13 years later, I’d like to give my dad his Defender back
Hi everyone,
I’m hoping to get some advice from people who know Defenders well.
When I was 22, I accidentally crashed my dad’s Land Rover Defender TD5 90. It was total loss, and I’ve never really allowed myself to forget about it.
That car was my dad’s pride and joy. I remember him having the chassis galvanised because he wanted to keep it going for as long as possible. He absolutely loved that Defender.
After the accident, my dad was mainly worried about me and my health. He never really made a deal about losing the car and never made me feel guilty about it. I know it must have hurt him to have lost it... he basically stayed completely silent about it.
At the time of the accident, I was obviously nowhere near being able to replace it. But the thought of getting him another Defender has stayed with me for the last 13 years.
I’m finally getting to a point where I’m earning enough that, if all goes well, I should be able to save enough by next year to buy one without putting my own family in financial trouble.
I know it won’t be his old Defender, and I know I can’t undo what happened. But I’d really love to give him another one someday. I think it would mean a lot to both of us.
So I’m looking for some advice from the Defender community, especially people in Belgium / Europe.
What should I be looking for when viewing one? What are the big things to check? Are there particular TD5 issues I should know about? And what are the things that should make me walk away from a car?
I’d rather spend a year finding the right one than rush into buying the wrong one.
Any advice, tips, things to look out for, or even recommendations on where to look would be massively appreciated.
Hopefully, if everything goes to plan, I’ll be back here next year with a picture of my dad and his new Defender.
