Well... That is the part that the purist are really going to have a problem with... As a father of 3 young kids I knew I would never have the time to build this from the ground up so I started with a running and driving donor car. I started with a 2005 Tahoe Z71 4x4 so when done it will retain drive and function as nice as any used Tahoe. 5.3 V8 has tons of power and it will also have the Tahoe Air Conditioning, Air Bags, Full functioning Dash, Traction Control, Heated Power seats and much more. Here is a photo of the chassis before we dropped the body on it.
YOu also may be able to sell the 'wings' or fenders as they look like non-messed with Series IIA Fenders which are also gettting hard to find. For what you are doing some Series III or Defender wings would work well - and you may make a few bucks.
1958 107 SW - Sold to a better home
1965 109 SW - nearly running well
1966 88 SW - running but needing attention
1969 109 P-UP
Well...there's the left wing, the right wing, the tub and the roof. Oh, and, presumably, the doors too.
Oddly, I'd figure that it'd take as much, if not more, dedicated time to modify a Chevy pickup to look right as a Land Rover as it would to make a crappy Land Rover look like a non-crappy Land Rover, but I can't say for sure...
So will it be registered as a Tahoe? Using the frame VINN #?
Years ago I thought about doing something similar, my 88 Ford Ranger 4x4, w V6 had a 109" wheelbase,,"just" a body swap and sort out the electrics......
Yer kids are gonna have fun!
There may come a time when you will wish you had not. At the moment a nicely restored 2A 5 door can reach rather astronomical numbers as far as resale value goes, but a hacked up bodge will always be worthless.
That doesn't change the fact that there isn't much IIa about it and I'd still run away as fast as possible.
It's his truck and can do what he wants but when you post in a forum you're bound to get differing opinions about it. No, I'm not an evil purist or rivet counter but I do have an opinion. That is all it is.
Comment