I was sitting, working on my laptop, and minding my own business when I received a message from my wife Luisa, “Have a look at this Discovery 1 on Bring A Trailer (BAT)”. I had a look, and it looked neat. The bids were low, with one day left in the auction, at about $2000. I lazily read the description: 1995 Land Rover Discovery 1 85,000 miles, 3.9 V8, automatic, good interior, a bit of rust, based in Canada (we live in Mexico for the moment). For some reason, I kept the tab open and would occasionally have a peek at the auction. It was a good-looking vehicle, and it began to grow on me. It appeared to have had one careful owner and was completely stock standard, a good sign as no one would likely have driven it to death, beer in hand, on some remote trail. We own a 23-year-old Land Rover Defender, and she is more than enough for me. Being so far and unseen, it did not make sense to buy the vehicle as an investment. Besides, in the last minutes of the auction, the bids would likely come in thick and heavy, and the Disco would be priced out of my comfortable range. Or so I thought.
Friday afternoon, the auction closed. I had a quick look; the vehicle had sold for a mere $3200. Someone had scored big time. I heard laughter outside my office but thought nothing of it as we live with our adult children, and we are generally a happy bunch; laughter is, thankfully, common in our home. Luisa and my son Keelan then entered the room, broad smiles on their faces. “Did you see that the Disco sold”? Yes. “Did you see who bought it?” No. I clicked on the tab. Winning Bid $3,205 by Luisa Bell. Are you serious!? It turned out that Keelan had also been watching the auction and, with his mother’s encouragement, decided to bid on the Discovery as the clock ticked down. They did not expect to win, but win they did.
This was back in late August 2024, and Keelan would not be able to get time off work until December, so a plan was hatched. The Discovery would be delivered to a storage area on Vancouver Island, BC, by the seller. Keelan and I would fly up mid-December to retrieve the vehicle, service it, and drive it back to our home in Central Mexico. The seller only had one previous sale on BAT but seemed like a solid dude, and we have no reason to suspect that we were being scammed; confirmed when the seller sent us a photo of the Discovery parked between two boats in a storage yard, a cover draped over it.
Luckily, having been a relatively prominent member of the global Land Rover community for many years, we have many green-blooded friends who were able to offer advice as to what we should expect from a vehicle of this age and what preventative maintenance we should perform before setting off on our 3500-mile journey from Canada to central Mexico. With Mama Bear taking the lead, we ordered parts to be delivered to our friends Evergreen Offroad in Seattle, along with a set of the excellent General Tire ATx, a tire that we had used in the Arctic in March and trusted not only as winter tire but also as a great overlanding all-rounder. The ATx is the perfect tire for this Land Rover as we would be driving from the depth of a North American winter to sunny Mexico and needed a tire that was up to all the challenges the climate and road surface could present along the way. (I am happy to report that, unsurprisingly, the ATx did an excellent job of getting us home safely, the most reliable part of that beautiful vehicle is the rubber it now runs on).
Keelan was very clear that he, being mature for his age, had no intentions of converting the vehicle into a mud-slinging trail maverick; his intention was to keep it as standard as possible and restore her to her former glory. As such, we resisted the urge to equip the vehicle with a roof rack, rooftop tent, drawer system, etc. Keelan intends to travel light and old school, and we respect that choice.
Blink and December arrived; we took a taxi to the nearest airport and flew into Vancouver (culture shock!), where a friend collected us and, after a night of catching up, we took the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, rented a car and drove to the storage area to finally retrieve the Discovery. We were nervous. Had Keelan bought a dud or a diamond? We were about to find out. With a very BC drizzle falling, Keelan removed the tarp from the Discovery, a huge smile creeping across his face, “She’s a beauty, dad”! We popped the hood and installed a new battery; our hearts sank when we noticed a double fist-sized hole rusted beneath the battery; was the Discovery a supermodel with a crumbling skeleton? The vehicle stood in a puddle, so a good inspection of the undercarriage would have been unpleasant, to say the least. Let’s just get her running; she has a long drive ahead. Keelan turned the key, and after a couple of turns, the V8 fired into life and settled into a purr. That is a promising sign indeed.
Luisa had booked an inspection of the Land Rover at Shayne’s At Your Door Auto, a mechanic conveniently located beside the storage area. Shayne turned out to be a most excellent dude, and he allowed us to use one of his lifts to service the old Landy. The more we inspected her, the better she looked, and I was amazed to find that the most urgent repairs were a broken fuel line and a malfunctioning rear brake light. That’s it! The rust was not nearly as bad as we thought it might be, aside from the battery box, as the previous owner had the undercarriage treated with rust prevention. The more we looked at the vehicle, the better it seemed, and it was soon apparent that the Discovery had a single, careful owner. The interior, in particular, was immaculate, and Keelan was overjoyed to find the original wheel spanner and roof load bars in their original package beneath the rear seat. The Discovery was a diamond! Shayne inspected the vehicle thoroughly and was also impressed; he suggested that the brakes might need attention, but other than that, she was good to go!
The next day, we drove the Discovery to the two ferries that would deliver us to our friends in Seattle, where we worked on a headlight Gremlin, some rust in the rear load area, and gave the paintwork a good polish. The paint was almost as good as the interior; this vehicle had spent most of its life in a warm, dry garage but also, clearly, a good while in a field under a tree as it had sap drips on the hood and roof and vines cut and protruding from parts of the frame and the radiator fans. From Seattle, we drove to Boise, and the Discovery decided to die the day after we arrived at our friend Billy’s house. Over the next three days, we worked meticulously through the vehicle, getting to know her well. By the time we left for Salt Lake City, all oils had been replaced, all fuses and relays checked, the Mass Air Flow and Ignition sensors changed, all ground cleaned, the fuel filter and fuel pump changed, and the distributor and spark plugs replaced. We noticed that a loom running from the coil to the injectors and battery had been rubbing against the fan belt and had been damaged. After Keelan repaired the damaged loom, we tried to start the Discovery, and she fired up the first time. She has been totally reliable ever since.
The drive from Idaho to our home in Mexico was fun and uneventful. We listened to cassette tapes bought at the famous Easy Street Record shop in Seattle and shared the driving daily, with Keelan taking on more of the driving responsibility the further south we drove. Every time I climbed behind the wheel, I was surprised by how beautifully the Discovery ran despite being five years older than her new owner. Joy.
As I write, the Discovery is parked outside our home, near her sister, Mafuta, the Defender 130. Our immediate plans are to give her a service and a fresh fill of nice, thick oil. New coil springs and a brake caliper repair kit have been ordered, and Keelan is planning to get stuck into the restoration as soon as his schedule allows. Now, we just need a name for the classy, tough, and beautiful old dame who made a young man's dreams come true.
Yes, it cost nearly as much as the purchase of the vehicle itself to drive it all the way down to Mexico but there are a few justifications that we offer ourselves. Firstly, the journey itself was incredible, an amazing opportunity for father and son to bond (I turned 50 on the road), and we loved every minute of the adventure. Secondly, the longer Keelan owns the vehicle, the more the cost is justified; he has no plans to sell the vehicle unless forced to by circumstances beyond his control. Lastly, this vehicle is perfect for Keelan as it offers a reliable daily run around but also has the capability to grow with his dreams; this is the kind of vehicle that would happily drive around the world, taking the difficult but scenic route.
