Close to a Bronco but not quite. What is it?

thegreatjustino · Jul 25, 2017

Saw this music video at the gym tonight. At first, second, and third glance I thought it was a Bronco but looking at the video on youtube it doesn't appear to be so.

Doesn't appear to be a Scout either. Anyone know what it is?

smoktf250 · Jul 25, 2017

defender 90

ared77 · Jul 25, 2017

Man, from that distance, it does look like one!

I had to look up "defender 90" %)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender

Bronco Junkie · Jul 25, 2017

smoktf250 said:
defender 90

X2...I see one everyday driving to work.

Timmy390 · Jul 25, 2017

I want a Defender 110 Doublecab (like the one in Skyfall) SO bad.....

Tim

SteveL · Jul 25, 2017

I was gonna say one of those jeep brute's. There's a place in Colorado or Utah that builds em up with a hemi. I watched a show where they were cruising moab in a few different heeps models they modify.

spap · Jul 25, 2017

Land Rover Defender 90 s are very cool trucks typically v8, 5 speed, coil springs all the away around
And you can adjust the the front end without diff bushings. And they are tough.
In Europe the came with diesels

$40/$50grand in So Cal

1971lubr · Jul 25, 2017

Was it 95 they stopped importing into the US? Or did they stop production completely then? Very cool trucks, just stupid expensive to maintain and I hear they leak worse the EB's.

Timmy390 · Jul 25, 2017

They stopped importing which is why I can't get a 110 doublecab.

It's due to the U.S. requirements on diesel emissions being so strict. They will not pass emissions and the way the regulations are written, you can't even retrofit them to meet the restrictions. It has to be OEM.

Tim

Classic 4x4 · Jul 25, 2017

The last D90s were in '97 and none of them were diesels. They had the same emissions-certified engine as the Range Rover. The issue with the D110 and D90 wasn't the emissions, it was DOT air bag requirements, crash tests, lighting and many other standards the Defender series had no hope of meeting. They had waivers for a while and could import very low numbers and escape some of the rules but eventually, it was a no-go. They were awesome rigs and one of the best outta-the-box trail machines that ever wheeled, especially considering LR scoffed at traction aids in that era. LR had some quirky ideas about certain things, some really good and some really offbeat and wrong-headed. Still, they were awesome. How do I know? I worked for Land Rover North America back in those days.

toddz69 · Jul 25, 2017

I test drove one of the early D90s when they first arrived in the US. Went to the local river bottom and the salesman pretty much let me go where I wanted once I told him I had an early Bronco and CJ-3A at home. I've always loved them since although their prices show no signs of abating (I usually watch the auctions on BaT).

Todd Z.

SteveL · Jul 25, 2017

I looked at the d-90s when they first had em and most were soft tops. Base price was $30k back then. What I read in 4wor is they stopped importing em due to no air bags. The land rover aluminum v-8s like to blow head gaskets and never reseal good causing cooling pronlems. One of my buddies with $$$is looking at an LS swap on his d-90.

Classic 4x4 · Jul 25, 2017

SteveL said:
I looked at the d-90s when they first had em and most were soft tops. Base price was $30k back then. What I read in 4wor is they stopped importing em due to no air bags. The land rover aluminum v-8s like to blow head gaskets and never reseal good causing cooling pronlems. One of my buddies with $$$is looking at an LS swap on his d-90.

Strange, I worked on Rovers for 15 years (I was trained at the factory in England to work on them) and they were no worse on head gaskets than any other engine. You had to be a little more careful if you ever did them and do things a little different than some other engines of the era. In my experience, the people who had trouble after didn't do them correctly so they failed the second time around. If you ever REALLY overheat an aluminum engine, though, you have to go thru it with a fine tooth comb to check dimensions, squareness, flatness, etc. It was really an old school engine long past its prime in the '90s. They weren't powerful enough for many (how much can your get from 215, 241 of 256 ci anyway?) but they had plenty of low end grunt for the trail for a rig that isn't too heavy.

broncodriver99 · Jul 25, 2017

Didn't they have problems with an oil cooler line rupturing? A few of them went up in flames IIRC. I had a 2.8L baby Powerstroke at one point. It was an updated version of the 300 TDI that was made by Navistar in South America. Worked on swapping it into a Bronco for a while, had an adapter made and mated it to a NV3550/D20 and had it sitting in a frame. Had way too much cash in it. I ended up giving up on it and sold it to a guy who put it in a Defender and drove it to South America and all over the West Coast.

Great trucks though. You can still import the old "Series" Rovers but they aren't quite as cool as the modern ones and are even more underpowered.

Classic 4x4 · Jul 25, 2017

If anything happened after about 1998, I don't know much because I was gone by then. The last big deal I participated in was the launch of the P38 (2nd gen Range Rover). I don't remember oil cooler line troubles so either it's time catching up to me or it was after my time with LR.

They offered all of us driving instructors the preproduction D90s back in '93. Some of them were roughed up pretty good by the motor press and others had been test units. A couple had been pretty much just show and photo rigs. Price was very reasonable (in the mid 'teens, depending on which one you wanted) but I couldn't get the wife on board with the idea. Every once in a while I send her an ad or auction showing what they sell for now... just to twist the knife a little!

sprdv1 · Jul 25, 2017

spap said:
Land Rover Defender 90 s are very cool trucks typically v8, 5 speed, coil springs all the away around
And you can adjust the the front end without diff bushings. And they are tough.
In Europe the came with diesels

$40/$50grand in So Cal

They do look pretty cool........

Lawndart · Jul 25, 2017

I had an older imported D90 with a later model diesel installed. Neat truck and very capable. It taught me, that I was not a diesel guy; blasphemy to some.
I also had the last year Disco (US spec). Very nice machine as well. The oil pump broke up and took out the timing chain at very low mileage, but too many years past warranty. Quite costly for a low mileage pampered vehicle. Too many electronic doodads and plastic to deal with as well. Blah, blah...

I will say, I enjoyed my Rovers. I will also say, they returned me too my roots. I bought my Bronco thereafter. 35k later, not a single regret.

Close to a Bronco but not quite. What is it?

thegreatjustino

Red Head Grease Monkey

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smoktf250

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ared77

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