Wow...thanks for the quick feedback, everyone!
This is my first. I've been itching for a hands on project. I am (and grew up) generally pretty handy, but I've been sitting at a desk all day for 15 years. I haven't done any real automotive work, so this will be a learning experience for me and my 12 yo son (and the girls if they want to join in...but doesn't seem likely). A little more detail on the project - some of which I just learned from internet sleuthing and finding someone who knew the old owner...
I'll post some pics soon. At work right now, so I'll post one of these upcoming evenings.
It (he? she?) hasn't run since probably early 2000s. It sat on a lot in Florida for a long time.
Was recently purchased by a rover enthusiast in NY, who has a nice early 80s 110. He had plans to restore, but needed to sell to raise $$.
Frame and body are in great shape (as far as I can tell), but the bulkhead is rotten. Prior owner's and my own assessment is that it is unrepairable...so I came into this with my eyes open...no surprises or trickery from the seller. I've talked to some of the people in the US (Pangolin, Blue Ridge...but haven't talked to East Coast Rovers yet). I have a lead on one actually in northern NY, but it will require some repair. In the UK, it looks like Pegasus has a solid offering of newly stamped bulkheads. I kind of like that option, but will be expensive.
I mentioned the beach wagon idea above. I plan to move my family to Hawaii in the next few years...sick of sitting at a desk, and don't want to wait until I am retired to start living out our island dream. So my vision for this project is to keep it topless, water/sand proof it as much as I can (maybe Line-X the tub, marine audio system, etc), and it'll be our occasional casual driver to the beach or into town to show it off.
Updated profile...thanks for the tip
The heater, like the bulkhead, was pretty rotten. Kind of a moot point to keep it, because I ripped it out last night! Cut the hoses, cut the cable, pulled it completely out...it was full of rubbish. So, I suppose I will look into finding those plugs.
One of the US firms I talked to yesterday didn't hear good things about Ashtree. As mentioned above, Pegasus looks like a good option, so I'll try to track them down.
RE: a jig around the bulkhead...my boy and I have actually started removing all the body panels, so I may be in a position to completely remove the bulkhead soon, and have a good look at the frame/chassis.
Re: the prior owners...this is a key point. Right now, I need to figure out if anything was done to change it from pos to neg earth. The most recent owner hooked up a new battery the "normal" (i.e. modern) way - he only owned this for a few months, so I asked him about the polarity, and he realized he never even gave it a thought (I guess because his 110 is a 1980s model he didn't think about positive earth). The battery cable to ground is currently red, which points to a positive earth set up...so the prior owner may have had it flowing the wrong way.
Will check out ECR.
Moot point on the heater...already out. But thanks anyway!
Thanks again everyone...I'll post more updates and pics as I have time.
