org/ You then upload your photos and then share the photo here by copying the hotlink for forums url and pasting it into you posts here. The photos then appear, no big image file issues.

Re: 1979 Stage 1 Acquisition - Major Project

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:02 am
by disco2hse
Yep, these are becoming increasingly rare. Pretty sure I saw it on FB too. There was not a lot left on it, ...But then I have seen some pretty amazing restoration jobs.