Man who bought a $90K Range Rover for $2K after it was listed as a non-runner gets a shock when he tries to start engine
- Car enthusiast bought $90,000 Range Rover for a$2,000
- The seller was transparent that it was a non-runner
- It also had several other issues – but went on to surprise everyone
Published on Dec 14, 2024 at 12:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Dec 09, 2024 at 5:33 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This car enthusiast and YouTuber thought he’d bagged a bargain when he bought a $90,000 Range Rover for a mere $2,000 as a non-runner.
The car had been sitting idle for years.
Its seller had been completely transparent about its condition – stating that it was a non-runner and had a worrying knocking noise when fired up.
However, the Range Rover ended up surprising everyone.
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The non-runner Range Rover
Waldo of Waldo’s World is famously a fan of ‘building and fixing stuff’.
So when he saw a $90,000 Range Rover selling for $2,000 at auction he leapt at the chance to own it.
As you might expect at that low price, it was listed as a non-runner.
Sitting idle for an unspecified number of years, any attempt to fire it up resulted in a mysterious knocking noise.
In fact, the seller was very honest about its pitfalls.
In a similar story, YouTubers went to Vegas and spontaneously bought the ‘world’s cheapest G-Wagen’ for $3,000, which had been sitting still for months.
Plus, this man revealed how he bought the cheapest Rolls-Royce Phantom in the UK.
Restoring the bargain
Upon initial inspection, it turned out that the vehicle had old fuel.
First things first, this was drained and replaced for a fresh start.
The oil appeared dark but usable and, while the battery had low voltage, it required troubleshooting.
However, with all that said, the 5.0L Jaguar V8 engine surprised everyone by miraculously starting up with only minor ticking.
It was something Waldo had never expected – much like this abandoned tank that started for the first time in 30 years.
“It starts right up with no drama,” he said before coming round to listen to it from under the hood. “We can actually hear the engine running and it does sound pretty good.”
He describes the ticking sound as ‘really light’.
Taking a deeper look, a bore camera inspection revealed piston damage and cylinder wall scoring, which seemed to suggest potential timing chain issues.
He hopes a compression test will reveal more.
What’s more, the air suspension that had been deflated from years of inactivity was re-inflated successfully.
We love it when a plan comes together.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
