Could You Defend Paying $20,000 For This 1985 Land Rover 90?

Everybody knows that the best offense is a good defense and today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Land Rover, at first glance, looks to be a pretty good Defender. It's really an earlier 90, but you'll still need to decide if its price is offensive.

Clowns are scary, that is a fact that is above debate. Apparently also right up there on the butt-pucker scale is the thought of clowning around in yesterday's
1989 Chrysler LeBaron Von Multi-color-en. As bad a rap as that drop top and it's kin may have, at only a grand it was still seen as passible by a narrow 52% of you, giving it a Nice Price win.

Speaking of winning – in a roundabout way – today's
1985 Land Rover 90 is a direct descendant of the British off-roader that was inspired by the little truck that helped beat Jerry back in the day – the American Jeep. Good show, lads!

Much like the Jeep of today, the Land Rover – gaining the iconic name Defender in 1990 – has evolved over the years while still maintaining its butch looks and British build quality personality. As such, and also in Jeep-like fashion, the Land Rovers have the ability to mix and match parts from different eras, sort of like Garanimals.

This 90 pickup (so named for its wheelbase) is just such a mashup- and its seller calling it by the model's later name is perhaps in honor of all the recent – less than 3,000 miles ago – work that is claimed to have been done to the truck. Also, there's not much difference visually between an '85 90 and a '90s Defender so we'll play his game.

The truck is presently set up with a hard cap and lockable bin in back, pickup truck style. If that's not quite your cup of Earl Grey, the seller will give you a full soft top for $4,500 more than this configuration's asking price, and an additional four weeks wait.

Power for this 90 comes from Rover's 68-horse 2.5-litre oil burner, and that's backed up by the brand's LT77 5-speed manual. Of course it's 4WD and the coils and shocks are said to be new on each axle.

In fact there has been a lot of this truck that is new, from the galvanized frame to the metallic blue paint on top. The seller says that it has served as his daily driver over the summer and that has resulted in some typical Land Rover maintenance work- fixing leaks etc – as well as repairing some of the things that perhaps could have been done better during the rebuild.

That's all to be expected of an older LR, as is a bit of road rot on any car or truck living on Martha's Vineyard, which is a freaking island or so I am told, and which is also where this one presently resides. The seller notes that the truck does show some bubbling on the door edges, but that the body and frame are otherwise solid. The interior – or at least the driver's seat – also looks to be serviceable.

So, owing to its age, it may not be a Defender, but it has gotten to the point where that's become the de facto reference for these trucks at least to the general populace. The great unwashed also seem to jones over these, and in truth they are way-desirable, especially kitted out as uniquely as this one seems to be.

That of course means that Land Rovers can also command some pretty high prices (you know, because of that supply and demand stuff you learned back in high school econ), and so you might expect this one to go for some serious change.

How serious? Well, the asking is $20,000, or $24,500 and 4 weeks if you want a roll cage and soft top. You now need to vote on whether that (the twenty grand price) seems like a screaming' deal, or if for that much this 90 should be 86'd

You decide!

Cape Cod
Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Mark McCormick for the hookup!

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