Firstly, buy a crap landrover that looks good on the outside. Preferably a colour like yellow - something eye distracting. It should run well, and be a decent price - nothing that'll break the bank. Smile like a kid at Christmas - like really bring out the 12 year old boy in yourself. She'll melt. No one can resist an inner child. Take her on a road trip - somewhere beautiful in the mountains that you just can't get to anywhere else. Make her see the potential.
Then, when you have her sold, tell her that all you need to do now is to replace the chassis. Because it's the wrong chassis, and it'll be infinitely better than the old one. Tell her it won't take long, and that really, it's just like giant lego.
Once you've done that, tell her that the paint job is a bit tacky and it's not really a Series landrover colour. Get her involved with the colour choices - colour's something she can do, as if she's contributing in some way. It'll give her a sense of ownership over it.
Then, bit by bit, show her the rust spots and the imperfections. For every part you want to replace, ensure you don't do it all at once. Say you want to replace the entire tub or tray. Poke holes in it in front of her. Look as if you're about to cry. Moan for three days. Then, you can show her a different tub you've previously found on Facebook Marketplace and say 'this will solve all my problems. It's only 150 bucks, and it would save me so much time - and I could spend it with you instead!'. Voila. New tub. You can then do this with the wings, the doors, the roof and every other panel if you like. Before long, you'll have a brand new landrover!
NB It's the wife writing, by the way - I'm not, as one of my downvoters thought, some 'prick' being manipulative of his wife. I'm being tongue in cheek. I assure you it's all very transparent and I totally approve the ground up rebuild.
Progress
The tub has been given a new floor - well, the floor from the old tub has been put on the 'new' one. It's been sanded and painted and is gradually being riveted. There's two kinds of rivets, and the other kind needs someone else to help him put them in, and that's not me. But I did help get the struts on underneath.
It's been primed and given a coat of paint. We're not really bothered about the dents as don't want a landrover filled with bog. Besides, if we're actually off roading in it it'll get scratched and dented anyway, and it adds character. He does plan to do a clear coat on the top, or maybe another coat of paint later on if he decides. Thank goodness he called his Landie mate over to help lift the tub - I have RSI in my forearm from typing steem posts so I can't do that kinda thing. Getting the tub on makes us feel like we're getting somewhere. And yes, the bulkhead was not the original one we had, which was smashed up.
I had to help him run a wire through the chassis which was tricky - we fed some fencing wire all along and then attached the cable and pulled the wire back through. I like problem solving and he was a little stumped on how we'd do it, so I did feel like I helped there. I'm not just good for choosing paint colours you know.
The last two days have been trying to fit the doors (the old ones, new ones are coming lol) so the tub is in the right place - it's been super hot and our shed isn't insulated, so this has been largely done in the semi shade of a tree. He's also working on his tan, so there's that. The dash has also been re-vinyled and positioned. New wings are coming soon from a Landrover guy in the next town, but we can't get them til the new year.
We're ordering a new alternator today as well. He's given it a complete engine rebuild and it has started, so that's good news. It's great to see it finally all come together! He's working pretty hard on it to get it mostly done - or even completely done - before we go overseas in March. It'll go on historic plates after it's roadworthy. We could have kept paying the rego but decided against it as it's better in my mind to do a complete restoration and have the pride of having it pass roadworthy muster, and not pay for something that's not on the road for nearly a year.