At John Brown 4×4, we are able to build any vehicle required, to customer specifications.
Most of our rebuilds tend to be of standard spec, with some modern upgrades to improve day-to-day use. If you’re searching for a bespoke classic Land Rover®, John Brown 4×4 offers unrivalled restoration services.
In this Land Rover® restoration guide, we’ll talk you through our rebuild process, and the benefits of rebuilding a Land Rover® and show you some examples of our previous work.
When completing a Land Rover® restoration, we start with a new galvanised chassis, and rebuild with all new and refurbished parts. New springs, bolts, brake lines, brakes and shocks are reassembled onto the refurbished axles. The axles themselves are shot blasted, painted and fitted where necessary with new seals and swivels. Wheels are shot blasted, balanced and fitted with correct, period rubber.
The engine and gearbox are assessed, cleaned, detailed and reassembled with a new clutch. In some cases, the engine is stripped and rebuilt. If the gearbox has faults, these are rectified.
New ancillaries are often fitted including – radiator, coil, loom, distributor, carb, retaining only the parts which are in clean and good working order. These parts are fitted to the re-finished engine, which, when painted and detailed, looks superb.
All vehicles get a new exhaust, new seats, new hood and new sticks. No parts are fitted to the vehicle unless they’re either refurbished or replaced. This helps to give a “like new” appearance to the engine bays and underside as well as to the interior and exterior.
The interior and dash are fully detailed, and we ensure that all dials work as they should.
A professional paint finish inside and out completes the restoration. Once completed, each restoration is thoroughly road tested and “shaked down” to ensure reliable running from the start.
Customers embarking on a custom rebuild (rather than purchasing one of our already rebuilt vehicles) have the option to select which model, configuration and colour they prefer. Optional upgrades can also be added at this point i.e. overdrive, heater, towbar etc.
Waiting times vary. At John Brown 4×4, we provide the best Land Rover® restoration services. Contact us for more information and prices. We’re more than happy to help!
Land Rover® restoration can be quite costly, but the exact cost depends entirely on your specific requirements.
At John Brown 4×4, we detail every part of your Land Rover® which is why our quote may seem more expensive than anywhere else. We’re more than happy to talk you through the entire process in further detail if you’re wondering exactly what you receive for the price of a rebuild or restoration.
We have many happy customers who return to us. We make sure you’re fully satisfied with our work, going above and beyond your expectations. John himself inspects the final result to make sure it’s up to scratch.
Call us on 01845 525440 to speak with a member of our friendly team who will be more than happy to help you with all of your Land Rover® needs.
So, you may be wondering what are the benefits of restoring a classic Land Rover®? Well, they’re endless.
Not only do classic Land Rovers® increase in price anyway year on year, restoration services can increase that value by even more. Land Rovers® especially, are worth a significant amount of money when restored.
Another obvious benefit of restoring your classic Land Rover® is that you can have it looking good as new. If you’re wanting to take your restored classic Land Rover® to shows, it’ll certainly win – like Malcolm’s (one of our lovely customers) bespoke rebuild.
If you have a family heirloom that you want to last a very long time, having it restored to a high standard by a company such as John Brown 4×4, can increase its lifespan and keep it looking new, without removing its vintage feel.
Once restored, the classic Land Rover®, the ultimate adventure 4×4, will be a pleasure to drive, enhancing the driver’s experience.
You’ll be provided with a great sense of satisfaction. You will be proud to drive around in your newly restored Land Rover®. For more information on how we can restore your vehicle, give us a call on 01845 525440 to speak with a member of our team.
Here are a few examples of the previous work we’ve completed and ongoing projects we’re working on at the moment for our extremely happy and lovely customers.
A lot of time and effort goes into each and every one of our projects, and it’s safe to say the rewards are considerable.
1950 80”
These shots show our 1950 80″ that we bought as a barn find. OAS was in poor condition, with extensive chassis work being required.
As a result we decided to completely strip the vehicle, and repair the chassis “on the bench”. The chassis work was prepared to the highest of standards with flush “hidden” repairs throughout.
The whole vehicle was then restored and rebuilt back up, so all the parts are original, but restored. One of the hardest tasks was to source a fuel tank, as they are not readily available off the shelf. It has, as you can see in the photos, a new, handmade stainless steel tank. All cappings are re-galvanised prior to refitting.
Restoring old Land Rovers® is a skilled and specialised procedure – even more so with early Series 1 land rovers – perhaps this is why so many people trust us to restore their family heirlooms.
Nick’s Bespoke Truck
We have been busy rebuilding two of Nick’s trucks that he recently sent to us.
The first one has been done to match another he owns of a similar style. It started off life as a nice 24v 109, previously having had some attention. Despite this, it has been stripped back to its component parts, and re-assembled onto a galvanised chassis.
There’s been a lot of detailing required on this project, as Nick has a keen eye for detail (we like that), and wanted all of the various extras you get with a military machine to really “pop” and catch the eye – and we think they really do. The military tools on the back, as an example, have been carefully restored, and even the electrical plug socket covers have been re-galvanised.
It’s been a long but rewarding job, but we think the finished result is very pleasing indeed. It’s pictured below on a test (we wanted to wait for a dry day) having a final shakedown and clean. There are still a few little detailing jobs needed – we really do like them to look “new” when received by our customers. John himself personally inspects each finished vehicle to ensure they meet his “fussy” standards.
We now are progressing with another build for Nick, this time in Oslo Blue – a 109 truck cab the same as this, but it’s a lovely 6 cylinder, so sounds fantastic – that said, this military model sounds great too with its large 24 volt generator whining away!
Malcolm’s Bespoke Rebuild Wins Best in Show
To those of you who keep an eye on what we do at John Brown 4×4, you will know that alongside preparing and selling stock, we also rebuild from the ground up. This service is highly sought after, and we currently have a 12 month waiting list.
For Malcolm we completed a full Land Rover® series 3 restoration. Malcolm originally contacted us with a view to using this service for his vehicle. Malcolm has owned his series 3 for a long time, and wanted to have it nicely restored, so he could continue to enjoy it. He made enquiries to several outfits, gaining quotations for the work. When we submitted our quote he questioned why it was the most expensive he had received – we told him about the thorough nature of what we do, and once his mind was put at rest he made the difficult decision to trust us with his beloved truck.
Malcolm gave us a deadline as he wanted to show his vehicle, so we promptly collected it and, following a meeting where we got our heads together to make a detailed plan, the rebuild commenced.
Once a full strip down was completed, all parts were refurbished or replaced, and bolted back together onto a new galvanised chassis. Malcolm was particularly keen to maintain the originality, so care was taken to present it as it would have been back in the day. This involved painting the chassis black prior to rebuilding, so it looked authentic.
As usual, all of the cappings were re-galvanised, and many hours went into preparation of the body prior to an immaculate paint job. We knew that the resulting vehicle would be stunning, but obviously Malcolm was just working from what we had told him. We are so confident in our rebuilds that we told Malcolm that he would not need to come and see it – so we carried out the thorough “shake down” post build, polished and cleaned it, and put it on a lorry bound for Scotland.
When Malcolm saw his newly rebuilt wagon, we are led to believe he was a little taken back. We remember the conversation we had with him, where he said he had expected it to look nice, but hadn’t quite understood just how good it was going to look. As usual, we were delighted that he was impressed – and how couldn’t he be, with such a beautiful vehicle?
Anyway, we received a lovely email from Malcolm, saying that he was enjoying taking the old girl to shows – in fact he had just attended one in Scotland, and had won Best Land Rover® in show!
If you are considering using us for Land Rover® restoration in Scotland, to rebuild your cherished family heirloom then read on, as this is what he said. We wish Malcolm many happy years of ownership of his superb Series 3 land rover ®!
“Good Morning Thank you very much for sending out the newly painted spare wheel so quickly for my Land Rover®, it looked great and I fitted it in time for the show. I took HSL 381W, which was restored by you this year, to the Scottish Transport Extravaganza 2 day event at Glamis Castle at the weekend. There were lots of lovely Land Rovers® on display from all over the country, including the Earl of Strathmore’s private collection of early series land rovers®, Land Rover® clubs, and private entries from Concours restored Series 1s, to SIIa Carmichael Fire Engines, forward controls and totally original patina Series 1-3s. I was delighted when HSL was awarded “Best Land Rover® in Show ”! It drew lots of admiration all day with everyone commenting on how good the restoration was and how much detail had gone into it, and how the vehicle was as good as, if not better than new. The judges were extremely impressed and even spent a long time crawling in the mud underneath it to inspect the chassis and fittings! I am so glad we decided to paint the galvanised chassis black during the rebuild. It looks really good with the new stainless bolts and fittings. I also picked up the 1st prize for the Regularity Run so it was a very good weekend! I have attached some photos, unfortunately, it didn’t stop raining hard all weekend so the photos aren’t great. Thanks again for all your help.”
Once we have Nick’s vehicle completed, we have a Series 3 truck cab for Malcolm to rebuild, which was left to him. After that we have a Series 1 80″ for a customer on Teesside who wants a full rebuild – this has been promised to him for Christmas, so we need to press on!
There is also a superb, early, Series 1 80″ Lights Behind The Grill which is in the process of a thorough refurbishment too, so we currently have a 12-month waiting list for this sought after, and very specialist work.
If you have a family heirloom that you want to be restored to a high standard then give us a call. We may not be the cheapest quote you receive, but there again there’s an old saying that you get what you pay for! We’ll pay attention to detail and give you exactly what you want and more.
Are you looking for Land Rover® restoration specialists near you? At John Brown 4×4, we’ve completed many Land Rover® restorations including Land Rover® Series 1 restorations, Land Rover® series 2 restorations and Land Rover® series 3 restorations.
We’re the UK’s leading dealer of classic Land Rovers® and 4x4s. We provide a wide variety of Land Rovers® and vehicles, stocking the nation’s largest indoor collection of vintage Land Rovers®. We offer bespoke Land Rover® restorations and rebuilds custom built to suit all of your needs.
All of our Land Rovers are thoroughly road-tested, have a current MOT and are inspected in-house with a detailed custom inspection.
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