Ever since I've owned Benson my aim has to been to restore Benson as far as possible back to the original specification as he would have left the factory. Benson is mostly original, but with a lot of help and advice from my local body shop we've managed to get a few steps further towards an original factory specification.

Here's some photos after the recent work, above you can see the bonnet mirrors finally fitted. Most people ditch them as they're not particularly useful. I've found it's like driving with a couple of lollipops stuck to the end of the bonnet! However they look right, and that's what we're aiming for. I think they look great. The old mirrors were screwed into the doors and left horrible holes that needed filling. The door skins were also showing signs of aluminium corrosion along the bottom edge, so after some consultation we decided the best option was to replace the door skins and get them painted. At the same time any corrosion to the steel door frame was treated, and the inside of the doors were given a good coating of wax to protect them.

As the door skins were being replaced, we thought while we're at it, we might as well paint the door frames and the door handles, so they've had a fresh coat of satin black paint. This of course would have made the rear sliding window frames look terrible, so they also got a fresh lick of paint as well as new bottom runners, seals, and clips.

The final bit of work was on the rear tailgates and bumper. The lower tailgate and bumper had a couple of dings and scratches in them from somebody being careless with a bike or pushchair. The bumper has had a fresh coat of silver paint, while the lower tailgate has been straightened and resprayed. Also the tailgate now features a hinged number plate holder instead of the number plate being screwed directly to the lower tailgate. Raised lettering spelling "Range Rover" has also been added to the lower tailgate, again this is correct for a Range Rover of this age. The upper tailgate has also been replaced with a good second hand one, but not before it got a fresh coat of satin black paint inside and out. The upper tailgate seals and rubbers have been replaced and the tailgate has been waxed on the inside edges where they usually corrode.

I'd like to thank Rob and his team at the Redland Grove Bodyworks for all the advice and hard work they provided in helping me with this latest part of Project Benson.