Hey, theres a Rover under there

We went out to look at it and ... uhh... Yea it looked pretty complete from what I rememberd from reading up on them. The dash was replaced with a piece of aluminum, someone left off the drivers side upper door so the drivers side was dirty. (It had carpenter ants coming out of the seat.. really ) The steering wheel had been replaced with a weld on model. No rear seats, a LOT of parts, including the snapped rear axle shaft that problably caused the rear diff to grenade, in the bed.
The front tires were still inflated, the rears flat. And there was no rear differential. No problem. Buuuuut the rust in the under seat storage area was the worst on the entire vehicle, and it was just surface rust. The bulkhead is rust free, the frame isn't swiss cheese like a lot I saw on the internet, and the body panels are pretty straight. Coolness.

History:
The vehicle was sold new in Fort Worth, It was re-sold couple times in Fort Worth and then it had been a hunting vehicle out towards Weatherford, TX before the current owner. The neat part was that the owner had amassed several Rover-brand-new-in-the-box parts for the vehicle... but had never tried to put them on.

Hey! Is that a Scout?

This is my attempt to revitalize a 1973 Land Rover 88 that I found in a field about a year ago. (now year and a half- but who's counting?)
Why a Rover you ask? Wouldn't a Jeep be easier in the US? Why yes it would. Parts are plentiful and advice is just around the corner.
I've HAD a CJ7, a CJ5, a '47 Willys, a full size Cherokee, and a XJ Cherokee. Along with a 460CI bad *** '79 Bronco. They served their purposes, but I wanted something different this time. As one magazine wrote,' there are a lot of CJ me toos on the trail'

So the benefits were:
+ The Rover has full floating axles. Front and rear.
+ The Rover has shackle reversal. Stock from the factory.
+ The Rover has military wrapped leaf springs. Stock from the factory.
+ The Rover sat in a field since around 1994. It didn't rust cause its mostly aluminum.
+ The Rover was inbetween size of the CJs and the Full size vehicles.
+ It has seating for up to 7 people (although this would be a ball buster for the front middle passenger)
+ The Rover was -almost- complete - I thought..
+ The Rover was based off the Willys which I had rebuilt in 2003/2004. If you understand the Jeep, you'll understand most of the Rovers "logic"
+ And foremost- the price was right.