1996 Discovery 1 SD 300tdi/R380 with CA diesel title

slomatt

Member
Feb 5, 2008
8
0
It pains me put my diesel D1 up for sale, but my wife and I are remodeling our house and I haven't had the time or money to work on the Disco. I'd like to see the truck go to a Rover enthusiast who will enjoy it and appreciate how cool this vehicle is.

THE GOOD


  • 1996 Discovery SD. The SD model does not have sunroofs or power seats, which is a good thing since these are common failure points on Discos.
  • Drivetrain is a 300tdi diesel engine and a R380 manual transmission installed by Jim Pendleton in 2007.
  • ~187k miles on the chassis, ~75k miles since the 300tdi was installed.
  • Truck gets 25-30mpg.
  • All power windows and both power mirrors work.
  • New ZF power steering pump (2013)
  • New Lockeed clutch master cylinder and TRW clutch slave cylinder (2013)
  • Small amount of rust on alpine windows repaired and windows resealed (common issue in D1s).
  • Surface rust in front foot wells converted and repainted (common issue in D1s).
  • Comes with the factory jack, toolkit, and roof rack rails.
  • Factory rear floor mat.
  • Factory rear ladder.
  • Comes with dual batteries.
  • Body is in very good condition, other than the fading paint listed below.
  • Parts for the 300tdi are easily available through many shops in the US.
  • *** Registered in CA as a diesel ***


THE NOT SO GOOD


  • Previous owner installed an aftermarket stereo and the stock one is not working.
  • Windshield is cracked, but not in the driver's line of sight.
  • Tires need to be replaced, one has a leak.
  • Headliner is sagging (~$100).
  • Some interior plastic parts are broken or missing, as you would expect with a 18 year old truck. These are easily found at junkyards and easy to replace.
  • Paint is fading on the hood and the roof, but is good everywhere else. Hood has been covered in Plastidip which is removable.
  • Salvage title. The truck was salvaged in late 2005 for unknown reasons. I had Phillipe at Euroland in SF check out the truck and he said the diesel install was done well and that the frame looks straight. It drives straight on the freeway, the gaps look good, and I don't see any evidence of a repaint. There was broken glass under the carpet so I'm wondering if the truck was stolen and recovered? Or, possibly the gas engine blew and the truck was salvaged, and then the diesel was installed?
  • The clutch fork is starting to punch through. A reinforced fork is ~$30. Currently the truck is drivable, but it is difficult to get into 1st and reverse gears due to clutch drag.


The big "needs to be fixed" issue is the clutch fork. This is a very common problem with D1s, and there are reinforced forks available for little money. I just haven't had time to deal with it. I did use an endoscope to look into the bell housing to confirm that the fork is punching through.

The best thing about this truck is that it is registered in CA as a diesel, which means no smog checks or other inspections. This is very rare, and makes registration easy.

This Disco would make an awesome overland vehicle. It has solid axles, Land Rover's offroading history, no power seats to fail, no moon roofs to leak, a manual transmission, no computer (minimal electronics in general), it can run biodiesel you make at home, and with the 300tdi and 20+ gallon tank it has a driving range of over 500 miles! Or, it could be the ultimate "zombie apocalypse" or "end of the world" vehicle, your choice.

Several other D1 with a 300tdi have been listed recently for $11-18k. Based on these I think a fair price for mine is $8500.

The truck is located in Orinda, CA. I hate to sell it, but that's how life goes. Drop me a PM if you have any questions about the vehicle or if you would like to view it in person.

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- Matt
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
Also put it on ebay. You'll get a lot more eyes on it there. You've probably already posted on craigslist. Give it a chance to sell at your asking price. If you don't get any interest after 2 weeks then go lower. The subset of people who will see this post on Dweb and be interested and have the money and be willing to travel to buy it/have it shipped is fairly small.
 

FB111

Well-known member
Jun 7, 2004
475
0
It's a $1,000 truck with a $3,000 engine. The salvage title turns it into a $300 truck and a $1,000 engine.

You'd be better off selling the engine/drivetrain for $3k and scrapping the truck.

Plus in PA having a Diesel title is worth 4K.
 

Buddy

Well-known member
Nov 6, 2006
2,839
1
Central NC
slomatt said:
No interest? Price to high? I'm open to reasonable offers.

- Matt

Ok since you asked. If you fix all "The Bad" items you might get closer to your asking price but here is what it breaks down to.

slomatt said:
Several other D1 with a 300tdi have been listed recently for $11-18k. Based on these I think a fair price for mine is $8500.

Recently is subjective I've not seen any sell in the 11-18 Range in a long time and if they did they were CLEAN!.

So lets say we are generous and start off at 10,000 for a clean Diesel Discovery and start looking at your Bad List.

[*]Windshield is cracked, but not in the driver's line of sight.
- $500 for parts, time and effort and it's a pain in the ass to schedule and wait for repair.

[*]Tires need to be replaced, one has a leak.
-$1000 Tires are expensive and for $10,000 it should have good tires.

[*]Headliner is sagging (~$100).
- $300, $100 in materials and time and effort. Peoples time is worth money.

[*]Some interior plastic parts are broken or missing, as you would expect with a 18 year old truck. These are easily found at junkyards and easy to replace.
- $500 I expect a $10,000 truck to be working an fully functional including all trim pieces. Trim is a pain in the ass and takes a lot of time.
[*]Paint is fading on the hood and the roof, but is good everywhere else. Hood has been covered in Plastidip which is removable.
- $2,500 You can't just touch up paint and have it look good and for your asking price paint needs to in good condition all around.

[*]Salvage title. The truck was salvaged in late 2005 for unknown reasons. I had Phillipe at Euroland in SF check out the truck and he said the diesel install was done well and that the frame looks straight. It drives straight on the freeway, the gaps look good, and I don't see any evidence of a repaint. There was broken glass under the carpet so I'm wondering if the truck was stolen and recovered? Or, possibly the gas engine blew and the truck was salvaged, and then the diesel was installed?
- $1,000 salvaged titles are really a pain to deal with and nobody wants to buy them.

[*]The clutch fork is starting to punch through. A reinforced fork is ~$30. Currently the truck is drivable, but it is difficult to get into 1st and reverse gears due to clutch drag.
- $800-1,000 dropping the trans is a pain in the ass.

So what does that leave us with? $3,400.

So in short fix your issues and you might get close to your asking price.

This is just my opinion on what I would deduct from a truck for those items. Someone else might think differently.
 

FB111

Well-known member
Jun 7, 2004
475
0
I think you are being a bit unfair or harsh. I would think a west coast D1 that seems to be damn near rust free is worth $2500. Add the 5 speed and 300TDI and for me you are quite a bit higher than $3400. I also don't think a salvage title on a nearly 20 year old truck is an issue. On a newer vehicle it is a big issue.
 

Buddy

Well-known member
Nov 6, 2006
2,839
1
Central NC
I think you are being a bit unfair or harsh. I would think a west coast D1 that seems to be damn near rust free is worth $2500. Add the 5 speed and 300TDI and for me you are quite a bit higher than $3400. I also don't think a salvage title on a nearly 20 year old truck is an issue. On a newer vehicle it is a big issue.

We all have our opinions. Those happen to be mine. If it was sitting in my drive way I would pay 4,000 max. But I know how to do math and know that diesels are not nearly as cost efficient as people think and that it will take the average diesel buyer about 100k miles to recoup the premium you paid for that diesel.

You people need to stop being fucking lemmings and put down the diesel coolaid. If your buying a new VW jetta sure but a 20 year old Disco near the end of its life?

Edit:
But to be a little helpful. Do as was mentioned by a previous poster if you want to sell it put it on eBay.
 
Last edited:

slomatt

Member
Feb 5, 2008
8
0
Thanks for all of the replies. I do have this listed on Craigslist, Expo, and LRForum, and will also list it on defendersource.com (thanks for the suggestion). I've avoided putting it on eBay for now because it can be a hassle.

Obviously if someone paid a shop to make this truck pristine it would cost a ton of money, but that's really not a reasonable situation. None of the ~$10k diesel D1s I've seen listed in the last year have been perfect, they've all had some issues and were drivers, not show cars. Realistically my D1 needs around $500 in parts to be a very solid and reliable driver, and of course someone has to spend the time to work on it but that is why I'm advertising it on enthusiast websites where we enjoy wrenching on our own rigs.

Old gas Discoveries are worth next to nothing, no argument there. The value in this rig is in the correctly done diesel transplant and the CA diesel title. We can debate the value of diesels all day, but the bottom line is that this is an extremely rare truck. If you search Craigslist for the entire US you find the following 300tdi Discos.

- Mine for $7999 (I lowered the price)
- A nice 96 for $20k in CA
- A high mileage but clean 95 for $18k in VT

That's it, and of those only 2 may be able to be legally registered in CA. It makes me think my price is too low. :) The salvage title is a negative, but as I said the frame seems straight, the gaps are fine, there is no sign of a respray, and the truck drives well on the freeway. It's very possible the truck was salvaged due to theft or a blown engine, I see no evidence of it being due to an accident.

Anyway, the tough thing is finding finding a buyer who is looking for a diesel Disco, it seems like it might take a while.

Thanks again for all the input, if you know anybody who wants a diesel please point them to this ad. I'm happy to answer any questions or provide more pictures. In the meantime I'm going to fire up the D1 tomorrow and take it for a spin!

- Matt
 

Buddy

Well-known member
Nov 6, 2006
2,839
1
Central NC
- Mine for $7999 (I lowered the price)
- A nice 96 for $20k in CA
- A high mileage but clean 95 for $18k in VT

That's it, and of those only 2 may be able to be legally registered in CA. It makes me think my price is too low. :) The salvage title is a negative, but as I said the frame seems straight, the gaps are fine, there is no sign of a respray, and the truck drives well on the freeway. It's very possible the truck was salvaged due to theft or a blown engine, I see no evidence of it being due to an accident.

Anyway, the tough thing is finding finding a buyer who is looking for a diesel Disco, it seems like it might take a while.

As we all know something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Lucky for you there are tons of Lemmings out there that have drank too much coolaid and are willing to pay stupid prices just to have a "Diesel". So I'm sure with enough patience and looking in the right places you will find a buyer.

I still stand by my comments that if you want to sell at or near your asking price you'll need to fix at least some of your issues. Here is why.
1) Generally the type of person that is going to pay >$8,000 for an old truck with a diesel will typically have more money than sense and either don't have time or the skills to fix a truck so they would rather spend $15-20k to have a turn key car than $8k and have to fix it up.
2) Most of the Enthusiast that you mentioned that like to work on these trucks are going to find a mint condition DI and buy a diesel engine and do the conversion themselves.

You can take my opinion for what it is and I'm not a diesel hater. I actually like diesels and wish more manufacturers offered efficient diesels in new cars. My step mom in Germany has a VW van with a diesel that thing is awesome, it will do 160KPH on the autobahn and still get great fuel mileage. But in these old truck for me they might add $1,000 to the value of the truck. But I'm not the type of buyer your looking for.
 

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
People don't like to plunk down 8 grand for something broken. When sellers say "all it needs is xyz, it's a cheap part and easy fix" I immediately think if it's so cheap and easy why don't you do it?
 

slomatt

Member
Feb 5, 2008
8
0
People don't like to plunk down 8 grand for something broken. When sellers say "all it needs is xyz, it's a cheap part and easy fix" I immediately think if it's so cheap and easy why don't you do it?

Time. The fixes are cheap and easy, but as mentioned above I'm remodeling our house and don't have the time to work on the truck.

- Matt
 

Nomar

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2004
6,078
13
Virginia
Anyway, the tough thing is finding finding a buyer who is looking for a diesel Disco, it seems like it might take a while.


- Matt

That's the key.
It will take a while.
Tobias and Chapman have the right answers .
Frank knows because he just sold one.
It's a small market looking for a diesel D1.
How many of them will say " who's Pendy?"
Likely all of them.

Just wait for a buyer to come around.
 

Hans747

Member
Jul 15, 2014
17
0
Asheville
1. Good job on writing an honest sales ad. Not many people do that.
2. Bad job on asking if you're asking too much. Because your ad has now turned into a somewhat convincing discussion on why your truck isn't worth the asking price.
3. Don't go by the prices on Craigslist. There is a phenomenon on CL that I am going to call "hivemind pricecreep." It's where based on seeing someone else's overblown sense of vehicle worth, your own vehicle gets overpriced. This is not a knock against you, I recently fell victim to this while trying to sell a camry (not rare) and a really low mileage bmw e39 wagon (rather rare). Amazingly, the market was only interested in paying true market value.
4. You need to stop thinking of this Discovery as a potentially cool daily driver. The paint, interior, and half dozen other worn out things on this truck say that it's showing its age. You really need to to start pitching this thing for what it is: a really cool base for an expedition vehicle that would be a rarity in the states. This truck has the right engine in it, and it has just enough wear that it's ready to live its second life on weeklong camping trips with the family.
5. That being said, the asking price may be a little on the rich side, but it never hurts to start high and be flexible. ...Just be ready to be flexible.
6. Never come to an enthusiast site looking for top dollar. We are notorious cheapskates who spend our evenings trolling CL and other sites eyeballing the cheapest deal. We know where the specialist junkyards are, and we are really tight-fisted to the point of being annoying. Really annoying.
 

Roving Beetle

Well-known member
Put a 2 inch lift, 245 aggresive AT tires on it and clean it up a bit - shampoo seats and detail engine bay etc.

Do this, Fix the clutch fork and you'll get $59-6500 fast.

Been there, done this and it will sell fast then. New tires and a clutch that will drive cross country and someone will snag it and drive it home.