1969 IIa Restoration Build Thread

[Gekicker08]

Hello everyone! I recently came into possession of probably one of the worst Series IIa's out there. Its frame is rusted out, the engine is seized and almost everything needs to be replaced. Luckily, being a Land Rover, all of these things can be sourced from reputable sources relatively easily. The only thing I've really had trouble with Is the idea of "improving" things as I go. I'm torn between making this thing easier to live with on the daily basis with improvements in engine, steering, electrical, etc., or just going back as close to stock as possible. I know the market prefers the latter, but I feel as if there is some value in making tasteful improvements. What are the thoughts of the group on this? As far as everything else, obviously it will be a Frame up restoration, likely a patina preserving restoration because it looks so cool, but it could be a total redo on the paint as well. Now, for the story of the Rover. My best friend called me in the height of covid and asked me "Hey man, how do you feel about a trip to New Hampshire?" He had found this Land Rover on EBay and purchased it sight unseen. The original Owner had purchased it new from Land Rover and had driven it up until 1979 at which point she decided to move on to a Triumph Spitfire 1500. Unfortunately, it was never protected from the elements in her basement garage. Rust took it over and left it in-operable. We drove up there in my truck (The reason why he called me in the first place) and retrieved the rover from a burly older woman who transition from a 60cc dirt bike to an 80's YJ for transportation. She was awesome, and named Carol. This is where the rover got its name. Now, upon realization of the state of the Rover, my buddy freaked out, but went forward with the purchase. We towed it back down to Durham the next day where I cleaned up some of the body and we actually realized that it was somewhat salvageable if he committed to building it from the ground up with a slew of new parts and a lot of time. He towed it to his house in Greenville, sc the day after and there it sat for the better part of 3 years. October of last year comes around and he is now married with a newborn and Carol has just been sitting (Albeit with a lot of the magic oil in the cylinders and a freed up transmission from annoyed persistence), so he calls me and asks what I thought about taking over the project. I had just completed a semi-full restoration on a 79 corvette for my wife's cousin's military retirement so a new project was needed! He just wanted me to get him out of what he already had in it and we would be even. Two weeks later, it was on the trailer to my wife an my new house that we just finished up building. It sat for a few weeks due to us having our first child, but the work on the deconstruction has started! Here is where we are at so far: