Defender - Heroic Land Rovers Old And New

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HEROIC LAND ROVERS OLD AND NEW

10

Superb prototype 90 County – the first ever lifestyle Land Rover!

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Pages of acces sori spares and tools es, for every kind of Defender

Work trucks, off-roaders, street machines • Expeditions and travel prep Original road tests • Workshop projects • PLUS New 90 and 110 driven

PLUS Comprehensive Defender buyers’ guide Cover.indd 1

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Contents 12

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6

10

12

18

28

32

62

110

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PRE - PRODUCTION 110

The story behind one of the very first Land Rovers from the era when what was to become the Defender seemed more like a Series 4

WORKS V8 TROPHY

The Camel Trophy inspired 90s and 110 that are about to emerge from Land Rover’s SVO factory – priced from £195,000

NEW 90 FIRST DRIVE

The new Defender we’ve all been waiting for is here at last… so is it as good as the old one?

NEW 110 TESTED

On and off-road action aboard the first of the new-generation models as the 110 takes on the forests of Eastnor

PRODUCTS

Whether you’re a restorer, off-roader or daily Defender driver, there’ll be plenty here to make your life better

MASAI DOUBLE-CAB

A new demo truck takes shape in the workshop of multi-talented Defender specialist Masai – and it tells a story of cool new accessories to come

DEFENDER BUYERS’ GUIDE

Whatever kind of 90, 110 or 127/130 you’re after, this 18-page guide will tell you the history behind the Defender and help you sort the wheat from the chaff when you go out looking for one to buy

TERRAFIRMA 110

Leading off-road specialist Terrafirma set out to build a demo truck that would show the world what it’s capable of – and the result was one of the coolest 110s you’ll ever see

62 NAS 90

The legendary fun truck Land Rover only sold in America – and a classic example that never made it out of Britain

66 WOLF

106

You might not be thinking military – but there’s a reason why the Army’s Landys are sought-after by the cognoscenti

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2 2-3 YEARBOOK Contents.indd 2

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Vehicles 70

RED-HOT 130

78

TOMB RAIDER

86

90 94

98

From the team that brings you…

Is that a Defender or a porcupine? Tony Vincent’s 90 has more antennae than the average radio station

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82

118

BRISTLING 90

A tired old fire engine is restored into a fitting tribute to the sort of full-size trucks you normally only see in the USA

Mike Cinderby has one of the rarest Defenders of all… and he’s turned it into his own form of four-wheeled Marmite…

STEAMING 6X6

No-one needs an excuse to turn their 110 into something cool. But needing to carry water for a traction engine might turning it into a 6x6 seem a bit more rational

Workshop 118 STRIP SHOW

Our Td5 90 came to us with lots of toys attached. Surly we’re not throwing them out of the pram…?

122 RED BOOSTER FITTING

Want to make your Defender more civilised? Here’s a step-by-step guide to fitting one of Red Booster’s renowned clutch servo kits

PRE-PRO COUNTY

Dunsfold’s very early 90 CSW can claim to have been there are the very start of the Defender’s transition into a bling toy

130 OFF-ROADER

90

The Defender built the way the Aussie Army wanted it – with a big footprint, big engine and huge character

Adventure 128 AFRICAN ODYSSEY

A 110, a 130 and a classic Series IIB set out on a long-distance mission to distribute mosquito nets to villages in the remotest parts of Africa

106 BLING MEETS MUD

Ade Bayley built the sort of 90 you expect to see looking slick on the street – then used it for no-mercy off-roading

134 ALPINE DISCOVERY

An ex-military 127 ambulance is turned into an overland camper van and, many miles and several adventures later, becomes a much loved part of the family

110 CLASSY V8 RESTO

Amid all the resto-mods, this 110 is still not quite standard – but in the subtlest of ways

138 BIRDS FLYING HIGH

How three years on the road aboard an old Tdi-engined 110 turned a couple with no Land Rover knowledge into seasoned overland travellers with a treasure trove of stories to tell

114 RESTIFIED 110

An Army 110 that looks like a street truck and has a PlayStation but still runs its 2.5 n/a diesel… best of both worlds, right?

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 2-3 YEARBOOK Contents.indd 3

Contributors Mike Trott, Rob Boseley, Paul Looe, Dan Fenn, Gary Noskill, Gemma Pask, Dannie de Groote, Andrew Kendall, Photographers Steve Taylor, Harry Hamm, Vic Peel, Graham Blakeley, Russell Stevens, Neill and Julie Bird Group Advertising Manager Ian Argent Tel: 01283 553242

Subscriptions Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242

Arkonik is known for the quality of its rebuilt Defenders. This Chevy-engined 110 is a calling card par excellence…

100 PERENTIE

Art Editor Samantha D’Souza

Advertising Production Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242

ULTIMATE 110

Another way of using a Chevy V8 – to turn a 110 into a playday weapon

Group Editor Alan Kidd

Advertising Manager Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 553244

Which is more fun, a 90 or 110? Turns out the bigger the truck, the bigger the smile

CHEVY 110 TOY

01283 553243 alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk Web: www.thelandy.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelandyuk

Publisher and Head of Marketing Sarah Moss Email: sarah.moss@assignment-media.co.uk To subscribe to The Landy, or renew your subscription, call 01283 553243 Current price for 12 issues: UK £28 The Landy is available from newsagents, priced at £2.99 a copy, and free through selected Britpart dealers Every effort is made to ensure the contents of this publication are accurate, however Assignment Media Ltd accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these When responding to any advert in this publication, you should make any appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable steps to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred as a result of responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC-BY-2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org Defender: Heroic Land Rovers Old and New is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby DE15 0YZ

© Assignment Media Ltd, 2021

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IN THE BEGINNING After 30 years of evolutionary changes to the original Land Rover, Solihull reached the 1980s needing to step away from the outdated technology of its Series trucks. The result was this ordinary-looking beige vehicle – which, in its own way, was every bit as revolutionary as the all-new Defender of today Words and Pictures: Mike Trott

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 26/02/2021 00:00

H

ere we go then. The year is 1980, Margaret Thatcher is still a novelty and Michael Jackson is still black.

The decade will be remembered for some very good things: the music, the hair (arguably) and… hmm, come back to me on that.

It wasn’t all rosy, though. Britain was gripped in the worst recession since before WWII, strike after strike was witnessed through our boxy TVs, England got completely annihilated time after time at cricket and we managed to get involved in yet another political war.

It was a decade of revolution – and not just in society at large. The same can be said for Land Rover, too. Having seen the Series I evolve from its earliest 80” interpretation to a third-generation vehicle now in 88” and 109” platforms, the machine that epitomised the Solihull outfit was in need of a whole new start, both mechanically and visually.

The vehicle you see here is the first preproduction machine to carry the 110 name – and as a result, was the first road-going Land Rover created to resemble the modern-day Defender.

This was Land Rover’s second wind, if you like, on its way to establishing the icon that was eventually christened in 1990.

Yes, Defenders and the 110 and 90 before it were still the replacement models for the Series III, in much the same way the P38 was

a replacement for the Range Rover Classic.

But Series Land Rovers and Defenders have often been categorised as separate – and this vehicle was the first ever to illustrate why.

It was the long wheelbase variant, the 110, that emerged from the assembly line at Lode Lane first, not the famed 90. The example we have here was put together in 1980, three years before the official launch of the Land Rover ‘One Ten’ on British roads.

The body colour is typical of a horrible paint scheme from decades gone by, in this case something reminiscent of a hearing aid or a Werther’s Original. However, the vehicle itself is more than just a fashion disaster.

This was one of about 25 pre-production 110s made in 1980 to help with the development of the Series’ successor. Many of its styling cues were adopted from the Stage 1 V8, with the flush front end and headlight surrounds providing an upgraded exterior, and setting the standard for what would come on the Defender in the following years. It was a clear attempt to segregate the new era of the Land Rover away from the Series vehicles, with rebadged models and the deserting of that famous grille. This was never going to be the Series IV. However, for initial production the 110 and 90 still had to make do with the 2.25-litre petrol engine carried over from the Series III. It was about as ideal and well-suited to the vehicle as I am to being Prime Minister. Fortunately, the new range of Landies only had to wait until the mid 1980s for the 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated engines to appear, although neither the 2.5 NA petrol or diesel have gone down in the history books as masterpieces. This pre-production 110 still has a 2.25 petrol motor, but it is not the one

Like waiting for a microwave to go ping, the 110 had to wait patiently for a new variety of engine. This is just an old 2.25 petrol – which did get used on a few very early production examples of what went on to be known as the Defender

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that was first installed by Land Rover.

Having been given permission to leave the engineering fleet back in November 1983, this 110 moved on to pastures new. But its engine was retained by Land Rover along with many of its fittings, such as the props, gearbox, wheels, doors, exhaust and radiator.

According to The Dunsfold Collection, with whom this vehicle resides, a scrap dealer mistakenly sold the chassis and the body of this early 110 when they were supposed to be whisked off to the great scrap heap in the sky.

Following a break of 25 years, whereby the 110’s remains had been kept in dry storage under lock and key with a Land Rover specialist, the Dunsfold Collection took ownership of this important artefact at the end of 2005.

While you can see the restoration was successful, and they managed to keep many of the Land Rover’s original details, Dunsfold is still looking for its original engine, which went by the numbering of 24FRF17. If any of you reading this happen to know the whereabouts of this particular engine, I’m sure I can think of a party who would be keen to take it off your hands.

This pre-pro 110 bears the chassis number F19. A fighter jet it is not, though, especially in terms of its technology. What wizardry it does call upon is the amazing coil spring. The Range Rover was the Green Oval’s only other recognised model in the 1980s and it utilised those more modern coils for its suspension. But for the Series’ successor to ditch leaf springs and move to coils - that was quite a leap.

Of course, today all Land Rovers have fully independent suspension and many of the models call upon air to achieve those sumptuous ride dynamics. But in 1983, the coil spring setup provided that improvement in ride quality, while the 110 and 90 also ended up adopting the Range Rover’s permanent four-wheel drive system too. In our sandy-shaded steed we have here, though, it adopted more from the Range Rover than anticipated. Let’s just say the steering wheel doesn’t say ‘110’ on it.

This pre-production Land Rover is now one of only five remaining survivors that initially wore the new wave of Land Rover updates. They were all made by hand. The inner wings and wheelarch eyebrows were shaped by the limbs of men, not robots. This model also has exportspec side windows, although many other body specifications were tested in those early months.

Inside you can see the ‘fresher’ interior with the five-speed manual gearbox and cabin closer to that of the Defender than the Series III. No heater in this example, though.

What makes me like this car so much, however, is that it defines a pre-production vehicle. It’s still a little rough around the edges, and if you go over it with a detailed eye – past that milky tea shell – you can see why it isn’t the polished article. But rather than be jealous of all those 110s that followed, it stands proud and wears its inaccuracies with pride. Just like any old Land Rover should do.

5 26/02/2021 00:00

LAND ROVER PLAYS THE CAMEL

Works V8 Trophy edition • Limited to 25 vehicles • Available in both 90 and 110 formats

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:33

CARD WITH £195,000 DEFENDER

Buyers to take part in unique off-road event at Eastnor Castle • Prices start at £195,000

L

and Rover has brought back the Defender Works V8 – with an adventure-prepped Trophy model evoking the halcyon days of the legendary Camel Trophy.

Painted in the same distinctive yellow and black colour scheme as the original Camel vehicles, only 25 of the specially modified 90s and 110s will be built. And their buyers will get more than just a Land Rover – because later this year, Covid permitting, customers will be invited to an exclusive three-day competitive off-road event in the grounds of Eastnor Castle.

This will be the first time the vehicles’ new owners actually see them and get behind the wheel.

They’ll start by stickering them up with their names and national flags, then they’ll receive one-to-one tuition from Land Rover’s own Experience instructors, allowing them to develop extreme off-roading skills before competing for a range of prizes – including a grand prize which will be announced later this year. As will the all-new Range Rover, coincidentally. Just saying….

Land Rover says the event will involve ‘a range of challenges inspired by famous global adventures and competitions spanning more than seven decades of Land Rover production.’ Given that it only lasts three days, driving to Singapore is unlikely to be among them, and you can’t imagine the company

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asking its millionaire clients to put their new toys through the sort of extreme pastings the Camel Trophy used to dish out, but Land Rover Classic Director Dan Pink says it will be ‘an exciting and memorable event, full of camaraderie and continuing the Land Rover Trophy legend for years to come.’

Pink says the idea for the vehicle, and indeed for the competition, came directly from the Land Rover Classic suggestion box. ‘Our customers want to create their own stories, battle scars and patina

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with their Works V8 Trophy vehicles from day one, fuelling campfire chats with like-minded enthusiasts.

Seeing the silhouette of these

vehicles, which you’ll instantly know as a Land Rover, traversing the hills at Eastnor will be a defining moment of the adventure.’

The silhouette in question will be that of a vehicle based on the original Works V8 model from 2018.

This means it has a version of the 5.0-litre V8 engine from the Range Rover Sport which in this tune puts out 405bhp and 380lbf.ft via an eight-speed ZF automatic box.

Heavy-duty diffs in both axles send the good stuff to a set of 235/85R16 mud-terrain tyres which are wrapped around classic steel rims – again, a nod to the Camel Trophy vehicles from the old days.

As you’d expect, further equipment includes uprated suspension, steering and brakes, the latter featuring four-pot calipers with 335mm and 300mm discs front and rear.

In addition, there’s a front winch, multi-point roll cage, roof rack,

underbody protection, A-bar, snorkel and LED headlamps and spotlights, as well as a Heritage front grille and unique Land Rover Trophy badging.

The Defenders can be expected to be exceptionally capable off-road, though the event itself is going to have to take account of their lavish interior specifications – which include Recaro sports seats with full black Windsor leather upholstery and contrasting yellow stitching. The same finish appears on the dash, floor console, cubby box and door cards, too, and as well as a bespoke analogue clock you get Land Rover’s own Classic Infotainment System with integrated satellite navigation and smartphone connectivity. So while in theory you could hose it out, you can’t imagine anybody

How the Camel Trophy helped build the Defender legend THE CLASSIC CAMEL TROPHY IMAGE is that of a convoy of Defender 110s fighting its way through hostile terrain in a far-off part of the world.

However of the 20 events that took place between 1980 and 2000, only three used 110s as the main teams’ vehicles.

Of the rest, eight used Discoverys – making this by far the most common vehicle to have appeared in the Trophy. Three used Range Rovers, two used 90s and one each used Series III 88s and Freelanders. Finally, the first ever Camel Trophy used Jeep CJ5s and the last used Ribtec boats. The 110

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made its name as a support vehicle, however, appearing on 15 occasions in this role.

Land Rover very much saw the Camel as a way of marketing its latest models. The 90 appeared when it was new to the market – as did the Range Rover, which was used in the second and third Trophies and was reintroduced in 1987 to promote the new TD engine. The Freelander, meanwhile, arrived in 1998 after the Discovery 200 and 300Tdi had shouldered the burden throughout their production run.

Throughout all this, the connection with a cigarette brand didn’t seem to matter. The world is a more sensitive place now than it was back then, and besides the organisers were quick to argue that the Trophy only promoted its own brand of adventure wear – not something that fooled many people, but a convenient get-out clause for anybody looking for one.

However you saw it, the Camel’s trademark ‘sand glow’ yellow painted vehicles became a familiar part of the global off-road picture – and, as they started to filter out into private hands, gained a cult following among Land Rover fans. Even while the Camel was still running, Trophy vehicles commanded huge premiums for their heritage, and that remains the case today – though with so many replicas having been made down the years, you need to be sure what you’re getting.

Leaving out the first and last runnings of the Trophy, the 18 events involving Land Rovers as the competition vehicles were won by teams from 12 different nations. These included the UK once, in 1989, when Bob and Joe Ives wrote themselves into Camel history with a win whose timing, just as the Discovery was about to be launched and the 90/110 was about to become the Defender, couldn’t have been any better from a marketing point of view.

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:33

who’s bought one actually wanting to. Thus you can’t really imagine it being too much of a mud bath.

There’s a number of reasons for that, but the biggest one (in every sense of the word) is 195,000. Put a pound sign in front of that and it’s the starting price for one of these rarest of Defenders. Just the starting point, mind – it gets you a 90, but a 110 costs more besides.

Not that that’s likely to stop anyone with the money to spend from putting their hand up for one of the 25 Trophy 90s and 110s on offer. Their rarity ensures that these will be investment vehicles – though if you do own one, the temptation to get out there and use it might well prove to be more than flesh and blood can stand…

During this time, the Trophy was held six times in South-East Asia (Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Sulawesi, Sabah and Kalimantan), six times in South and Central America (Brazil, the Amazon, Guyana, the Andes, Guatemala/Mexico and Tierra de Fuego), thrice in Africa (Zaire,

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Tanzania and Madagascar), once in Australia, once in Siberia and once in Mongolia. It’s not known how many of the vehicles are now in private hands around the UK and beyond, however some of the rarest are the Series III 88s and 109s used only in 1983, the Range Rover Turbo Ds from 1987 and the Defender 130s which shared support duties in 1990.

By far the most common ex-Camel vehicle, despite only having main billing on three occasions, is the 110.

Almost an ever-present in the support role from its launch to the Camel’s off-key swansong as a boat-based event in 2000, it’s now the definitive image of a Trophy veteran – something the new run of Works V8 specials intends to milk for all it’s worth.

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DRIVEN

LAND ROVER DEFENDER 90 It’s only on the road so far, but our first experience of the short-wheelbase Defender reveals a vehicle that’s close in character to the 110 but some way behind it in terms of practicality

FIRST DRIVE Defender 90 P300 SE

THE NEW DEFENDER 110 has been around for almost a year now.

But for many of us, the 90 is the one we were really waiting for.

The short-wheelbase Defender has always been the sexy one, after all. Traditionally, the 110 has been pretty much the only choice if you’ve got a family to consider or you ever need to carry loads worthy of the name – but for whatever combination you care about of cool looks, on-road agility and the ultimate in off-road skills, not to mention the capacity to emerge from a car park without having put years on your life, it’s got to the 90.

The difference between the two models is marginally more slight this time. The 90 has grown from 92.7” to 102”, while the 110 has

10 2pp Defender 90 First Drive.indd 10

been stretched from 110” to 119”.

So it used to be 17.3” but now it’s just 17”, as if that could have any bearing on anything in real life.

How much of it is down to the wheelbase is entirely open to question, but this time the 90 feels a lot closer to the 110 to drive. Hard as it is to believe, it’s actually longer than a first-generation Range Rover – it’s a very different beast to that, of course, but it’s even more of a different beast to the Defenders of the same era.

As with the 110, the 90 has a big, upright stance and an interior that manages to be simple and high-tech at the same time. We drove a P300 SE model, whose 2.0-litre petrol engine puts 300bhp and 295lbf.ft through the standard eight-speed

automatic gearbox, and the smoothness of its drivetrain is remarkable.

It handles similarly to the 110, too, with perhaps just a touch more directness in its cornering if you really push it. It resists body roll effectively and goes where you point the steering wheel without pulling any surprises on you. It doesn’t feel rapier-like in corners, but it’s responsive and predictable. If the shorter wheelbase makes it less fluid in corners, any difference that exists is absolutely marginal.

We found the 90’s ride to be quite jittery on poor roads, however. Fair play to Land Rover for setting out a route on its driving event which asked some searching questions of the vehicles’ suspension – we’re talking about the sort of B and

C-roads that even managed to upset a Range Rover in places, so the 90’s copybook is hardly blotted by any of this, however we did find it noticeable that instead of the thumps and crashes you’d expect of a traditional truck, it responded with jolts that were much more controlled but still quite evident.

This was in a model with 20” alloys as standard, and on the particular vehicle we drove these had been upgraded to 22”. You can’t image this helping, though once again its ride wasn’t harsh, just rather fussy and unsettled. Our instinct would be to go for the smallest rims and the tallest sidewalls on offer, but with all things being equal our feeling is that this is an area in which the 110 has the edge.

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The Defender’s cabin is a study in purpose, and its dashboard looks and feels like the operating panel for some sort of sophisticated item of machinery. Which, in a manner of speaking, is just what it is. That’s the same whether you’re in a 90 or a 110; it’s in the back seats that the two vehicles diverge. Whereas the 110 is spacious, in the 90 it’s a squeeze for one tall adult to sit behind another. Headroom is less than generous with a folding roof above you, too. Another issue is that when you’re asking electric motors to move the front seat for access to those behind it, you’ll spend fully half a minute standing there while it whirrs back and forth. On a rainy day, you might as well spend that time jumping in a river It’s certainly better inside, at least if you’re talking about the rear seats.

These are less spacious than in the 110, understandably enough, with limited legroom for adults. One six-footer can sit behind another, but neither will feel any great sense of freedom – and if, as was the case with ours, you also have a folding roof to contend with, headroom will only just be enough too.

Our 90 had electric seats, which we always think is a bit of an over-rated accessory at the best of times. Here, it’s a positive menace.

If you want to get someone in to the back seats, you have to push a button next to the headrest and it’ll glide forward automatically – we timed this at 11 seconds, and try standing out in the rain for that long if you want to see how it felt to us.

You then have to fold the seat-back forward yourself, whereupon the person getting in the back can finally climb aboard. Once they’re in, you have to hold down the button again while the seat whirrs back into place. More than half a minute has now elapsed.

For carrying cargo, too, the 90 falls short of the very high standard set by the 110. Its rear seat-backs drop down to sit at rather an unhelpful angle, while also leaving an even more unhelpful step in the loading area, so it’s not well suited to carrying large or bulky items that need to be slid into place. Of course, it will always be less spacious than the 110, but this is compounded by the larger vehicle’s far more elegant approach to accommodating people and cargo alike.

For these reasons, on the basis of this first experience of the 90 our instinct is to say that if carrying rear-seat passengers is something you can get away with never having to do, it’s best suited to be seen as a van. Of course, Land Rover has made it available in exactly this from from the word go – there are very sound tax reasons for choosing the Hard-Top commercial model, as well all know, but over and above that our first reaction to the vehicle is that this is simply its natural state.

The Hard-Top comes with a nice, fuss-free spec level, too, plus a price to match (£42,920, as opposed to £62,025 for the vehicle we drove).

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Its seats have the minimum of electric gadgetry, its steel wheels are 18” across and it’s as cheap as a Defender can be. We’d say that if you don’t need the second row, this is the one to have – and that if you do, you should buy a 110.

Our first drive of the 90 didn’t include any off-roading, so that’s a story for another day. We’re looking forward to seeing how it copes on coil springs rather than adjustable air bags, though, not to mention what it’s like with the most basic possible form of electronic assistance. It is, after all, a 90.

And the 90 is the sexy one, right?

To us, it’s less cut and dried than it

used to be with the old Defender, but there’s still something about the proportions of the short-wheelbase version that says it means business.

Notwithstanding the qualms we’ve express about it above, we think that if you choose the right model, it’ll be absolutely spot-on.

Once again, buying a Defender is all about whatever combination you want of cool looks, on-road agility and the ultimate in off-road skills.

It’s just that this time, there are two models that offer all this – and so long as you choose the right one, you don’t need to lose out on the virtues that have always made the 90 great.

11 25/02/2021 23:31

DRIVEN

LAND ROVER DEFENDER

New Defender doesn’t try to impersonate the old model – but manages to be a very credible successor to the Discovery 3 FIRST DRIVE Defender 110 D240 S

T

he new Defender is going to appeal to people who’ve had a Discovery 3 or 4, but who feel that the Discovery 5 is not for them. There.

That’s the answer to the question many people have been asking themselves ever since the first pictures of it came to light.

We know this because the man from Land Rover told us. Farmers won’t use them to plough their fields, he said. Those days are past.

Farmers have air-conditioned, GPScontrolled combine harvesters now.

What he also said, and this cuts right to the chase, is that Land Rover wasn’t selling enough of the old Defender. People loved it, and

nobody wanted to see it die, but it was getting sand kicked in its face by newer vehicles.

So here’s what we did. On the driving route at the UK launch, which wound its way from near Kenilworth, through the Cotswolds and on to Eastnor Castle, we counted the number of old-shape Defenders we saw. And we also counted the number of Hiluxes, Rangers, Navaras, D-Maxes, Amaroks and L200s we saw.

It wasn’t pretty, but it made the point conclusively. For each oldshape Defender, we saw a total of 21 pick-ups. And every single one of those vehicles had been bought by someone who, once upon a time,

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would have bought a 109 or 110 to do the same job.

So that’s why the new Defender is the way it is. It might not be the way a lot of us would have wanted, but the business case for keeping it the way it used to be wasn’t there.

The fact of the matter is that the old Defender wasn’t selling. And, thus far, the new one is.

So let’s cast aside any preconceived notions and simply take it as a new launch. Not as the truck that killed the old Defender; just as a new truck.

And yes, ‘truck’ is the word. It’s not one you’ve been able to apply to any new Land Rover products for a few years, and we all know how

much hardcore off-roaders hate it when you describe a namby-pamby SUV that way. But while it is an SUV, strictly speaking, the Defender does have a truck-like feel to it, albeit in a very modern way.

It’s based on Discovery underpinnings, but with much heavierduty construction. You don’t know that just by looking at it, but you certainly can see the sense of purpose in its design. It looks strong, robust, businesslike… it’s immediately recognisable as a modern Land Rover, but somehow harder-edged and more technical than the Discovery, Velar and all.

The 110 D240 S model we drove starts at £52,110, and as tested

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 01/03/2021 17:10

The Defender’s driving position is as imperious as ever, only now there’s enough leg and elbow room. Its design goes to great lengths to look as if they’ve not gone to great lengths on it, with exposed fixings and lots of simple geometric lines, but it manages to come across very convincingly and doesn’t appear contrived. That might be different if they hadn’t also got the basics right, but they certainly have – it feels well made and fit for purpose, and in terms of practicality it’s absolutely immense, with stowage opportunities everywhere you look

would cost £62,830. So, lower-mid range, then. But it manages to look like a decent bit of Landy for your money by today’s standards.

We can’t quite believe we’re saying that. But it’s what the Defender has become – and when you look at the way private punters are rebuilding old sheds into street machines to make a killing on them, you can see that. It’s not Land Rover’s doing: it’s the market’s.

So here we are, finally, aboard the Defender the market demanded.

And it feels good. Great, actually.

There’s the familiar high-command driving position, from which you get a dominant feeling towards all around you. The Defender is laden with safety features, but a mighty view of the road will always be the best of them.

There’s also a wonderfully purposeful dash design featuring a full-width horizontal storage tray whose size and grippy base make it genuinely practical. So too is a massive floor-level bin, part of a

huge centre console featuring a cubby box that’s big enough to take all the odds and ends you could ever want. The door pockets are enormous, too, and though the glovebox is on the small side the opportunities to stash stuff seem endless. In a vehicle that’s designed to be a tool of everyday life, that’s a great start.

Behind you, the rear seats have enough legroom for one six-foot adult to sit behind another. Their knees will just touch the back of the seat ahead, but not so much as to be uncomfortable, and with a similarly elevated perch from which to watch the world go by it’s a nice place to be.

Thus far, it’s like chalk and cheese with the old Defender. Those Discovery 3 and 4 owners will feel right at home, though.

And it gets better still. The rear seats drop 100% flat to create a loading bay with a full-length rigid floor that makes it superb for carrying big loads. The mechanism

isn’t as clever as the old Disco’s (you tilt the seat bases forward, remove the headrests and drop the seat backs into the space that’s been freed up, in a very 1990s kind of a way), but it creates a big, van-like cargo area that’s accessed through a good, wide tailgate.

Simple and very effective.

The Defender’s vibe is very much that of a vehicle whose practicality will never fail you. In this, it does remind us of the Discovery 3. It’s relentlessly usable and everyone who sits in it is well looked after. It has a technical feel to its fixtures and fittings, but this doesn’t come at the expense of luxury. And it’s packed with equipment – some of it indulgent, perhaps, but all of it

presented with a businesslike sense of purpose.

The seats on our S-spec model, for example, were trimmed in a mixture of fabric and leather. We preferred the former; the hide is tough rather than sumptuous, and the fabric is dense and hard-wearing, so it’s the kind of seat you’d expect in a premium off-roader rather than a premium SUV. There’s a blend of manual and electric adjustment, which is unusual but works well – especially as the electric bits include an excellent multi-directional lumber support to keep you comfortable.

It helps make the Defender an easy vehicle to settle in to. You have ample head, leg and elbow room,

Land Rover says the Defender will appeal to people who have owned a Discovery 3 or 4 but passed on the Discovery 5. The practicality in the boot area bears that out – it’s not as clever as the old Disco, but the rear seats fold 100% flat to give you a long, firm-based loading area whose enormous height and width is complemented by a huge tailgate aperture. Another fine example of an interior that gets the basics right

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DRIVEN We lost track of the number of times Land Rover’s instructors told us to use Hill Descent Control. As far as we’re concerned, a true off-road vehicle with a low-range transfer case shouldn’t need such a thing, so we left it switched off and put our trust in the standard auto gearbox instead – and were pleased to find that it worked every bit as well as the manual unit on the original Defender

the layout of the cabin is pleasing to look at and easy to use and there’s an overall feeling of quality that’s entirely in keeping with what we’ve come to expect of Land Rover. The seats are as comfortable as the view is panoramic, and it takes little work to get it set up the way you want and ready for the off.

The 1999cc D240e engine is pleasingly muted and delivers its power with impressive smoothness through the standard eight-speed auto box. It’s very, very refined, with loads of pull but almost no grabbing or shunting in the drivetrain, however you choose to drive it.

Similarly, the Defender rides smoothly on the road, gliding along on the motorway and drawing the sting of typical A and B-road peaks and troughs. It handles well, too, with positive and predictable steering and body control that’s taut but not overly so. The feeling of being sat on top of a tall, top-heavy mass that’s fighting against the forces trying to keep it from rolling is thankfully absent.

All-round independent suspension helps here. But that begs the big question: how is the Defender going to perform off-road? This is, after all, what Land Rover calls the most capable vehicle it has ever made.

The answer, at least as far as we’ve been able to figure one out from the limited off-road experience we’ve had so far, is that yes, it’s a worthy successor… to the Disco 3.

It’s the same sort of deal but the electronics are newer and there’s more of them. The auto-locking diffs come in faster, the Terrain Response system is cleverer, the gearbox is better at doing what you tell it, that sort of thing.

For example, the Defender is equipped with Hill Descent Control.

The instructors coaching us through our off-road test drive were forever telling us when to use it, but we wanted to know if being able to drive the old way is still relevant in this day and age so we left it alone and, with the auto box in manual mode, relied on that instead. And it worked, very successfully, even

on the steepest descents Eastnor had to offer.

We did engage Terrain Response at times, though the bone-dry ground only really warranted using the Mud and Ruts programme and even then, with enough traction to drive up the side of a house, there was precious little to tell us whether it was actually making any difference. Raising the air suspension seemed like a good idea, however, even if only to overcome the psychological hurdle of trying to put your trust in a

vehicle on 255/60R20 tyres with a mild all-terrain pattern.

There’s no denying that the Defender does have a great looking stance on such distressingly low profile rubber. It’s available on 18” steel rims at the bottom of the range, and the S model comes on 19s as standard, while the example tested was running its 20s as a £2625 option.

Back to the air suspension. This is standard on all 110 models and all but the most basic 90s. It does what air suspension does and

For the first time ever, a picture of a thing called a Defender being driven on the road is actually relevant. Coming to it from the Discovery 3 or 4 will feel like a natural progression – it’s very poised and remarkably refined at all speeds, with a blend of ride and handling that’s entirely right for a modern SUV

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 01/03/2021 17:10

Above: Land Rover says the Defender is the most capable off-roader it has ever built. It’s a very high-tech form of capability, with an electronic transfer case and no end of traction management including, on the vehicle tested, an auto-locking rear diff. Ground clearance is aided by air suspension on 110 models, too Right: Articulation is clearly limited by the all-independent suspension. It shows that there’s more than one way to skin a cat, however traction aids are fundamental to its entire design in a way they’re not on a beam-axled vehicle

typically of Land Rover, it does it well – even in off-road mode, with the springs stretched towards their maximum height, the vehicle still manages to ride comfortably and articulate over uneven ground.

That said, there was nothing on the launch route to push the suspension beyond its limits, and we’ve seen nothing to suggest the Defender can flex anything like as effectively as Land Rover’s old beam-axled products. That’s where electronic traction management comes in; the locking rear diff, without which we’d have some concerns for the vehicle in a number of common off-road scenarios, is part of a £1435 option pack.

Certainly, we’d be very interested to see what the Defender is like in coil-sprung form and with all its toys turned off. We’ll also be interested to see how long it is before the aftermarket starts offering lift kits for this vehicle, allowing it to be fitted with taller tyres. The driveshafts are able to cope with major short-term lifts on air-sprung models, at least up to a certain speed, so presumably they won’t spit out their dummy when it’s fetched into the air full-time.

That’s another story. For now, what we can say is that it was more than a match for the admittedly rather basic tests we were given the chance to set it at Eastnor – and that when things did get a little more technical, it remained unruffled. Low first works just as it should for seat-of-the-pants descents, HDC comes in seamlessly if you somehow contrive to put the auto box in too high a gear halfway

down, and the traction control intervenes much more quickly and subtly than it did on older Land Rover products, to the extent that most of the time you won’t even notice it. Again, this was on parched ground with a few ruts but no great unevenness to speak of, but there was never any sense of the vehicle being pushed even close to the edge of its comfort zone.

This is a very classy, very purposeful family wagon with adventure writ large in its DNA. In this way, it really does feel like a

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successor to the Discovery 3 – and an extremely good one.

Does it feel like a successor to the old Defender? No, not really.

But that hardly matters. Those customers had already gone, years before the old Defender breathed its last. What it does show is that in Land Rover’s world, the vehicle that used to bear its name had long since become an anachronism, an old-school truck made by a resolutely new-school manufacturer. It wasn’t what Land Rover wanted to make, and it sat

awkwardly in the showrooms like a square peg in a round hole.

This one is rock-on Land Rover.

It’s a practicality monster in a premium package, and it takes what the company already does and adds a new layer of strength and durability on top. In its own way, this really is Solihull going back to its roots. And you can call it a ‘truck’ without getting into trouble with traditionalists.

Don’t think about the new Defender in terms of what it’s not.

Think about it in terms of what it is.

And what it is is very good indeed.

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PRODUCTS

GEARMATE ADDS TO NORMAL PICK-UP PORTFOLIO WITH HEAVY-DUTY LAND ROVER STORAGE SYSTEM GEARMATE IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN for the storage systems it makes for one-tonne pick-ups. But the Warwickshire company also offers modular systems for first-generation Land Rover Defenders of all ages – allowing you to organise the kit you carry without losing the convenience of a usable floor in the back of your vehicle.

The floor in question has a rubber anti-slip surface, making it more usable than ever. And beneath it is a drawer system with a strong, robustly built carcase and adjustable dividers. The main drawer is lockable and pulls out with full extension, making it easy to get at what’s inside it, and next to it is an addition locking pod for further secure storage.

The drawer unit can be combined with further storage solutions such as a slide, racking or dog box to make it handier than ever.

And, no small matter, it’s easy to instal.

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‘Gearmate are unique on the market as we are the only manufacturers who offer a no drilling solution, allowing the system to be easily transferred between vehicles if required,’ says the company. ‘Our unique bracket systems have been designed using 3D scan data of the different manufacturers’ beds to locate the tie-down points. This means the system requires a straightforward, hassle-free installation with no risk of endangering the vehicle’s warranty.’

Not a problem in the case of a Defender, you’d think. But talking of warranties, the Gearmate unit comes with a 12-month no-quibble guarantee covering its structure as well as all its rails, bearings, handles and locks.

We’ve got one of the company’s systems on one of our vehicles, so we can say from experience that it’s very good kit indeed.

At £849 plus VAT, one of these units is definitely not as cheap as buying an old ammo box at a sortout and bolting it through your Defender’s floor.

But it’s not as pricey as some of the solutions you see on the market, either – and, as we say, it’s pukka stuff. Gearmate calls it ‘the perfect system to fit in your Land Rover,’ which they would, but given the opportunity we’re inclined to think you might agree. The company is at www.gearmate.co.uk.

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PRODUCTS

Goodridge adds new brake line kits for Land Rovers

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oodridge Performance has updated its range of Premium Performance braided brake line kits, which now includes the Land Rover Defender, Discovery, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport among its

list of applications. These join an extensive range of existing stainless steel braided brake line kits for Land Rover models dating as far back as 1970.

The kits are intended for use as a direct replacement for the

OEM brake lines, meaning they’re designed for vehicles on standard-height suspension. However Goodridge also has a range available for lifted vehicles – which, of course, are often the ones most in need of uprated brakes.

Either way, Goodridge says its performance brake lines offer improved efficiency from their PTFE-lined stainless steel braided hoses and increased corrosion resistance properties thanks to their stainless-steel fittings. The result is greater reliability and what the company calls ‘improved braking characteristics at a very reasonable price point.’ Goodridge says you can expect ‘a confidence-inspiring solidity to the brake pedal, coupled with improved and predictable braking feel.’

Most importantly, of course, the hoses are available in 13 different colours. So if you’re adding them as part of a look-at-me rebuild or modup job, you won’t be confounded by any ugly clashes.

You might think we’re joking there. But no, because the full list of vehicles included in this latest addition to the Goodridge range is: • Defender 90 (pre-1999) • Defender 110/130 (pre-1999)

• Defender 90/110/130 (1999-2004) • Defender 90/110/130 with ABS (1999-2004) • Defender 90/110/130 with ABS (2004-2016) • Defender 90/110/130 no ABS (2004-2016) Goodridge also has Premium Performance Brake Line Kits for various Discoverys and Range Rovers – in fact, the company has more than 160,000 kits in its range. So paying a visit to www.goodridge.com will almost certainly turn up some brake equipment worth stopping for.

Lucas Classic builds growing range of parts for early Defender LUCAS CLASSIC makes parts for Land Rovers. Classic ones, as the name suggests. But where does classic end and modern begin?

In the case of the part you see to the left, the answer seems to be that at the very least, modernity didn’t start happening until the late 1990s. That’s because you’re looking at a temperature sensor for the 300Tdi engine.

This unit is famous for its ability to go on and on for hundreds of thousands of miles, so it stands to reason that as classics go, there’s still an awful lot of them around. If you own a Defender from that sort of era, you probably don’t see it as a classic car – but there’s all the reason you need to add Lucas Classic to your list of go-to parts suppliers.

Further evidence for this comes from the company’s column switches, seen below, which operate the headlamp and dip/horn/indicator functions on pre-Td5 versions of the Defender 90, 110 and 130. The latest additions to an ever-growing range, meanwhile, also include high-tension leads for the 2.25 and 2.5 petrol which appeared in very early versions of the 90 and 110, and for vehicles with the 3.5-litre Rover V8 (that’s them on the right). All these Defenders are, ironically, now worthy of consideration as classics in the traditional sense.

The Lucas Classic range is sold via Britpart stockists, which means prices vary, but from what we’ve seen they tend to be very good value for money.

You can find out for yourself by searching them out – to find your local dealer, go to www.britpart.com.

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PRODUCTS

Osram expands range of LED drving lights and work lamps for 4x4 applications

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sram has announced a major expansion of its LEDriving portfolio – to promise ‘an even greater range of robust and stylish spotlights, reversing lights and light bars for the 4x4 market.’

Including driving lights and work lamps, the LEDriving range has been more than doubled in size by these new arrivals. They include a total of 18 new types of light; Osram says the range now offers customers ‘approximately thirty products for lighting the front and rear of their vehicles, not including product combinations.’

Designed specifically for off-road use but 100% road-legal, Osram’s range includes four different series: Multifunctional, Functional, Slim and Value. The first of these now contains no less than six different options, all of which can be used either as work lamps or driving lights.

Also new is a variety of light bars for the front of your vehicle. These

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include the FX1000-CB SM, a metre-wide fitment from the Functional series whose 8000-lumen output reaches to a range of up to 635 metres.

The SX300-CB, meanwhile, which joins Osram’s Slim series, has an array of 12 high-performance, long-life LEDs to give it a range of up to 210 metres. On top of this, the company has also added a number of products designed for rear lighting applications – including new auxiliary high-beam LEDs with a position light function.

Going back to the Multifunctional range, this also now includes the new LEDriving Cube MX85-SP – a work light whose four high-performance LEDs give it a range of up to 110 metres.

Osram has also introduced a range of accessories to help you fit and operate all its various lights.

These include new wireless harnesses to allow the installation of up to two light sources with one light

function, which includes an on/off switch that can be mounted in the vehicle, and a number plate bracket for easier mounting of certain driving lights on the front of a vehicle.

‘The products in the range vary in shape, size, light profile, light output and near and far field illumination,’ says Osram. ‘But they have one thing in common: they have all been tested under extreme conditions in the Osram test laboratory and as a result can withstand water, dust, hot and cold temperatures, as well as vibration and shock.

‘Thanks to their aluminium housing and unbreakable polycarbonate

lens, they are particularly light – but at the same time robust and resistant to whatever the road ahead has in store.’

There’s no shortage of options in the LED market, and inevitably some of them are cheap rubbish and fakes from the people’s republic of cheap rubbish and fakes. So it’s good to know you’re investing in pukka kit – and between Osram’s time-served lighting heritage and the fact that its LEDriving range was recognised in the 2020 German Innovation Awards, this is a brand you can trust. And with that, you can find it at www.osram.co.uk.

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 01/03/2021 17:15

PRODUCTS

4X4 OVERLANDER BRINGS AUTOHOME RANGE OF ROOF TENTS BACK TO UK

I TALIAN ROOF TENT SPECIALIST Autohome has a new importer in the UK. The company, whose tents are offered as OEM accessories by a variety of manufacturers including Mini and Land Rover, is now working with Halifax-based 4x4 Overlander – which offers its products both for sale and for hire.

4x4 Overlander is already a stockist for Maggiolina, so the company knows its tents. It says it receives regular shipments from its suppliers, so any out-of-stock items can be sourced promptly.

Adding Autohome to its repertoire was a no-brainer as this is a roof tent brand whose heritage goes all the way back to 1958. In that time, it has spread into new markets such as the United States, Australia, Japan and South Africa and, it says, become ‘the most famous Italian brand in the world of design and production of roof tents.’

Today, Autohome offers no less than seven different models of tent, as well; as well as 60 kinds of equipment and a wide range of accessories, allowing you ‘to turn adventure and vacation in freedom into a real lifestyle.’ The company is proud of the fact that its entire range continues to be made 100% in Italy, with no commercial business

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or production based outside the country. To translate, it hasn’t been lured into saving money by moving its production eastwards to that well known land of factories making rubbish knock-offs.

‘We have always been number one,’ says Autohome. ‘Not by chance. Because of our combination of imagination and “Made in Italy” quality. The result is our roof tent – the first, the original and still the biggest seller.

‘Each Autohome tent is the product of our experience and the recommendations of adventure travellers. These two skills together have created the largest range of tents available. A catalogue that is constantly kept up to date to provide you with a tent that is perfect for your needs.’

The company promises that its tents are made using the best materials, with attention to every detail and under a strict quality control re-

gime. To prove the point, they come with a five-year guarantee to back up their quality certification.

The aforementioned land of factories making rubbish ensures there are cheaper roof tents in the world.

But if you ask absolutely anyone who knows about expedition prep, they’ll tell you that this is a classic case of spend it once, spend it right.

And they don’t come much more right than this. To find out more, pay a visit to www.4x4overlander.com.

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PRODUCTS

Lazer Lamps introduces fitting kits for new Defender

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azer Lamps has wasted no time in getting a fitting kit on to the market for the new Land Rover Defender.

Suitable for use with the company’s own Triple-R 750 and 1250 High Performance LED driving lights, its new Grille Integration Kit promises

an OE-quality standard of installation on the vehicle.

The Defender kit, which is designed for MY20 vehicles onwards, comes complete with either a pair of Triple-R 750s or a single Triple-R 1250. That’s in addition to the necessary wiring and four brackets

which Lazer says have been ’precision-engineered to engage perfectly with the standard lower grille on the vehicle, with added strength and security provided by the supplied self-tapping, anti-theft screws.’

The brackets are made from ASA material, chosen for its strength and UV stability. Lazer promises that they are fully weather and chemical resistant and will remain that way well into the future.

The kits also come with a set of cutting guides ‘designed to facilitate the installation and ensure a perfect fit every time.’

There’ll just be the one time, you’d

hope, but it’s certainly good to know that they’ve got your back when it comes to not disfiguring the front of your very expensive new Defender with an ugly bodge job.

Appearance wise, the kits are designed to blend in with the vehicle’s styling, and as you’d expect they’re fully road-legal. They’re made in Britain, too, which is more than you can say about the Defender itself, and they come with a five-year warranty. You’ll find them at www. lazerlamps.com.

Mud-UK introduces in-dash USB socket for Td5 and TDCi engined Defender MUD-UK HAS LAUNCHED a new product designed to bring any Td5 or TDCi-engined Defender, or early Discovery or Freelander, into the modern world in a small but important way. The Mud Land Rover USB socket is exactly what it sounds like – a retro-fit outlet allowing you to plug in electronic items like phones, tablets, sat-navs and so on without having to chuck an adapter into the fag lighter.

The unit comes complete with a mini-harness to allow a simple installation using just two wires. This is equipped with a pre-wired in-line fuse, meaning the job requires nothing more than an ignition feed and earth connection. In addition, the socket has been designed with a multiplug connecting directly into the back of it, allowing easy removal.

‘We’ve styled the Mud Land Rover USB socket to complement the original Land Rover switch design and chosen a green background illumination to ensure your Defender dashboard maintains a factory appearance,’ says Mud-UK. The socket itself is black in colour, and you also have the option of wiring it so that it lights up permanently, not at all or along with the rest of the dashboard.

The socket is Quick Charge 3.0 rated and comes with full-colour fitting instructions. Designed to fit any blank space within the Defender Td5 or TDCi dashboard, it will also fit the apertures found in the Freelander 1, Discovery 2 and soft-dash versions of the Classic Range Rover.

Best of all, as is so often the case with Mud-UK’s products, the USB socket is one of those things that makes a real day-to-day difference without costing the sort of money you can so often find yourself blowing on things that only get used once in a blue moon. At £24 plus VAT, it’s a tidy bit of kit for the price of a round of drinks. To order one up, head for www.mudstuff.co.uk.

IF YOU’VE GOT a Land Rover Defender Td5 built between 2002 and 2007 and you’re looking to keep it up to date (insert joke of choice here), a simple but effective way of doing so would be to modernise its stereo. To help you do this, Mud-UK has launched a new Td5 Double DIN Console – allowing you to enjoy the increased features and functionality of the larger screens, including touch-screen units, found on Double DIN Head units.

The new unit is a direct replacement for the factory-fit radio facia. It has a one-piece design, making it stronger than the two-piece original, and its injection moulded manufacture means it should fit perfectly – as well as having a standard OE appearance.

Fitting the console should be a simple DIY job, too, as it’s installed using all the same fixings. Thus it requires no cutting, drilling or modifications to be made to the Defender’s dashboard. Mud’s Td5 Double DIN Console is available in a Matt Black or Brunel Silver, priced at £149 and £199 respectively. To find out more, head for www.mudstuff.co.uk.

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PRODUCTS

Mounting kit from Britpart allows forward facing rear seats to be installed in to pre-2007 Defenders

Long-range auxiliary fuel tank adds 80 litres of extra capacity for overland Defenders

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IF YOU HAVE PLANS involving a Land Rover Defender and overland travel, increasing the vehicle’s on-board fuel capacity will almost certainly be near the top of your to-do list. Which means that this LongRanger auxiliary tank, recently added to the inventory supplied by Britpart, might be near the top of your to-buy list.

Suitable for all Hard-Top and Station Wagon models, these tanks are individually designed to fit each vehicle. They live under the driver’s seat and mount on to the right-hand sill, outside of the chassis rail, giving you an additional 80 litres of diesel capacity.

Made from 2mm (14 gauge) aluminised steel, the tanks are CAD/ CAM-manufactured and incorporate internal baffles, an anti-surge dam and an in-built expansion chamber. Fuel transfer is by a six-port valve, which comes supplied in the kit, and all brackets are fully sealed and feature predrilled mounting holes to make the job as easy as possible. Naturally, the tank comes with comprehensive instructions – as well as a full kit of all the hardware you’ll need to instal it.

This is top-notch kit designed for similarly top-botch builds – which of course means it’s not cheap. Shopping around, we’ve seen them for a bit less than £1700 – but only a bit. Reassuringly expensive, if you’re a believer in doing it right – in which case you won’t be at all put off from starting your search at www.britpart.com.

ne of the most tiresome things about owning a pre-Puma Defender is that if you want to carry passengers in the back, the inward-facing seats mean you’re basically asking them to risk lifechanging injuries every time they travel with you. Things get even more frightening if you want to carry children in your vehicle – but while many people would like a Defender with proper seats in it, the problem is that there are also many people who’d sooner chew their own arm off than drive a Puma.

If you’ve researched the options, you may well have found that some of them are even more expensive

than having the aforementioned arm sewn back on. The good news, then, is that Britpart’s enormous network of dealers and specialists now offers a solution in the form of its 2nd Row Conversion Kit. This includes a midcrossmember, two seat supports, two chassis bracket fixing kits and two panels for the front part of the rear wheelarch. You don’t get the actual seats, but what you do get is ‘an ideal kit to install 2007 Puma seats into your pre-2007 Defender.’

Typically priced at just under £500 including VAT, it’s available from the usual range of Britpart dealers – you’ll find them by visiting www. britpart.com.

Military-style roll hoop for early Tdi 90s SOFT-TOP LAND ROVERS are cool. Well, at times they’re freezing, but even when you’re shivering and/or wet through, they’re still cool.

What’s less cool is what happens when you go over in one without a roll bar. You do hear stories of people being saved by their windscreen surround, but if you rely on that to keep you safe you pretty much deserve what you’ve got coming.

There are various designs of roll protection available for Defenders, of course. Some are more compatible than others with a fabric roof, however – but this unit from Safety Devices is intended specifically for use on soft-top models.

Not just any old soft-top model, either. Recently introduced to the Britpart range, it’s a military-style four-point bolt-in hoop for 200Tdi-engined Defender 90s from 1990-1993.

Protection comes from a 2” OD main hoop which mounts through the body cappings and into the corner brackets. It’s supported by twin backstays which mount to the waist rail cappings, giving it the strength to keep your vehicle up, and your life intact, in most everyday rollovers.

The hoop fits in with a standard set of hood sticks, supporting them but not interfering with the hood itself as it goes into place. Thus your 90 will continue to look as original as always, with a tidily fitted soft-top that doesn’t stick up awkwardly in the middle.

‘We strongly recommend fitting the roll cage padding kit when installing this hoop,’ says Britpart, and if you’ve ever whacked your head on one you’ll know why. Prices typically hover around the £450 mark (make that £550 with the VAT) though as always, a bit of a shop-around will be well worth it. You’ll find the product, and the dealers who sell it, by visiting www.britpart.com.

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 01/03/2021 17:15

ine Parts ox Parts bush Kits • Sp Exhausts • Ex Suspension Lift STEVE PARKERS LTD STEVE PARKERS LTD ors & Starters • Winching Equip PRODUCTS

ALL-TERRAIN PERFORMANCE, COMFORT AND CONTROL FROM OLD MAN EMU’S DEFENDER HANDLING KITS

OLD MAN EMU’S HANDLING KITS for the Defender, which are now available through Britpart dealers, promise ‘superior performance across all terrain.’ Designed and tested in Australia, these come as a spring and shock combo for improved control and greater comfort and high and low speeds.

The fully integrated kits are available for the 90 and 110, in each case in medium-duty and heavy-duty form. It’s not the cheapest solution you’ll find – once the VAT man has had his share, you won’t get that much change out of £200 per corner – but spend it once, spend it right. You’ll find a stockist at www. britpart.com.

PARTS & MAIL ORDER 01706 1) PARTS854222 & MAIL (OPT ORDER 01706 854222 (OPT 1)

INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST FOR LAND ROVERS® INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST FOR LAND ROVERS® AND RANGE ROVERS® AND RANGE ROVERS® DISCOVERY 300 TDI CONVERSION INTO DISCOVERY 300 TDI 90/110” CONVERSION INTO 90/110”

DISCOVERY 200 TDI CONVERSION INTO SERIES & 90/110 DISCOVERY 200 TDI CONVERSION INTO SERIES & 90/110

NEW 300 TDI CONVERSION NEW 300 TDI BOLT-ON ENGINE CONVERSION BRACKETS FOR BOLT-ON ENGINE 90/110/SERIES BRACKETS MODELSFOR 90/110/SERIES WE MANUFACTURE CONVERSION EXHAUSTS SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS MODELS

nd 110. Engine c For more informa Leaking Discovery 2Leaking sunroof?Discovery Replace the broken plastic 2 sunroof? Replace spouts with our kit, the broken plastic which consists of spouts with our kit, New spout, Genuine Non Genuine WE MANUFACTURE CONVERSION EXHAUSTS SEE& WEBSITE FOR DETAILSParts & whichmetal consists of rivets, sunroof seal, Accessories New metal spout, Genuine & Non Genuine Parts & & instructions Service Kits • Batteries • Engine Parts sealant rivets, sunroof seal, Accessories • Clutch Kits & Parts • Gearbox Parts sealant & instructions Service Kits •Bushes Batteries Engine Parts • Suspension Inc• Polybush Kits • Springs, Brakes

• KitsParts & Parts • Gearbox Parts &Clutch Electrical • Mild Steel Exhausts • Exhaust Fitting • Suspension Bushes Inc Polybush Kits • Lift Springs, Kits • Performance Brakes • Suspension Kits •Brakes Side & Electrical Parts • Mild Steel Exhausts • Exhaust Fitting Steps & Dog Guard • Alternators & Starters • Specialist Kits • Performance Brakes • Suspension Lift Kits • Side 4x4 Tyres •Workshop Manuals • Winching Equipment Steps & Dog Guard • Alternators & Starters • Specialist Full workshop facilities for Servicing and Repairing Defenders 90 and 110. Engine conversions and 4x4 Tyres •Workshop Manuals • Winching Equipment chassis replacements carried out as well as general repair work. For more information please ring Full workshop facilities for Servicing and Repairing Defenders 90 and 110. Engine conversions and Kevin Direct on 01706 854223 or Email service@steveparkers.com 01706please 854222 chassis replacements carried out as well as general repair work. For more information ring LLOYD STREET, ONLINE ORDERING Kevin Direct on 01706 854223 or Email service@steveparkers.com 01706 854222

ONLINE ORDERING www.steveparkers.com www.steveparkers.com

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MASAI 4X4: A WIDE RANGE OF EXCLUSIVE ENHANCEMENTS FOR YOUR DEFENDER – AND ALWAYS ORIGINAL QUALITY! MASAI 4X4 OFFERS AN EXCLUSIVE RANGE of high-quality vehicle enhancement accessories and parts – mainly for the Land Rover Defender 90, 110 and 130.

Roof racks, spare wheel carriers, panoramic and traditional windows, seat covers, side steps, rear steps, lamp guards, sporting boxes, tree

sliders and winch bumpers are just some of the many top-class products available through the company.

In addition to its accessory range, Masai also offers full Defender restoration and fitting services at its well equipped premises in Lichfield, Staffordshire. You can even wait in

a visitor room with high-speed wi-fi, television and unlimited tea and coffee while its skilled technicians work on your vehicle.

In the words of Masai founder and owner Ferzan Kuman: ‘From a family tradition going back to 1953, you can be assured our designs, materials and engineering are of

the highest standards – built to last and Always Original Quality.’

Masai ships its products to customers all round the world.

A selection of those products are featured on these pages – and you can browse the company’s whole range by paying a visit to its website at www.masai4x4.com.

The original and best panoramic windows – from the company that created them MASAI IS THE ORIGINAL creator of its flagship Panoramic Tinted Windows for the Land Rover Defender 90 and 110.

Unique edge-to-edge tinted, toughened glass delivers a beautiful, minimalist appeal. The design delivers looks and performance all in one – modern, sleek and rugged.

Automotive glass, particularly bonded windows, are among Masai’s specialties. As well as Land Rover windows, the company produces a range of windows and side-opening camper style windows.

WARRIOR BUMPER HAS BOTH STYLE AND SUBSTANCE THE WARRIOR WINCH BUMPER is Masai’s secret weapon for your 90 or 110. Suitable for use with most winches, it has a zinc-plated steel base and comes in a three-piece kit, making it easy to assemble prior to fitting.

The Warrior bumper is available with a stylish black powder finish to its centre section, and it can also be painted to match your vehicle. Masai offers it with an optional steering guard, too – and if you choose the standard zinc-coated finish, you can get both parts painted to match your truck.

Seldom can a hardcore off-road accessory ever have looked this smart!

MASAI OFFERS VARIOUS ROOF RACK DESIGNS including Tubular, Flat and Luggage. The racks are designed to be the perfect fit on to your Defender, at an affordable price. Made from zinc-plated steel and black powder-coated, they also offer the option of adding mountable LED Lights and a Rear Access Ladder to give a full effect.

MASAI’S ROOF RACK COVERS are the perfect way to protect and secure your luggage against tough weather conditions. Made from heavy-duty 600-denier polyester, they are extremely hard-wearing, rip-proof and waterrepellent, and they come fitted with straps for securing them to the rack below.

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Masai 4x4’s Interior Trim Shop – a new level of cabin quality Masai 4x4’s interior Trim Shop brings a new level of quality to your Land Rover’s cabin. Defender owners are now able to restore their interior to pristine better-than-new condition with Masai’s signature high-quality head lining and window interior trim products.

AN EYE-CATCHING WAY TO KEEP YOUR DEFENDER’S CABIN TIDY MASAI’S SPORTING BOX AND REAR STORAGE DRAWERS are a fantastic buy if you need secure storage in your Defender and want to keep its interior looking tidy. The Sporting Box itself fits inside the rear internal floor space between the vehicle’s wheelarches and enables you to neatly store, protect and lock away items which you regularly or permanently keep stored in your vehicle.

Available in matte black, the unit comes with soft carpeting on the top and soft-close, smooth-running Accuride drawer runners capable of holding up to 120kg. These can be perfect for shooting season, vets or other medical professionals as well as a wide range of other uses.

HEAD LININGS Masai has the answer to saggy head linings. To avoid water absorption, the company’s roof lining is made from special Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP).

This also gives a much greater degree of rigidity than the Land Rover original, which is infamously prone to sagging.

The roof lining is hand-crafted from high-quality Plush Suede-like material. it’s sold as a complete kit with fittings and comes in a choice of no less than ten colours from Alston Black through to Luna White.

INTERNAL WINDOW TRIMS Masai developed its internal window trim range to complement its head linings, providing Defender owners with access to the same high-quality upgrades. Made from high-quality Premium Suedette and available in the same choice of nine colours as the head-linings, Masai’s internal window trim range fits all Defender models from 1985 to 2017.

SEAT COVERS

MASAI’S TUBULAR WINCH BUMPER is designed to fit the Defender 90 and 110, with or without air-con, and to accommodate most of the winches on the market. It is manufactured from steel, zinc-plated for long-lasting rust protection then powder coated in black. It will give your Defender a tough, rugged look.

Masai’s craftsmen have created a range of seat covers to enable Defender owners to replace or upgrade worn out, torn and scruffy originals. The range includes specific versions for the 110 and 90, covering 200 Tdi, 300 Tdi , TD5 and Puma TDCi models.

Made from cruelty-free soft vinyl leatherette, these seat covers come complete with rear map pockets and, for additional comfort, a layer of foam covering. They’re available to be bought individually, as pairs or as a complete set.

Additional options include covers for inward-facing seats and 60/40 split seats, as well as Deluxe and ‘Flute’ styles with piping.

The covers come in a range of attractive colours – to view the choices on offer, simply pay a visit to www.masai4x4.com.

FITTING SERVICE Masai’s products appeal to Defender owners looking to breathe new life into their vehicles. If that’s you, don’t forget that the company also offers a comprehensive fitting and restoration service at its modern premises just north of Birmingham in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

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THE INSIDE Masai 4x4 is well known for its Panoramic Windows and interior trim kits. The Lichfield company is currently building this Td5-era 110 Double-Cab to help it develop more products than ever – while also showing the world exactly what it can do Words and pictures: Dan Fenn

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ack in the day, there were Defenders and there were double-cabs. The Defenders, of course, we know about; the double-cabs were Japanese things which started coming to Britain via grey importers and attracted a lot of interest, then started appearing as official UK vehicles and caught on in a huge way.

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Eventually, someone in an office at Land Rover must have figured out that the double-cabs weren’t going to go away. And so the company made one of its own. The 110 DC wasn’t enough to stop the trickle that turned into a flood of sales for Toyota, Mitsubishi and all, but it did yield one of the most evocative body shapes to feature in the latter-day Defender line-up.

From the word go, you could get the 110 Double-Cab in range-topping XS spec with things like alloys, ABS, air-con and half-leather seats. And jolly nice it was too. But not as nice as it could be – as this 2002 Td5 illustrates.

It’s been built by Masai 4x4 as a demonstrator and development vehicle, mixing a variety of equipment the company is already famous for

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with other items it intends to be famous for in the near future.

Masai is possibly most widely known for the Panoramic Windows it makes for the Defender 90 and 110. Obviously, a Double-Cab isn’t what you’re going to choose if you want a set of these – however it’s as well set as any Defender for interior trim upgrades. And in this respect, the

Masai team has gone to town on the example you’re looking at.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the seats have been retrimmed in a classy looking cream leatherette with black piping. It looks like it belongs in a Range Rover but it’s the sort of thing that’s becoming more common on Defenders and Masai’s Trim Shop offers a wide range of options

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for owners looking to reinvent their trucks in. The company’s covers are made from cruelty-free soft vinyl leatherette and come complete with map pockets – they’re even foam backed for extra comfort, and the results are there to see – and to feel, because they’re lovely to sit in.

Naturally, there’s a range of colours available – and the same goes for Masai’s headlinings. These

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The 110’s cabin has been completely retrimmed using cream leather seat covers with black piping along with matching carpets and headlining. These are all Masai’s own products; the seats are a cruelty-free leatherette and the headlining is made from GRP and finished in plush suede

Above: The opportunities for adding alloy trim in the Defender’s cabin are almost endless. Column switches, heating levers, door handles and dash-top vents have all had the treatment, and there’s plenty more besides Below: Masai’s Double-DIN conversion allows the Defender to run modern infotainment systems. The company has also fitted its heating kit for the rear seats, and this 110 carries a prototype electric window set-up making the rears controllable from the front – something it intends to bring to market soon

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are made from GRP for rigidity, and to prevent them from soaking up water over time, and lined in plush suede, and you can get them in a choice of ten different hues – so no excuses if they don’t match the seats!

The 110 has been fully carpeted, too, again to match the seats and headlining. The overall effect is classy without being tarty the way some aftermarket treatments can be, with an element of confident understatement to its appearance that perfectly illustrates what Masai’s accessories are about.

It’s all set off by a blinding array of aluminium trim items that’s so diverse it’s actually quite hard to keep track of. Looking around the cabin, we spotted a polished alloy finish on the gearstick and transfer lever knobs, air vents and dash-top vent slots, door handles, seat adjusters, fuse box screws, fan controls, headlamp switch and column stalk ends. Masai does more besides, but the door cards for this vehicle were still a work in progress when we visited so items like the lock buttons were still original.

Something else you’ll enjoy feasting your eyes upon, at least if you know enough about these things to be able to see beneath the surface of what’s apparent, is the double-DIN conversion that allows the use of much more up-to-date infotainment set-ups than the Defender was designed for. Actually, the sort of infotainment system the Defender was designed for is a rolled up copy of yesterday’s Yorkshire Post sitting on the dashboard while the driver sings No Regrets to no-one in particular save a sheepdog sitting patiently in the back, so putting it into reverse and seeing the media screen light up with the image from a reversing camera is definitely a culture shock. Actually, just seeing a media screen is a culture shock, but we’re talking about a Defender with cream coloured seats so it’s one that’s quite easy to get used to.

Another bit of electronic wizardry currently to be found in this 110 – and, at present, no others at all – is a prototype conversion allowing the rear windows to be operated from the front. If you’ve got kids of a certain age, you know.

There are plenty of Defenders with electric windows front and rear, but Masai 4x4 boss Ferzan Kuman explained to us that until now, you’ve only been able to get them with local controls – the switches in the front operate the windows in the front, and the same deal at the back. The company’s conversion, which is currently undergoing testing in this vehicle, adds a pair of switches on the front of the cubby box console which allow the driver or front-seat passenger to take charge of what’s happening in the back. ‘No-one else does that,’ says Ferzan of what will be brought to the market as a full electric window kit with this unique feature.

Staying in the back, the rear seats join those up front in being heated. This too is a Masai conversion, and one that’s new to this particular vehicle in both rows – 110 Double-Cabs that came out of the factory in XS form had heated front seats as standard, but this was an everyday work truck before Ferzan got his hands on it.

For the same reason, its Boost alloys arrived in later life, as you’d assume did the 265/75R16 BFGoodrich KM3 Mud-Terrains wrapped around them. There’s a new suspension kit hiding behind the wheels, though this came from a third-party supplier rather than being one of the many products made in the Masai factory.

This is based in Ferzan’s homeland of Turkey and is run by his brother – it’s very much a family company which, though it’s been going since 1953, is still run on the sort of scale that allows it to have a human face. The factory is split into four parts making products in the various areas Masai serves, and the direct-sale policy is something he believes is an asset. By selling

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items it has designed and manufactured itself and dealing direct with end users, it cuts out the endless opportunities for messiness that come from either buying in specialist stock from someone else or punting it out via a third-party distribution network.

As it is, as well as selling accessories the company offers a fitting service for everything in its range. Electrical upgrades, sound deadening, headlining, internal trims, seat retrimming… if you want it but you don’t want to fit it yourself, they can shoulder the burden. Ferzan says the company has all the skills to fit anything at all from elsewhere in the aftermarket, too, ‘but our focus is on refits using our own parts.’

These parts also include a heavy-duty steering guard, mesh grille and tubular roof rack, all off which help make this 110 look as cool from the outside as it does in the cabin. You can tell just by looking that it’s been dressed up, but it’s an awful lot more subtle than the kind of modded Defender you see riding around the place on 37” tyres with an interior that’ll send you blind even quicker than it gets you arrested for being a pimp.

Masai was never about pimp trucks. The company concentrates on items that add something of value to the vehicle and are also good looking into the bargain – and items like its infotainment conversion, roof lining and electric window kit are perfect examples. As of course are the cream leatherette seats that make such a special truck out of this 110.

And it is a special truck. The 110 Double-Cab might not have been the first thing on Land Rover’s mind when it designed the Defender, and it may not have done enough to stem the flow of sales towards the new breed of pick-ups from the Far East. But it’s an icon by all means – and this distinctive looking example of the breed is helping Masai 4x4 develop the kit you’ll soon be using to make it more iconic than ever.

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DEFENDER BUYERS’ GUIDE

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When you’re buying a Defender, you’ll find that no two vehicles are the same.

This limitless variety of vehicles to choose from means you can always find one that’s right for you – but also that picking it out can be like trying to find your way through a minefield. Over the following pages, we’ve polled the experts to help you find your ideal Land Rover…

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here are many good reasons for wanting to own a Defender. Driving a British motoring icon, owning a forever vehicle, having a brilliant off-roader that’s ready for anything, investing in a car that never depreciates… every single one of them makes complete sense.

The Defender is the only car in the world that gets driven by a bloke-wot-goes-down-sewersin-big-muddy-boots, and also by the Queen. It’s a farmer’s car and a rock star’s car. It’s the coolest thing on the planet, specifically because it’s the least cool thing on the planet. A women’s mag once did a poll of its readers about the cars that blokes own, and Defender Man was far and away the one they all wanted to get into bed with.

Because Defender Man is not Up Himself Man. So there you are, a world of reasons for buying a Defender. And all of them are good.

But there’s also a world of reasons for buying the wrong Defender. And these are not so good.

Mostm, however, come down the equivalent of screwing your eyes tight shut, sticking your fingers in your ears and going ‘LALALALALA’ as loudly as you can while your inner voice of reason is trying to tell you something you know deep down is blindingly obvious.

‘Because I like the paint’ is a bad reason for buying a Defender, for example. So is ‘it’s got big wheels on it.’ These are things you can sort out for yourself once the truck is yours.

There are of course many excellent Defenders with nice paint and big wheels, and any of them could make a fine purchase. The problem comes when you’re loving the paint so much that you don’t bother checking to see that the low-mileage Tdi engine under the bonnet is actually a rough old TD, that the chassis number has mysteriously been ground off, that all the suspension bushes are in tatters, that the dashboard has been eaten by a dog, that the ground underneath it is completely covered in oil… you get the picture.

This purpose of this guide is to help you see the stuff that really matters. Whether you want to buy a Defender to use as a car, or you’re looking for a workshop project, people who know what they’re on about will always advise you to start with the best one you can afford. To help you do that, we’ve spoken to some of the most respected names in the Land Rover game and gathered together their combined wisdom into one big list of things to think about when you’re shopping for a Defender – from where to go looking to what to do when you get it home.

We’ve started with a history of the Defender’s development, from the earliest 110s to more than three decades later. Beyond that, you’ll find an in-depth guide to examining a vehicle which will help you pick a good one from the among the many you’ll find available for sale.

All that leaves you to do is choose the right Defender for you. With a limitless variety of engines, bodies and equipment from the factory and since, that’s not as easy as it might sound.

But no two Defenders are exactly the same any more – which means that even if there’s a lot of work in sorting the wheat from the chaff, you can be sure that whatever you want from it, your ideal Land Rover is definitely out there!

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PART 1: History of the Defender

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he Defender’s history as a model in Land Rover’s showrooms starts with the launch of the 110 in March 1983.

It wasn’t actually called the Defender back then, but it was basically the same vehicle that continued up until the end of the line in January 2016.

In some ways, the new model managed to be very different to the Series III it replaced. Despite not looking radically different from the outside

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(in fact, many panels were carried over), it had front and rear coil-sprung live axles, full-time four-wheel drive and front disc brakes. Yet there were definite carry-overs from the old model – in particular the 2286cc petrol and diesel engines, which by this point had been around for a quarter of a century, and the 3.5-litre V8 from the 109” Stage One version of the Series III. Universally known as the 2.25, the 2286cc engines had been upgraded to five mean bearings

in 1980 in preparation for the launch of the 110.

They were mated to the five-speed LT77 gearbox from the start of production, while the V8 turned the four-speed LT95.

There were other Series III throwbacks in the very first 110s, too. If you can somehow find one from 1983 with sliding windows, Series III seats and a knob on the front of the driver’s seat box to operate the diff lock, you’re looking at an extremely rare classic Land Rover.

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From the outset, you could have the 110 in Hard-Top, Soft-Top, Pick-Up or Station Wagon form. There was also the County Station Wagon, too, with carpets, a heated rear window, rear wash/wipe and side-stripe graphics to distinguish it as a family vehicle. A vinyl-covered fourspoke steering wheel sprouted from a dashboard that had been given a much-needed update and options included such exotica as power steering and air-conditioning.

Land Rover also offered another option on the 110 – which was to have it extended in the factory to a 127” wheelbase. Intended for industrial and military applications, this model came as standard as a double-cab with six seats and a high-capacity truck bed, however it could also be delivered to specialist converters in chassis-cab

form. The 127, which was later known as the 130, went on to become a full model in its own right as part of the Defender line-up.

In January 1984, the 2.25 diesel was upgraded and enlarged, yielding the 2495cc unit which later became synonymous with Army Land Rovers.

This engine was basically a stroked 2.25 with various improvements including a new cylinder head and the switch from a timing chain to a belt; its output was 68bhp.

The big news came a few months later, however, in June 1984, when Land Rover introduced the 90. This was initially available with the 2.25 petrol and 2.5 diesel engines, both were mated to the LT77 gearbox and LT230 transfer case; hard as it is to believe, 6.00x16 cross-ply tyres were standard on working models, though the County Station Wagon gained 205R16 radials.

By now, some of the Series III cling-ons had been removed from the 110 and it had gained proper adjustable seats and wind-up windows.

The old diff-lock knob had given way, too, to the now-familiar dual-action transfer lever.

Something else that happened in 1984, which was to gain enormous significance in enthusiast circles, was the 110’s debut in the Camel Trophy.

This was Land Rover’s fourth year of supporting the off-road adventure event; previously it had used Range Rovers and Series IIIs, but this year was to see the 110 used as a competition car and support vehicle alike. During the decade and a half that followed, the vehicles’ butch-looking spec and distinctive yellow paintwork was to make them iconic in Land Rover circles, and they remain among the most desirable of all the company’s historical products.

The old LT95 gearbox gave way to the more modern LT85 Santana five-speed unit in time for the V8 engine’s addition to the 90 line-up in March 1985. This was the first time the V8 had ever been made available in a short-wheelbase Land Rover, a mere 19 years after the company’s US importer had put the recently acquired Buick lump in an 88” Series IIA and driven it to Solihull to prove that it could be done.

Later that year, in August 1985, the 2286cc engine was finally laid to rest, to be replaced by a 2495cc petrol unit. This remained closely related to the 2.5 diesel, sharing that engine’s block – though a fundamental difference was that it retained a timing chain rather than a belt.

The following September saw the introduction of a revised V8 engine, with SU carburettors replacing the original Zenith units and power

This prototype 110, which today lives on as part of the Dunsfold Collection, shows many similarities to the Series III. Some of them were carried over into the first production vehicles, too, such as the seats and sliding windows, and the locking centre diff was operated by a separate knob to the high and low range transfer lever

increased from 114 to 134bhp. At the same time, the rugged but pedestrian 2.5 diesel became available in turbocharged form, with 86bhp and 150lbf.ft. The engine was kept as simple as possible for the benefit of Land Rover’s export markets, but did receive a range of upgrades to help it cope with the extra heat and pressure generated by forced induction.

These engine upgrades were introduced alongside various details such as an improved dashboard, new door handles and steel wheels from the Range Rover. This was a time when Range Rovers still had steel wheels, of course – and when the notion of a lifestyle Land Rover was still a long way off.

Or was it? The summer of 1987 saw a one-off project vehicle coming out of the factory which almost defied belief. Called the Cariba, it was an open-top 90 with V8 power, wide wheels and a stunning metallic paint-job. Could this be a sign

Also part of the Dunsfold Collection, this very early 90 is one of the first County Station Wagons, with luxury features like cloth trim and carpeting on its transmission tunnel

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Left: The Camel Trophy was the stuff of Land Rover legend during the 1980s and 1990s. Although the competitors mainly used Discoverys, on all but a few occasions the support vehicles were 110s – and the classic image from those days is very much of a convoy of Defenders battling through hostile terrain in an exotic corner of the world. Today, genuine Camel vehicles are extremely collectable and frequently imitated – be sure that what you’re buying isn’t just a very accurate copy Below: The Camel did embody the spirit of adventure that Land Rover trades on to this day, but a much more representative image of a Defender working for its living is that of a farm truck with tools in its pick-up bed and a feed hopper on the back

of things to come for the Defender, people asked in wide-eyed wonderment?

The answer, it appeared, was no. Land Rover was otherwise occupied on a new model which the combined might of the motoring press assumed would be an all-new Range Rover, and with the existing model range doing a very good job of satisfying demand the 90, 110 and 127 were left to get on with just selling themselves.

Come 1989, the world learned that the thing Solihull had been working on was actually the Discovery. This was a time when Japan was threatening to overwhelm the 4x4 market, which was just starting to boom in the UK, and the family-orientated Disco was a riposte which, despite being based largely on existing technology,

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proved nothing short of brilliant, going straight to the top of the sales charts in Britain and stayed there for year after year.

A big part of that was the 200 Tdi engine – and having made such an impression in the Disco, it was logical that this should filter out to Land Rover’s other products too. So it was that in September 1990, a 107bhp, 195lbf.ft version of the Tdi was unveiled beneath the bonnet of what was now to be known as the Defender – a name which has since come into usage for all Landies from 1983 onwards and even at times (albeit rather inaccurately) as a catch-all for the whole utility line going back to the first Series I. The Tdi engine was introduced as a direct replacement for the 2.5 TD, but it was so good that

it swallowed up sales of almost every other engine in the range. These did all continue into the Defender era for varying lengths of time – mainly by special order, though of course vehicles built for these military and commercial customers will long since have been disposed of into private hands, so they do an excellent job of muddying the waters now.

As if to prove that the Tdi didn’t signal the end for the V8, this engine gained the LT77 gearbox at the same time in place of the old LT85 Santana.

Another revision saw the 127 become the 130 – which was more than just a change of name, as the new model’s chassis was built from scratch rather than being an extended 110 unit. Finally, Defender models also gained upgraded bulkhead sound-deadening, improved front seats and an interior courtesy light, as well as side stripes across the entire range.

It’s often assumed that Land Rover made the move to standard-fit power steering and rear disc brakes at the same time as the introduction of the Defender name, but in fact these upgrades didn’t happen until January 1992 and June 1993 respectively. By this time, the 2.5-litre petrol and naturally aspirated diesel engines had been deleted from the standard model line-up, albeit remaining available to special order, and the LT77 had been updated and renamed the LT77S. By now, the Defender was feeling a bit more up-to-date than before – albeit no less truck-like.

Taking the fight to the new generation of lifestyle 4x4s like the Shogun, Frontera, Trooper and Land Cruiser was very much the Discovery’s job, but in 1992 Jeep started importing the Wrangler to the UK – giving the Defender, specifically the 90, the first real direct competitor it had ever had. And it was a direct competitor with a lavish line in leather and chrome.

Land Rover’s response came in the summer of 1993. The 90SV was a leisure-oriented soft-top with a foam-covered rollcage, side steps, a bull bar, five-spoke alloy wheels and a colourful ’90SV’ graphic. Those who remembered the Cariba lamented the fact that the SV was diesel-

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Another gem from the Dunsfold Collection, this NAS 90 is an example of what may be the most frustrating vehicle Land Rover even made. It won a hatful of awards when it was introduced in the USA, and its combination of cool looks, a soft-top body and a big V8 engine sent it straight to the top of every British fan’s must-have list.

However it was never made available in the UK. You do see very similar looking 90s here but these are almost always replicas rather than the real thing – while a few vehicles like this one did remain in Britain for development or promotional purposes, no NAS 90s ever went out through Land Rover’s UK dealerships

powered, but that didn’t stop customers clamouring for it – largely without success, because with a very limited run of 90 vehicles it was very much there to make a point. Which, the intervening years have confirmed, it very much did.

Following on from this promising start, the Defender’s development into a fashion item started small. Land Rover had discontinued the 90 County Station Wagon during the late 1980s, leaving only the 110 as its family truck, but 1993 saw this model brought back – complete with luxuries like cloth seats, tinted glass, radio/cassette and a sunroof. It was available in Tdi and V8 form alike.

This brought the Defender back to full strength, and with the upgrades made to its technical

specification since it gained its new name Land Rover’s range of trucks was thriving. Things got better still in March 1994 with the introduction of the 300 Tdi engine and R380 gearbox, bringing with them vastly improved emissions and a much lighter clutch action.

The 300 Tdi produced 111bhp as opposed to the 200’s 107bhp, though the real difference between the two was its improved ability to gather revs under load from tickover – something which made the 300 a great deal more drivable both on and off-road. The R380 box proved capable of breaking down in a staggering range of different ways in the early years, but put this behind it as time went on and has since come to be known as one of the best boxes Land Rover has ever made.

With the turbodiesel option a vast improvement on the pre-Tdi model, sales of the V8 slowed to a trickle. It was inevitable that it would be phased out, and in time this did happen. Before its demise, however, the Defender spent four glorious years being sold in the USA with the 3.9-litre V8i engine from the Discovery and Range Rover.

The first year of NAS Defenders saw a limited run of 110s crossing the Atlantic with full exo roll cages, air-con and enlarged tail lights. After this came two years of glorious 90s with five-spoke alloys, 265/75R16 tyres, four front-facing seats, bright paint colours and a contrasting black soft-top. Once again, it was hard not to see these as an upmarket pop at the Jeep Wrangler – and once again, buyers in Britain were left drooling.

Above left: The limited-edition 90 SV had the same sort of style as the NAS 90, albeit without the American model’s thumping great 3.9-litre V8 engine. Not that there was anything wrong with the 200 Tdi, which revoluutionised the Defender when it was introduced in 1990. This particular SV was beaten to death during several years of winch competitions in the hands of Gigglepin’s Jim Marsden, which gained him a certain amount of notoriety among Land Rover traditionalists, but it’s seen here shortly after the same company restored it into an imaginatively modified version of a lifestyle Land Rover Above right: The 50th Anniversary 90 wasn’t quite as jaunty as the SV, but one thing it did get from the NAS model was its V8 engine. Built in 1998 to cash in on Solihull’s golder jubilee, it used the 4.0-litre version of the engine from the Range Rover, mated to an automatic box.

Like the 90 SV, its rarity and iconic status means it’s highly sought after by collectors

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In 2007, the Defender entered the Puma era. The name relates to the Ford engines it started using (first a 2.4 TDCi, then a 2.2) – neither are as popular as the Tdi and Td5 units that went before them, but the most significant changes came in the vehicle’s cabin. Suddenly, the Defender had a dashboard worthy of the name, and a heating system that did more than just blow hot air on your shin. In the back, meanwhile, the archaic inward-facing seats were replaced by forward-facing jobs which folded neatly out of the way when not in use Predictably, the NAS 90 took North America by storm, winning a clutch of major awards and quickly becoming both a cult fashion accessory and the definitive off-road machine among US enthusiasts who could see beyond the lure of Jeep. Back in Britain, however, all we could do was get very grumpy indeed with Land Rover for not making the vehicle available here.

What we got instead was the Freestyle option pack, which included the five-spoke alloys and 265/75R16 tyres from the American vehicle as well as front and rear anti-roll bars, and was commonly ordered along with one of a new range of metallic paint colours. First available in 1993, this was mainly specified on County Station Wagons – though the option was available across the range, and as time went on it started being ordered on pick-ups and hard-tops too.

For its final year in production, the NAS 90 became a hard-top with lift-out panels and gained the 4.0-litre V8 and ZF automatic gearbox from the P38 Range Rover. This prompted speculation that the engine might be used in future British

versions – which did indeed happen, albeit in limited-edition form, when the 50th Anniversary 90 was launched in June 1998. With an exo cage, extensive chequer plate detailing and micatallic blue paint as well as the Tornado alloys first seen on high-spec Discoverys, this has since become a collector’s item of the highest order.

Shortly after this, Land Rover heralded its second decade with the Heritage edition – creating a look for the Defender that has remained popular to this day and frequently been copied by aftermarket stylists. This model also helped introduce the 122bhp Td5 engine, which replaced the 300 Tdi in 1998.

While the Td5 was met with suspicion by traditionalists due to its extensive use of electronics to help it meet the emissions regulations of the time, it has come to be seen as one of the most reliable engines the company has ever made. It was mated to the R380 gearbox, which had by then also done a good job of proving its early doubters wrong, and also turned out to be very tunable, with no end of aftermarket outfits offer-

ing a range of equipment designed to wring more power out of it.

A notable option on the Td5 was ABS – the first time this had been made available on the 90. In keeping with most Land Rover products developed in recent years, this brought with it the option of traction control.

The Td5 powered a variety of special editions on top of the Heritage model. These included the X-Tech, Black and Silver, as well as the iconic G4 Challenge and Tomb Raider editions. The latter two in particular went on to become very collectible (and as a consequence have been widely mimicked), though in truth they were only cosmetically different to standard vehicle. As with all Defenders now, a special edition of any kind will command a premium if it remains in original condition, however of all these models the Black probably had the most worthwhile equipment list.

Most significant of all, however, was the addition of the XS trim level. Introduced in 2002, this included air-conditioning, electric windows,

Something you have to live with when buying a Defender is that it may have been used for stuff like this (left). The good news is that the vehicle’s total rebuildability means that by the time it looks like this (above), it’s likely that 100% of the actual working parts have been renewed

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In later life, the Defender became hugely popular with aftermarket tuning and styling houses. These range from optimistic and at times less than credible bling-and-stickers outfits to companies which re-engineer the vehicles from scratch and in some cases manufacture their own unique accessories. What they all have in common is that the results are definitely not to everyone’s taste – but if the vehicles pictured above don’t do it for you, a nice utility-spec 130 double-cab is likely to be more up your street. This one is a true 130, from after 1990 – prior to that, the vehicle had been known as the 127 and rather than being built on its own dedicated chassis, it was created by taking a 110 and stretching its chassis heated part-leather seats, a heated windscreen and ABS and traction control as standard.

As a footnote to the Td5 era, the 300 Tdi engine didn’t actually go out of production in 1998. The general public might not have been able to buy them any more, but in 1996 the MOD placed an order for around 8000 Defenders – and when you’re buying that many, you get to choose your own spec. Thus the now-fabled Wolf was born, with a heavily reinforced chassis and back axle, 24-volt electrics, a roll cage and the 300 Tdi under the bonnet – chosen by the Army because while the Td5 proved reliable in battlefield conditions, it was too reliant on computers should it break down.

These engineering improvements mean the Wolf (or the Defender XD, as Land Rover called it) was far stronger than a standard 90 or 110. As a result, these are always very sought-after when demobbed – and that’s sure to continue for some time, as many remain in military service today.

Not that the engineering changes got any bigger than in 2007, when the Td5 engine was replaced by the 2.4 TDCi ‘Puma’ unit. Developing 122bhp and 265lbf.ft, this was mated to a new

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six-speed Getrag manual box which made the Defender much more civilised to drive, especially at motorway speeds.

This model also gained a totally new dashboard (some would say it simply gained a dashboard) as well as a new rear seating arrangement which saw the side-facing benches replaced with two individual forward-facing seats. This was forced on Land Rover by European safety directives, however the seats’ availability through the aftermarket has made it an increasingly popular retro-fit conversion on older Defenders too.

The following year saw Land Rover’s 60th anniversary, and the company celebrated with the SVX – an eye-catching Defender with a unique grille and headlamp design, bespoke alloys, Recaro seats and an external roll cage. The SVX was available in the UK only as a 90, either in hard-top form or as a soft-top with a bikini-style hood.

The 2.4 TDCi engine was replaced in 2012 by the 2.2 TDCi, a smaller version of the same Ford engine whose output remained unchanged. This was the engine that saw the Defender through to the end of production in 2016 – via another series of special editions which saw the vehicle’s

price escalate skywards as Land Rover sought to cash in on the vehicle’s iconic status and the publicity surrounding its impending demise.

Whether the Autobiography, Adventure and Heritage Defenders were truly worth their enormous price tags is something that will always be open to debate (the Autobiography started at £61,845), however even these pale into insignificance compared to the Works V8 models Land Rover has built since the end of production. Based on pre-registered vehicles, these heavily modified 90s and 110s run a 5.0-litre V8 engine and eight-speed auto gearbox along with extensive other engineering updates and interior luxuries; the 70th Anniversary edition from 2018 was priced from £150,000, while the 2021 Works V8 Trophy starts at £195,000.

That is very much the ridiculous end of the scale, even if it does illustrate when a strictly limited-edition Defender with genuine Land Rover provenance has come to be worth to some people. When the first 110s appeared back in 1983, complete with their 2.25 engines, Series III seats and sliding windows, few people could ever have imagines where the story would one day lead…

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PART 2: Buying a Defender

I

f you’ve made it this far in life, you almost certainly know the normal places to go looking for vehicles. Fundamentally, it comes down to one big decision: trade or private.

Some of the best, most decent and most honest people we’re ever met sell Land Rovers for a living. So too do some of the foullest; there are professional liars and indeed full-on criminals in the Landy game, just as there are elsewhere in the used car business, so it’s up to you to make sure you’re not dealing with one of them. Ask around among Land Rover or 4x4 club members on social media, and search for the company’s name to see what comes up. Just assume that every actual review you read online, whether good or bad, is fake – that’s why social media is good, because it’s an actual dialogue between you and real people.

Buying from a dealer means you’ll pay a bit more for the vehicle than you would if you were going private. But you should get something for that extra money: the vehicle ought to come to you with a full, or at least a long, MOT, and it should be properly serviced before the dealer hands it over.

Legally, dealers have to offer a warranty with any used vehicle unless it’s sold as a trade sale. That may be one reason why so many of the private sellers you see on eBay are actually

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traders… or maybe they’re just trying to dodge fees. Either way, you’ll need to make your mind up about how honest they’ll be if that’s the first impression you get of them.

Anyway, dealer warranties vary in substance and quality. Many are, in effect, parts insurance policies bought through a third party, and they can have many exclusions. Some even exclude oil leaks, which is a bit comical. You need to read the small print here – because if you’re paying an extra 10% to go with a dealer, you want some back-up.

Another way of buying is at auction, whether real or online. You must be very careful, though, because you risk paying out for an absolute stinker – not least because a lot of the Defenders sold at auction are the type that the experts try to avoid, like ex-site vehicles and fleet motors that have been given a hard time and received grudging maintenance.

All the same, you can pick up a vehicle quite cheaply at auction, so it’s certainly an option if you’re confident and willing to learn. Start off by going along to a few and just watch – you’ll start to recognise the pros, so keep an eye on which vehicles attract their interest. This way, you’ll also start to spot vehicles that are bunged into sale after sale in the hope that sooner or later some mug will buy them.

Either way, be in no doubt that at an auction, you’re going to be up against people who’re better at it than you. The trade is a hotbed of experts who’ve been buying a selling Land Rovers for longer than you thought possible, and they know exactly what a vehicle is worth. Of course, they also have to be able to turn a profit on the Landies they buy, and you don’t, so there’s a sweet spot just above trade value where you might be able to take one home for less than it would cost on the forecourt – when the bidding reaches a point where the traders around you all pull out, you’re in business. Just don’t keep going too far beyond this.

Something else to be aware of about the trade is that if you see a Defender on private sale and it hasn’t already gone, all the dealers in the area have already looked at it and knocked it back for being too expensive, too weird or a shed. If that sounds like rather a sweeping statement, consider this: there are Land Rover specialists with full-time members of staff whose only job is to scour eBay, Auto Trader and so on all day, every day for promising looking Defenders to buy.

Anything that comes up at the right price, they know about it within minutes. And anything that sticks around for ages, they know exactly when the seller will be ready to cut their losses and let it go for a big discount. Once again, you’re up

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Above left: A galvanised chassis is an expensive investment, both in terms of buying it and the time it takes to fit one. But an investment is exactly what it is – a Defender that’s been rebuilt on one of these will always sell well, as a look at the prices they fetch will confirm Above right: If your Defender is still sound enough not to justify a full galvy rebuild, giving its chassis a thorough steam-clean then treating it with some sort of rust prevention product will rarely turn out to be a bad idea. When you find out like this for sale, however, you do need to satisfty yourself that the seller hasn’t merely tried to hide a rusty disaster beneath a thick coat of underseal Below: If you look up the term ‘mud trap’ in a dictionary, you’ll find a picture of a Defender’s rear crossmember. This is the absolutely classic area for rust on the vehicles’ chassis – so much so that you can have an otherwise rock-solid one whose strong, healthy metal gives way to a horror like this. On any other vehicle, you’d assume it had spent its life backing boat trailers into the sea

against people who’re better at it than you – that doesn’t mean you should give up, but you need to be either very lucky or right on your game to get a good vehicle at the right price.

Chassis and body When you turn up to look at a Defender, it goes without saying that you don’t want it to be plastered in mud. Not only is this a sign of what might be called enthusiastic use, it might also

suggest that the seller has left it there to hide something. Unless the guy is willing to get under there with a jet wash and make it right for you to examine, you have to assume the worst.

There’s a lot to examine, too. It may be that you’re buying the vehicle with a view to restoring it completely, which is absolutely fine – but either way, a new chassis or even just a replacement crossmember will cost strong money, and that’s the seller’s problem not yours.

Start by going all round the chassis, tapping it with a hammer. You want to hear the clang of metal on metal, not the crunch of rust. The chassis can trap mud, which will make it rust from the inside – or someone may have sanded it down and slapped underseal over it to hide the fact that it’s in a mess. If it’s in a beautiful looking condition, well, maybe that’s because it’s s beautiful as it seems. Just don’t hide from the fact that it might not be.

The bulkhead is prone to rusting in various areas, all of them horrible to put right. You can see where the base of the A-post has been welded (far left), and note the paint bubbling up around the door hinge (left).

Replacing the windscreen seal (above) is one of those jobs it’s easy not to get round to, but let the rubber become perished and full of cracks and it’ll be a mainline for water to get into the bulkhead and start causing havoc

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Engine Obviously, what you look for under the bonnet depends on the 90 you’re buying and which engine it’s got. Equally obviously, though, there are general things you want to see – a decent level of cleanliness, metal that hasn’t turned to rust and proper wiring that hasn’t turned into a rat’s nest.

Talking of which, we looked in a Defender’s engine bay once and found an actual nest, which we took as a sign…

Lots of non-standard parts can be a red flag, depending on what you’re buying. The same might be said about a non-standard engine, too – there’s probably no other vehicle in existence in which you’re more likely to see a replacement lump. These aren’t to be feared as such, though obviously they add an unknown quantity to the purchase – especially if the seller can’t show you a receipt to prove that a) it was fitted professionally, and b) its real owner would very much like it back.

Japanese diesels were a popular option for repowering early 90s, and at the opposite end of the scale people liked to fit V8s of various degrees of rudeness. Probably the most common repower option in early Defenders is Land Rover’s own Tdi – a great choice, though the majority of these engines came from Discoverys and had to be adapted to suit. Again, this isn’t barge-pole stuff, but you want the seller to be open and honest about it from the word go.

Whatever engine you’re looking at, check for signs that the radiator core is rotting out. If the back is stained with antifreeze, that’s a dead ‘un, and the same can be said for if it crumbles away when you run a biro down it.

Of course, the same is the case if it’s totally clogged with baked mud.

Moving on to the engines themselves, the 2.25 petrol and diesel units are so rare your chances of finding one that’s not already in a museum or private collection are verging on zero. Things to look for if you do find one include tappet noise and a badly set-up twin-choke Weber carb on the petrol, and deafening noise, vibrations and smoke on the diesel. The petrol engine is the more reliable of the two, but these are Series II engines and neither was really intended for the kind of speeds and mileages the more modern Defender is built to do.

The 2.5 petrol, too, is one you won’t see very often. It was more common than the 2.25, and lived on into the mid-1990s as an option that was taken up by a number of fleet users, but once sold on into private hands almost all were pulled out and replaced by Tdis or Japanese diesels. If you find one, it’ll be more refined than you expect and reliability ought to be good – but as always, look out for oil leaks. This engine retained the 2.25’s timing chain, so that’s one source of concern taken care of.

The 2.5 diesel was less gutless than the 2.25, but that still leaves a lot of room. It’s a noisy, shaky old thing, but is also very simple and reliable – at least now all the bad ones have either been completely rebuilt or simply fallen to bits. Ask when the cam belt was last changed, and look for a recent MOT – this matters because they can be tricky to get through emissions. Check for oil leaks, too, and pull the filler cap off once it’s running, to see if it’s chuffing out smoke like a train.

The 2.5 TD, too, offers you the rather cold comfort of knowing that if it’s lasted this long, it’s probably one of the alright ones. The classic complaint was cracks in the top of the pistons; oil leaks and ingested turbos

Above left: These days, you’ll be doing well to find a Defender with a 2.25-litre engine – most have long since been replaced, but any that do remain with them tend now to be in the hands of collections. The petrol unit, as seen here, is more common – it lasted until August 1985, whereas the diesel was replaced in January 1984 and never fitted in the 90. It’s worth considering that this was a Series II engine, and never designed for the sort of mileages the later Land Rovers were built to cover Above centre: The 2.5 n/a diesel was fitted in massive numbers and is particularly common on ex-military 90s and 110s. It’s slow and unrefined, but very willing and dependable – though getting it through the MOT emissions test can be a tricky business Above right: The 2.5 TD was prone to cracks in the block and the tops of the pistons, as well as failed bearings, oil leaks and ingested turbos. The good news is that if it’s lasted this long, one of these engines has either been rebuilt already or it’s one of the ones that was put together properly in the first place Below left: This particular 200 Tdi is unbelievably well presented, but just because the average one looks a lot less shiny than this doesn’t mean it’s not just as good. The Tdi is famed for the immense mileages it can rack up on nothing more than a regular diet of oil changes, though it’s quite fond of the occasional head gasket too Below centre: The 300 Tdi is much the same as the 200 in terms of what you want to look for. Regular oil changes made all the difference, and both these engines appreciate regular cam belt changes. The 300 is more comples and less suited to DIY maintenance, though Below right: When it comes to unsuitability for DIY maintenance, the Td5 has all earlier engines on toast. The Army rejected it because you need diagnostics when anything goes wrong, and as well as its electronics it was saddled with emissions control equipment that’s an expensive failure waiting to happen. It’s a popular engine with tuners, too, so be wary if it shows signs of having been pushed hard

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Above left: Defenders with a factory-fitted 3.5-litre V8 are extremely sought after. They’ve been commanding a premium on the used market almost since before they had stopped being made. Camshaft wear is possible, but the most common problem people have with them is not being able to set up the twin carnurettors to work properly together Above right: If you thought the 3.5 V8 was sought-after, try the 4.0-litre. If you find a Defender with one of these, it will be priced off the scale – because it’s a 50th Anniversary special edition Below left: Some early examples of the 2.4 TDCi were replaced due to a fault causing oil starvation, but by and large this is an engine with the ability to cover enormous distances if maintained correctly. The later 2.2 TDCi has a better reputation; both are known for their longevity, but most Defender owners will tell you the Td5 and both Tdi engines are better to drive

were also common, and early (pre-1988) examples were prone to failed main and big end bearings, as well as cracked blocks. Much was down to maintenance, however – and time has shown that if looked after properly, a 2.5 TD can rack up a lot of miles. It’s still not a very refined engine, but the awful reputation it once had has softened over time.

As we’ve said elsewhere, if you manage to find an original 3.5-litre V8 you’ve got a rarity on your hands. These have sold at a premium on the second-hand market almost since they were still being made, and it’s considered a ready-made classic now. The main issues are camshaft wear, which saps performance, and poorly adjusted twin carbs. Setting these up is a bit of a dark art, and they need to be adjusted properly to work together in balance.

Obviously, if you’re buying a 3.5 these days it’s because for one reason or another, fuel economy doesn’t matter to you. However the truth is that because you had to thrash them to achieve any sort of performance, most of the other engines in the range were just about as thirsty – and by not needing to be treated this way, the V8 didn’t wear as badly. Something to bear in mind if you do come across one now.

Both Tdi engines are capable of getting you to the moon and back if you keep them serviced on the nose and stick religiously to the oil change schedule. They have a fondness for timing belts, however, so this is something else that needs changing by the book (or more frequently still, if you’re using the vehicle in arduous conditions). Head gaskets are prone to blowing on the 200 Tdi, too, and this needs remedying pronto if the

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cylinder head is to live through the process. However the 300 Tdi was more complex and less suitable for DIY maintenance.

The Td5 went an awful lot further down that road, however, with its extra electronics and emissions-control equipment. When it was new, people said it signalled the end of the owner-maintainable Defender; time has shown that this is only partially true, however it certainly is the case that without diagnostic computers, you’ll be struggling to keep up with one of these. Turbo failure is not unheard-up, and nor are oiled looms or cracked cylinder heads, but given the number of them being worked hard on and off-road this is still a good, reliable unit. Be wary of how incredibly popular they are with tuners, however – it’s all very well to lean on the Td5 if you want a 200bhp Defender, but that will only ever do one thing to the engine’s life expectancy.

Despite being just as complex and packed with electronics as the Td5, both the 2.4 and 2.2 TDCi are known for their ability to cover vast distances. Once again, maintenance is key; if anything does go wrong, it’s likely to be either emissions-control equipment like the EGR valve or on the oil pressure side. Problems with the injectors are not unknown, either.

Land Rover also recognised that some early 2.4s suffered a heavy knocking noise when cold which was symptomatic of oil starvation in the lower cylinder bores. Any engines with this problem should have been long since changed under warranty, but if you’re looking at a 2.4 you should specifically tell the seller you want to hear it starting from cold as part of your test drive.

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A clonking noise when you get on and off the throttle during your test drive may well mean the end is in sight for one or more propshaft universal joints. Try moving them up and down by hand to look for signs of wear, and check to see if they’re rusting. A UJ that gets hot during use is going to want changing, too. If you can turn one end of the prop within the other, the splines in the sliding joint are being stripped away, and if the handbrake seems to work but doesn’t stop the vehicle from rolling away, it’s because it’s full of oil courtesy of a failed rear output seal in the transfer case. While you’re under the vehicle, try lifting each prop up and down just inboard of the axle – if there’s any movement in the drive flange, you have to assume the diff will need replacing Look for rust on the bulkhead, too – this is horrendous to remedy. The door pillars are prone to it, especially around the door and windscreen hinges, as are the vent panel and windscreen surround. Look for signs of filler around the screen, as the surround can crack in an accident, and check that the rubber isn’t perished.

Next, move to the rear crossmember. This is an absolutely classic area for rust, even on a Defender that’s otherwise sound as a pound. For this reason, it needn’t be a deal-breaker, however there’s a good bit of work in replacing it and once again that’s for the seller to swallow, not you.

Check all the chassis outriggers, too – these don’t trap mud quite as ferociously as the rear crossmember, but as a Defender ages they’re still likely to rust out before the main rails.

If this little lot hasn’t yet provoked you into rejecting the vehicle outright, take a look around its bodywork. Gaping holes are obvious to spot, but do also examine the body cappings for small holes, peeling paint or bubbling, which are the sign of worse to come.

Check the bonnet, which can go rotten, and the doors. These are prone to corrosion, typically along the bottom. Take a visual look first to ensure there isn’t any jagged metal waiting to tear at your flesh, then run your finger along them to feel for bubbling paint or holes.

While the doors are open, try lifting them up on their hinges. If they’ve dropped a bit, chances are they’re used to being slammed, in which case the window regulator is probably coming to bits.

These are also prone to losing teeth, so make sure they work smoothly.

Rear doors are somewhat less likely to rot out, but that doesn’t make it unheard of. If there’s an oversized spare wheel on the back, however, its extra weight is likely to have cracked the door inside. If you can wobble the wheel up and down, it’s not looking good – and the fantastically annoying noise it will make (a sort of metallic chatter) means it won’t sound good either. You won’t need to listen out for it on your test drive, because it’ll invade every corner of your brain.

Drivetrain Land Rovers’ clutches tend not to slip before letting go – they just break up, so you go straight from 100% operation to none at all. So you won’t be able to tell if it’s on the way out.

Do examine the master cylinder for leaks, though. And look out for excessive stiffness and a graunching noise when you press the pedal, as these are signs that the release bearing is seizing up.

Another problem on Defenders with the R380 gearbox is that the actuating fork, which is

made from pressed steel, can wear through.

As time goes on, more and more of the vehicles you’ll see have had at least one clutch replacement, and it’s common to do this using a heavy-duty aftermarket part which will last longer than the original.

Next comes the gearbox. Each of these has its own foibles – and as this is a vulnerable and expensive part of the vehicle, it’s good to pay attention to it. When test driving the vehicle, try it in low range, as you’ve a better chance of showing up any major problems.

The LT85 Santana gearbox fitted to the V8 is very strong, and you don’t hear many tales of them breaking. It will, however, almost certainly be whining its brains out in all gears except fourth (which is direct drive) when you take it out on the road. This is the layshaft bearings, and it’s something you’ve just got to live with: if you reject a V8 because of it, you’ll probably never own one in your life. Do be wary of really noisy ones, though – the bearing wear means the gears and shafts will be running out of true, and their case-hardening will be worn as a result.

The main trouble with the LT77 is mainshaft wear, though this didn’t become a major problem until the days of the early Tdi engines. Listen for clonking as you go on and off the throttle (this

Left: CV joints don’t last forever, to put it mildly. Listen out for a clicking noise on full lock as you circle slowly (do this in both directions) – a sure sign that one of them is not long for this world. The chrome swivels need to be in good condition, too – which means no rust or pitting, and no momement on their pins Right: Look for spatters of oil on the roadwheels, which mean the hub bearing is about to die – as does any movement when you try to rock the wheel in and out. You don’t want to see any worn splines where the halfshafts meet the drive flanges, either

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Another potential source of clonking noises when you jump on and off the gas is a worn A-frame ball joint. Give it a heave with a pry bar – if it will go up and down, you’ll be needing to replace it before much time has passed could also be coming from the A-frame, suspension bushes or prop UJs, though, or indeed any combination of the above).

The way to confirm that the mainshaft is worn is to put the transfer box in neutral and the main box in gear, then take your foot off the clutch and let the engine idle. If you hear a horrible clacking noise, it’s the gear wobbling about on a worn mainshaft. In the end, the splines will spin right off the shaft.

The R380 is a great box in operation but in the early days it seemed to suffer more or less every failing under the sun. Mainshaft wear shouldn’t be among these, as Land Rover had thought to put an oilway in there by this stage, though that’s what happened to a 300 Tdi 90 we used to own when it had a full service history and 55,000 miles on the clock. At any rate, quality improved markedly as time went on – and most will have been rebuilt at least once by now, probably with more skill and better parts than when they were first manufactured.

You don’t hear as many moans about the six-speed MT82 unit on Puma models from 2007on, however some issues did exist including a problem with it getting stuck in first gear. These do appear to have been mainly limited to early models, however – though the box itself was made for the Ford Transit, so it’s different in nature to those in earlier Defenders.

Beyond the gearbox, check to see that both the transfer case functions (high/low ratio and diff lock) are working. If you get no response, it might be the linkage that’s broken, or something within the box itself. Either way, even if you only ever intend to use the vehicle on the road it needs to be right.

Next up, grab hold of the front propshaft just ahead of the transfer box and try to lift it up and down. If you can move it, the front bearing will need replacing – and it may have taken the centre diff with it.

Both transfer box outputs are prone to oil leaks. You can check the front one by looking for drips, while the back one ends up giving the handbrake a bath when it fails. If the handbrake feels as if it’s working but doesn’t stop the vehicle rolling, odds-on it’s swimming in oil from the transfer box.

Propshaft UJs are prone to wear, and may clonk when you go on and off the throttle. Try moving them up and down by hand, and look for signs of rusting. Also, after a test drive, look out for a UJ that’s hot to touch. No, don’t stick your finger in it to find out…

Sliding joints are harder to inspect, but check that you can’t turn one end of the propshaft within the other – a certain sign of stripped splines.

What’s more likely, especially on later ones with teflon-coated splines, is that they’ll seize up, in which case the UJ’s life expectancy is negligible.

Check the front and rear diffs by grabbing the propshaft just inboard of the diff and trying to lift it up and down. If the pinion drive flange moves, you’re looking at a diff which is badly adjusted and possibly worn. While you’re about it, look for oil leaks from the diffs. In the unlikely event that you’re looking at an original V8, these had fourpin diffs – which change hands for absolutely staggering prices.

Go round in tight circles on full lock in both directions. If you hear a clicking noise, a CV joint is on its way out. Check the chrome swivels for rust or pitting, as these cost proper money to replace, and look for movement on the swivel pins.

Check the condition of the hub bearings by looking for spatters of oil on the wheel, and by grabbing the top of each tyre in turn and trying to rock the wheel in and out. Then pull the dust covers off and get the seller to rock the vehicle back and forth while you look for worn splines where the halfshafts go into the drive flanges.

Finally, check the tyres. If you’re planning a project, this is apt to be one of the first things you’ll be changing, but that’s still no reason to accept a vehicle rolling on a set of ditch-finders, off-roading casualties or worn-out MOT failures that’ll get you a fixed penalty on the way home.

Suspension Unless you’re talking about a late, low-mileage Puma, it’s extremely rare now to find a Defender that’s still on its original springs and shocks.

The latter are most likely to have come from the aftermarket – there’ll always be someone trying to make a buck by importing a box full of garbage or knock-offs and punting it out on one of the usual online sites, but so long as it’s a

brand you recognise and, ideally, the seller has a receipt from a proper Land Rover specialist, you ought to be alright.

The bounce test is still an essential part of your inspection, at any rate. Bounce each corner of the vehicle up and down in turn – if it keeps bouncing after you let go, the shock in that corner is going to need replacing. And that means the one on the opposite side of the vehicle is going to have to go, too, because for safety reasons you should only ever change them as axle sets. The same goes for all friction parts on the brakes, of course.

Also look at the rear shock bushes and, if they’re worn, the mounting holes. These may have to be built back up if the vehicle has been run for a long time in that condition.

The springs aren’t as complicated as the shocks, but every now and again you’ll find a Defender with a broken one. This isn’t the end of the world, because changing it won’t be a big job, but if the guy’s been running about with it in that state what else has he been letting go? It’s a sign of abuse or neglect at best.

A more common problem you might see is when a vehicle has been modified badly. If someone has fitted shocks with longer travel than the springs were designed to provide, the first time they flex it up off-road the spring is going to be lifted out of its seat – and unless the vehicle has dislocation cones, when the axle

Right: Relocation cones became incredibly popular about 20 years ago among people building Defenders for hardcore off-road action. They’re less common now, but you might find a vehicle whose shocks allow longer travel than its springs. In this case, without a relocator the spring won’t reseat itself properly after flexing out Far right: Yet another source of clonking noises is worn trailing link bushes. This polyurethane one looks pukka, but have a go with your pry bar and look for side-toside or up-and-down movement – if you find any, it’s knackered

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Above left: Worn out joints in the drag link and track rod are very common – one of the classic MOT fails. The joints can become seized into the tube, too, which is a whole new world of pain. If the steering damper is getting towards the end of its life, the likely result is that it will send shudders back up through the wheel Above right: Another source of shuddering through the steering wheel is worn panhard rod bushes. That’s a thing with Defenders – there are many symptoms that can come from lots of different ailments. Once again, get a pry bar on the case and look for movement in the bushes, as well as visible signs of deterioration like bits of rubber and metal hanging down from them comes back into position the spring will end up out of position. Cue some spectacular vibrations at road speed.

Talking of axle travel, lots of this means death for suspension bushes. You have to accept that these have a limited lifespan – but at the same time, the guy doing the selling has to accept that this doesn’t mean it’s okay to try and flog you a Defender that needs a whole new set just so you can get it home safely.

As we’ve already mentioned, jumping on and off the throttle during your test drive may well cause a clonking noise. After checking for the dreaded mainshaft wear or a knackered universal joint in one of the propshafts, take a look at the suspension. Favourite culprits are the A-frame ball joint and trailing arm bushes, so get underneath with a pry par and go through the whole lot.

If the A-frame ball joint will go up and down when you put leverage on it, it’s worn; if the suspension bushes will go sideways or up and down, they are too. Look for bits of metal or rubber hanging out of them, as well as rust around the bolts.

If the vehicle tries to torque-steer under acceleration or deceleration, the rear radius arm bushes could be at fault. If it wanders about a

straight line and pulls to one side under braking, those at the front are also suspect.

Steering and brakes Not all Defenders were fitted with power-steering, but many early ones either had it as an option or have gained it since then. Most people see it as being more or less essential, though it does add something extra to go wrong.

Check the PAS box very carefully for leaks, as it’s incredibly prone to them – believe it or not, during very cold weather the metal can contract enough to let fluid out around the seal. The condition of the pump is also important as, if it starts to break up, bits can get into the fluid and wreck the box.

Many PAS boxes squeal on full lock as a matter of course, so don’t be alarmed by this, but get the seller to waggle the wheel from side to side and listen for other noises as the system works. Try heaving the wheel from side to side yourself, too, to look for play in the box – this can be adjusted out to an extent, but a PAS box will probably respond to the disturbance by leaking.

Worn drag links and track rod ends are a classic MOT fail, so look for these too – and make sure the joints aren’t seized into the track rod

or drag link tube. One other potential source of trouble is the steering damper, which will cause shudders to come back through the steering if it’s in a bad way. This can also be caused by worn panhard rod bushes, though, so don’t jump to conclusion.

The most simple way of checking the brakes is to pull up sharply a few times. If you stop in a straight line, chances are they’re working properly. If you don’t, they might still be fine, as this can also be caused by worn suspension bushes.

Having pulled up sharply, now pull up really sharply. Ensuring you’re somewhere safe, stand on the brake pedal to see if all four wheels lock up. Obviously, this won’t work so well on a Defender with ABS. Leaking brake cylinders are incredibly common, though there’s no way of examining them without starting to dismantle things. If you find the brakes are working okay, you have to assume the cylinders are in good condition. The same doesn’t go for the rigid brake lines, though – get underneath the vehicle and look for signs of them rusting, which is something that can happen even on a Defender that’s otherwise sound.

Examine the discs, which you should check for wear, pitting, rusting and grooving. Make sure

It was bound to come up sooner or later, wasn’t it? Defenders are legendary for their ability to leak fluid from places where most vehicles don’t even have places. Some of this is down to rubbish DIY maintenance, some is down to cheap aftermarket seal kits and some is down to OE parts that never deserved to be on such an illustrious vehicle in the first place. In some cases, it’s obvious what the fluid is and where it’s coming from, but in others you need to look up. What you see here could have come from a number of different places, including the PAS box, which is extremely prone to leaking – so much so that in cold weather, the metal of its body can contract enough to let fluid out past the seal

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Above left, centre: Brake discs should be free of pitting, grooving and of course rust. A certain amount of wear is inevitable, unless they’re being sold as having just been fitted, but this should be in a good, uniform pattern that shows the pad is making even contact with the disc.

If the disc is wafer-thin, it’s ready for the scrap bin – and, worse, it’s a sign that the seller has been putting off what is essential maintenance.

Brakes can be cruddy even on an otherwise straight-looking Defender – note also the mud trappped on the upper spring mount here Above right: Something else that can happen on otherwise tidy Defenders is that the rigid brake lines start to rust. That’s a full replacement job for the seller to spring for if you find it the pad is making even contact with the disc – if it’s not, the wear pattern will make it very obvious indeed. You want the disc to have plenty of meat on it, too – if it’s wafer-thin, the seller has been cutting corners and is leaving whoever buys his truck to make it right. Your choice as to how you choose to express this to him.

On pre-1994 Defenders with drum brakes at the rear, these sometimes suffer from seized cylinders. They may also squeal in operation

– which could be down to wear, or simply be because they’re full of dust.

Interior We’ve all seen Defenders that look sweet from the outside but when you open the door it’s like breaking the seal on a portal to hell. And the state of the cabin is normally a good indication of the owner’s approach to maintenance in general, so don’t ignore it if it’s in a state.

Obviously, unless you’re buying some million-quid mod job you needn’t expect luxury. Still, if the dashboard has had lumps knocked out of it, been drilled full of holes or been eaten by a dog, it’s a sign that the rest of the vehicle has probably been treated that way too – and even if it hasn’t, do remember that second-hand Defender dashes don’t come either easy or cheap.

A mouldy or damp interior, meanwhile, is a sign that the vehicle hasn’t been driven in ages – or,

Above: A Defender’s interior is designed to work for its living, and a certain amount of war wounds is to be expected. All the same, when you’re taking on someone else’s old truck you need to be aware of what he or she has done to it. A few extra brackets and switches might not be much of a worry – but if the dashboard has been blown full of more holes than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, it’s going to be a mess however you look at it Below: At the opposite end of the scale, you’ll see Defenders on offer with lavishly retrimmed interiors. This can range from a subtle new covering for the seats or some sparingly used polished alloy funiture to full-house treatments that make your eyes pop out on stalks. No two of these are alike, but what they all have in common is that they’ve been done to somebody’s personal taste… or lack thereof. Some are absolutely beautiful and done to the very highest professional standard: others may or may not be well executed but if you go to see a Defender and its cabin makes you feel sick, don’t kid yourself about how much time and effort you’ll need to put into putting it right

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Inside Info • Find out where the vehicle has spent most of its life. If it’s been in the north of Scotland, by the coast or in some other hostile environment, look extra carefully for rust. A towbar that could have been used for pulling a boat should set off alarm bells, too • Some Tdi-era Defenders, if they’ve come from fleets, may still have one of the older engines. So don’t assume you’re getting a Tdi just because the vehicle is of that age. Look through the grille and check that the silver-coloured intercooler is there beside the radiator – if the radiator goes the whole way across, you know it’s not a Tdi • Prices can vary wildly for seemingly identical vehicles. It might just be down to the seller’s expectations – or, more likely, they may not be as similar as they look • Be realistic about what you’re going to spend - not just on buying the vehicle, but on running it. If you buy one for £7000 and spend £3000 on it in the first year, it’ll still be nothing like as good as one you could have had for £10,000 originally • All things being equal, pick-ups don’t fetch as much money as hard-tops, and Countys make more than either. Soft-tops are rare but popular with enthusiasts. If you’re thinking about buying one and converting it to a soft-top, check out the price of a set of hood sticks before committing yourself • If the back of the vehicle is all scratched up, that’s a sign that it has been used for serious load-carrying. Likewise a heavy-duty tow-bar. Defenders are built to cope with this sort of use, but it’s better if they haven’t had to • Look at the seats and dashboard. If they’re in good condition, it’s likely that the owner has looked after the rest of the vehicle, too

again, that the seller doesn’t care about looking after his truck. Don’t be too worried about splits in the seat fabric, though, as this isn’t usually as bad as it looks, but that doesn’t mean you should shrug your shoulders if the seats are completely destroyed. Check the belts while you’re about it, too – and look at the bottoms of the seat boxes, which are a favourite spot for corrosion.

At the opposite end of the scale, you’ll see Defenders that have had vast sums of money spent on their interiors. The results can be incredibly classy – but if it hasn’t been done to your personal taste, even a very expensively created cabin can look horrendous. Again, it’s not necessarily a reason to reject a vehicle – but while it might cost a pretty penny to sort out, you needn’t expect the seller to knock anything off because you happen not to share his taste… nor

indeed to be very impressed when you suggest that he should.

Doing the Deal If you’ve taken a punt on an eBay auction and somehow not been outbid at the last minute by a time waster with zero feedback, congratulations.

You’ve just won a mystery prize which may well destroy the next portion of your life. Hopefully you’ve skipped right to the end of this article, because there’s nothing in rest of it that will be able to save you. Good luck, though.

If you’re buying from a dealer, be sure you’re getting a level of support that justifies the price you’re paying. You want a fresh MOT with no advisories, a blemish-free service record and a warranty that means what it says. As we mentioned above, read the small print.

In private sales, obviously the MOT and service record remain very desirable. You’ll already have checked the vehicle’s MOT history on the DVLA website – it’s okay for a seller to obscure the number plate in his pictures for security, but if he’s wary about disclosing it in a private message you need to assume he’s trying to stop you seeing something.

The same goes for a matching set of numbers on the chassis, engine and so on. Stealing Defenders and stripping them for parts is a major criminal industry, and one that’s the scourge of all honest Landy owners; if you come across one whose ID has been hidden, or whose numbers don’t match up, you must assume you’re looking at stolen goods. Quite apart from the moral case against this, just because you paid money for one in good faith doesn’t mean

It may sound suspicious to the point of paranoia, but Defenders frequently tend to be loaded with bolt-on kit and accessories. If you go to view one, do the deal and arrange to go back later to pick it up, what guarantee do you have that all that kit won’t have been bolted back off again in the meantime? Of course, now you don’t want the vehicle any more, because you know the seller’s a crook, but he’s got your money and what a surprise, when you turn up and discover this he just happens to have half a dozen big psycho-looking mates round at the time and they’re all tooled up. We don’t want you thinking that all Land Rover sellers are crooks, but they certainly do exist. Get a receipt that fully details everything on the vehicle – including the wheels and tyres, and even the engine and gearbox, because there are people out there who’d think nothing of swapping any of these things for cheaper and/or duff ones while your back is turned. If at all possible, taking the truck home with you there and then is the best way of ensuring this doesn’t happen

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you can’t have it taken off you when the law catches up with it. Buyer beware.

Ringing round a few insurance companies is likely to score you some wildly varying quotes, especially on a modified vehicle. Some insurers will refuse to touch a Defender without it having a tracking device fitted, while others simply don’t understand what Land Rovers are all about. If you’re talking to someone who thinks it’s a performance car because it has a 2286cc engine, for example, it’s time to talk to someone else…

Obviously, negotiating a price is all about what you’ve found wrong with the vehicle. We’ve not included a price guide in this article, simply because for so many Defenders it’s simply a case of putting your finger in the air – and also because once you get back to before about 2005, so few of them are standard that you’re almost

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never comparing like for like. Original examples always attract a premium, however, especially if they’re rarities such as the special editions mentioned elsewhere in this article, and if it’s a bona fide classic you can just about name your price.

Much as traditional Defender fans like to deride them, ‘bling’ vehicles also attract a lot of attention when they come up for sale. While a modified off-roader is likely to fetch less than a standard one, a street machine with a quality paint job and a classy interior can do very well indeed – though by the same token, Land Rover buyers are a knowledgeable lot and a crummy effort at hopeful money will get short shrift.

Whatever you buy, if it’s loaded with accessories you need to be sure that they’ll still be there when you go back to collect it. Ideally, you want to take the vehicle away then and there, but if not you should get a ‘sold as seen’ receipt which lists everything relevant. This sounds incredibly cynical and suspicious, but we’ve heard all sorts of stories – you don’t want to find that the nice new set of wheels and tyres you thought you were getting has turned into a manky old set of steels with a bunch of mismatched remoulds on them.

We’d even counsel you to check that the engine number and so on hasn’t changed when you go back to collect your new truck.

With that, you’re ready to drive home. Did we mention the unbelievable level of road tax on some Defenders? There’s no a lot you can do about that one, but it’s worth swallowing if it happens to apply to your ideal truck. This is, after all, a purchase which, if you look after it, will last you the rest of your life without ever depreciating.

Which is one of the main reasons why, however much of a minefield it may seem, buying a Land Rover Defender is the best thing you’ll ever do.

Buy Like a Pro As well as grilling our panel of experts on what to look at when buying a Defender, we asked them about the kind of vehicles they like to deal with – and the kind they try to avoid. Each has his own preferences, but in general terms the same answers kept cropping up time after time…

Likes • Pampered, privately owned vehicles • Ex-utility Defenders that have been looked after and haven’t been hammered • Late models in good condition • Tdis that haven’t been neglected • Honest Td5s that haven’t been excessively messed about with • Straight Pumas with full service history in factory-standard condition • Anything with good history and not too many previous owners

Dislikes • Ex-site vehicles • Anything showing signs of having had a very hard life • Pre-Tdi diesels • Very highly modified off-roaders • Vehicles whose engines have been tuned to a ridiculous degree • Interiors that look like a dog’s dinner, or a tart’s handbag • Any Defender that’s going to have had dozens of different drivers

25/02/2021 23:41

DEMO-GRAPHICS Words: Rob Boseley Pictures: Terrafirma

With more and more modified Ford Rangers and Jeep Wranglers appearing at the top end of the off-road scene, you might be forgiven for thinking no-one is doing it with Land Rover Defenders any more. But while 90s and 110s have indeed been redefined by their galloping values, they’re still right at the heart of the UK off-road scene – as very ably demonstrated by this slick new demo truck from Terrafirma, and of course its cool Union Jack artwork

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O

ver the last few years, we’ve seen a steady drop-off in the number of Land Rover Defenders being used for off-road projects.

People who would once have built one almost by default have been turning to the Jeep Wrangler or Ford Ranger instead, as Defender values have continued to go up and up to the point where they’re just too valuable to risk trashing.

But there’s life in the old dog yet. The Defender has turned into more and more of a classic since it went out of production, and the advent of the new one doesn’t appear to have changed that, but quality builds are still being done. And the aftermarket which supplies the parts for those builds is still thriving.

Indeed, said aftermarket continues to develop new products at a relentless pace. And this 2010 Defender 110 2.4 TDCi is a very good example of that – as well as being pretty tidy evidence of the fact that people are still building them the way they ought to be built.

Having started life in the service of the Military Police, the 110 came to Terrafirma last year as a standard-specification truck with a good, well known history – just what you want if you can’t be starting with a brand new one. Which, obviously, you can’t when they stopped making them four years ago.

Since then, it has been turned into a spectacular self-propelled advert and a calling card that illustrates exactly what the company is all about.

‘It shows people what they

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The 110’s suspension is a tick-list of all the good stuff, with +2” springs and 8-way adjustable remote-reservoir dampers mounted in tubular towers. Caster corrected front radius arms compensate for the effects of the lift, while cranked trailing links add articulation at the back – something that’s also aided by relocation cones all round can do using our products,’ explains Terrafirma boss Eddie Priscott. ‘We want to offer accessories that they haven’t seen before – things that move the game forward, so that if they buy from us their Land Rover will have something their mates’ don’t.’

But let’s start with something your mates might have – but this 110 doesn’t. One of our closest off-roading acquaintances spent a small fortune a couple of years ago to become the owner of a TDCi Defender with a lavish suite of performance upgrades fitted in-house by a very well established tuner. On the way home from picking it up, its dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, and a few months later he’d had enough and got rid.

Eddie knows all about this stuff – which is why, despite what you might expect, engine-wise at least you’re looking at a stock ‘un. He says he would only tune a Defender to make it more economical, but that seems a bit futile when adding a roof rack and snorkel is going to drop its

fuel consumption into the teens anyway. Add in the barrage of electronic issues and dash warning lights you hear about so frequently, and he’s been happy to leave well alone.

In other areas, it’s a very different story. And while the aim hasn’t been to turn the 110 into the ultimate off-road weapon, its ability has definitely been enhanced.

They’re the kind of enhancements that don’t come at the expense of a vehicle’s on-road ability, which is something you hear a lot. Sometimes as an excuse for doing it a bit half-heartedly, but in this case it’s the opposite – the mods have been chosen with thought, and carried out to the highest standard possible.

There’s nothing new about a 2” suspension lift, for example. But when the longer springs are backed up by 8-stage remote reservoir shocks, you know you’re looking at the good stuff. ‘You can adjust them to suit the balance of ride and handling you want, or the load you’re carrying,’

explains Eddie. ‘I normally keep them set at level 2-3, as I’m tending to use the 110 unladen – obviously the equipment we’ve fitted does have some weight in it, though it’s not as much as you might assume, so there’s no need to go over the top with the damping.’

The big one for weight on a build like this always tends to be the winch and its bumper – however, while this isn’t something you’d want to try balancing on the end of your nose, it’s way lighter than some of the traditional solutions. And we’re not just talking about the old ARC favourite of making everything out of scaffold, either.

Believe it or not, Terrafirma’s new Skeleton bumper and A12000 winch only tip the scales at about 45kg between them. That’s impressively light, given the strength in the former, which has a 6mm steel plate winch tray, and the series-wound 6hp motor giving the latter its 12,000lb of pulling capacity. Having a huge amount of weight slung out ahead of your front axle is the worst possible

Above left: Terrafirma’s new Skeleton bumper looks pretty jaw-dropping on the front of the Defender, and with its upswept ends it allows for the best possible approach angle. It’s home to the company’s big-selling A12000 winch – and with the latter wound with the synthetic rope that comes with it as standard, the whole assembly weighs in at less than 45kg Above right: More good stuff from the Skeleton range – these rear corner protectors are the perfect answer to nadgery breakovers, and note the grippy section for access to Terrafirma’s newly designed ladder

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thing for your vehicle’s steering, ride and handling, so keeping this to the minimum is always going to be beneficial.

Better still, it doesn’t get heavy in terms of price, either. You’re looking at something in the region of £450 for the winch – and that gets you 80 feet of 11mm synthetic rope, too, as well as both wired and wireless remotes. Anticipating your next question, Eddie comments that ‘we’ve sold more than 1000 in each of the two years since it was launched, and we’ve had almost no warranty claims on them. We’ve got a full spares support service for people who need it, too.’

The taller suspension, which is catered for by caster-corrected radius arms and an adjustable panhard rod, makes room for a set of 285/75R16 BFGoodrich KM3 Mud-Terrains. These stand at about 33” tall and 11” wide, so they’re a less lardy answer than the 33x12.50s you often see; they’re mounted on 7x16” Terrafirma Dakar rims, with a 30mm offset to give the vehicle the right stance and side-to-side balance.

On that subject, Eddie says he’s tried numerous tyre sizes over the years and reckons this is the best thing you can get for a Defender, giving it as much size as it needs without wrecking its overall gearing, needing clunky great spacers so you can go round corners or putting you in mortal danger of brake fade every time you go down a hill that’s longer than the truck’s wheelbase.

Not that stopping would be a problem on this vehicle anyway, as it runs an upgraded system using Terrafirma performance pads and crossdrilled, grooved discs with a superbike-style ‘wave’ edge pattern for better still heat dissipation. If you get these things too hot, you really need to learn what engine braking is for…

Eddie points out that the Terrafirma pads bite better when cold, too – which is definitely worth thinking about when you’re off-roading. Drive it right, and you might not get on the anchors for half an hour at a time or more, and in typical British conditions that means they’ll be properly chilly – not ideal when you want instant bite, but these pads are designed to get over that.

The brakes are fed by extended stainless steel hoses, as you’d expect with a suspension lift – especially one that’s part of a system designed to dislocate. Relocation cones are fitted front and rear, along with cranked trailing links at the back and extended polyurethane bump stops.

Everything is made to be both functional and extremely strong.

In the case of the heavy-duty halfshafts, CV joints and steering rods, being very strong is their function. The same can be said of the diff and fuel tank guards, as well as rock sliders and rear bumper corners which also come from Terrafirma’s Skeleton range.

Elsewhere, you can’t help but have noticed Terrafirma’s raised air intake, which is a brand new design, as well as the company’s low-line roof rack and rear ladder. And as well as LED upgrades to the headlamps, something very cool indeed is the new bulkhead light mounting kit which allows a pair of LED spots to be positioned at the bottom corners of the windscreen. If there’s anything cooler than the swoopily shaped spare wheel carrier, though, we’re yet to see it…

There’s no such thing as an uncool snorkel, but there are precious few as cool as this new design from Terrafirma. Also new, and cool, is the company’s bulkhead LED light mount – and if you didn’t think it was possible for Defenders to look sexy, just clap your eyes on that spare wheel carrier. Even sexier are Terrafirma’s performance brake discs – note the superbike-style wavy edge to help heat dissipation. The roof console is one of several items helping you make better use of the 110’s cavernous interior space, and the fuel tank guard and rock sliders are part of an extensive range of off-road protection products

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Seat fabric was originally designed for, we kid you not, Formula 1 racecars. Good to see it finding a home in something interesting

Inside, it’s set up for better use of space, with Terrafirma’s own cubby box, roof console, dash store and parcel shelves all offering places for your odds and ends. You’ll be doing well to notice any of this, however, when you clap your eyes on the inside of this Defender and see its seats – which have been treated to an F1 retrim.

Yes, really. Eddie tells the story that the material was originally created for Red Bull, but the team turned it down because it was too heavy.

Creating a Defender with a strong claim to be considered the world’s funkiest sounds like a pretty natural way to trade up from a purpose like that, at any rate. ‘We wanted something that looks classy and contemporary,’ says Eddie. ‘But quilted leather seats aren’t what we’re about. We needed them to be tough and comfortable, as well as breathable and wipe-clean.’

So, how funky does this 110 rate on a scale of one to, well, max funkiness?

Oddly enough, it’s one of

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those vehicles which, by being very good at everything, might fall short for people whose idea of the ultimate Defender is completely without compromise.

As Eddie has just explained, Terrafirma isn’t the place to go if you want a 90 or 110 build solely to tart your way around town: if million-quid leather treatments and monumental stereos are your thing, you’ll probably be looking at this one and thinking if only.

You might also be thinking that if you want your ideal Defender to be as hardcore as possible, too. This one is clearly showing some major enhancements over standard – but if your idea of heaven is a fully lockered, triple-winched trayback running 40” Maxxis Trepadors on beadlock rims, chances are that what you see here is your dream towing barge.

For everyone in the middle, though, it’s spot-on.

You could use this Defender as a daily driver without any problem at

all – and when you want to show it some proper action, it’ll be with you every step of the way. It certainly shows off what Terrafirma is all about, and in its muted blue Union Jack wrap is looks cooler than even the majority of the poshed-up 90s manage to be.

For a while there, it was looking as if we might have seen the end of off-road Defenders. People were flocking to take them back to standard, or tart them up with shiny bits, and the steady stream of quality hardcore builds we were used to seeing seemed to have dried up. Some clubs had even started setting out RTV trials to suit Freelanders instead, because their members said their 90s were too valuable to knock about.

Would this translate itself into a collapse in demand for off-road accessories, we wondered?

Well, this Defender appears to provide a pretty unequivocal answer. Terrafirma clearly hasn’t seen any reason to think the rise and rise in Defender values is stopping people from using them properly – indeed, it’s bringing out new products all the time for the 90 and 110 alike.

So no, the end of the Defender as an off-road machine is not nigh. People haven’t stopped building them – it’s just that, if anything, they’ve started building them better. Which is definitely where Terrafirma comes in.

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YANKEE DOODLE Back in the early 1990s, Land Rover was only just beginning to grasp the Defender’s potential as a lifestyle vehicle. Yet its first foray into the leisure market remains arguably the best of all time; the North American Specification NAS 90 may not even have been sold in the UK, but this V8-engined soft-top beauty remains an oft-imitated icon among Land Rover enthusiasts to this day Words and Pictures: Mike Trott

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LANDY

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he Americans always seem to get all the best things. They get to live in places like California, Vail, Vermont, the Hamptons or a chic apartment in the Empire State Building. They look out their back windows and see not pigeons and squirrels but raccoons, armadillos and brown bears. In America, you’re born with a perfect suntan, you grow up driving a classic open-top Corvette or Thunderbird, Yellowstone is only ever an hour’s drive away and the girl next door always looks like Taylor Swift. Fact.

So please, tell me why we Brits gave the USA and Canada our precious Land Rover Defender as well? And not just any old Defender either – no, we handed over a soft-top version with cool alloy wheels, nice paint and a splendid 3.9-litre V8.

Was it not enough that we’d given the Americans television, the World Wide Web (oh yes we did) and the Range Rover? Did they not have enough V8 beauties waltzing around their vast expanse of land already?

I’m not a bitter person… honest. But to me, giving the Yanks what we’ve come to know as the NAS (North American Specification) 90 is a bit like grilling a piece of prime fillet steak better than you ever have before, and then giving it to your neighbour.

No doubt said neighbour would appreciate the gesture, but realistically some things are just best kept for your own pleasure.

There is some good news, though. Because while Land Rover decided to shift a few thousand of the things over to North America, there’s a couple still lurking around on our shores.

Presumably someone was so dazzled by their brilliance, they forgot to put them on the boat.

One of these stay-at-home Defenders has found its way into the welcoming arms of the Dunsfold Collection down in Surrey. The Collection is made up of many strange and special Land Rovers, so seeing this soft-top 90 lined up against the likes of the 1965 OTAL (One Ton Amphibious Land Rover) and 1947 Centre Steer replica makes it seem a little… average.

But this is not an average Defender. Nor will the inhabitants of North America who bought one have been disappointed once they collected their new Land Rover.

Picture this: you have just picked up your NAS 90 from a dealer in San Francisco. It’s 10am and not a cloud in sight. Your destination is Huntington Beach in South LA and you fancy taking the scenic route – which, in this case, is the Pacific Coast Highway.

The deep blue ocean runs with you along the weaving coastline, greenery bursting at you from the hills as you glance to the left and the presence of the V8 plays away in the background, providing the flawless background symphony for your moment of picture-perfect bliss.

Rays of warm sunshine trickle through into the cabin, with a gentle cooling breeze whispering around your neck. The mohair soft-top is down, you are at one with the world and you couldn’t be happier. Not even if the

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Automatic transmission, air-conditioning AND a cool soft-top. Not to mention cup holders. Meanwhile in Britain, Defenders didn’t even come with a stereo as standard. It’s almost as if Land Rover was trying to rub our faces in it

aforementioned Ms Swift appeared by the roadside with her thumb in the air.

Admittedly, cruising down the coast of California and then milking the attention on the promenade of Long Beach is going to be a significantly different experience to trundling down the seafront at Skegness while drunks use your precious ragtop as a bin. Even so, it would have been nice for us Brits to have had the option. We do lead the way as Europe’s most eager consumers of soft-top vehicles, after all.

Unfortunately for the Americans – but fortunately for us – this Dunsfold Defender never got the chance to taste American soil.

Needing to cover their own backs, Land Rover held back this particular 90 in case there were

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any warranty disputes to contend with. It’s one of the later NAS 90s the factory produced, but interestingly it has a prototype cubby box – suggesting that this could be one of the very first automatic models.

Initially, in 1993, only the Defender 110 was offered to North America, with the 90 getting its boarding pass from 1994. These earlier exports were fitted with the 3.9-litre V8 and a five-speed manual transmission.

The Defender shown here has the later 4.0-litre V8 engine, as used in the UK’s own 50th Anniversary 90. And of course there are two big pedals in the footwell to go with the four-speed auto box – again, as used on the 50th Anniversary model.

It’s a little sad to think that this 90 never got the chance to stretch its legs down some deserted back road in the Mojave desert or, as was the case with most US 90s, pick its way up a rocky trail in the mountains overlooking Moab following a programme of imaginative and spectacular modifications.

Instead, Land Rover had some serious work in store for this Defender. The vehicle was used for emissions testing – as evidenced by its out-ofthe-ordinary tailpipe and the fact that its wiring loom has been disassembled.

The guys at Dunsfold have also discovered that this particular 90 was used on a rolling road while testing out new fuelling sensors during its working life. Previously it had been stored outside – perhaps the vehicle yearned for a life across the pond like its brothers and sisters – although this didn’t do it any good. The original hood disintegrated, which is why it carries a replacement in our pictures.

The North American Spec 90s would indeed go on to provide the general platform for the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition 90, which emerged in 1998. In the same year, regulations came in requiring front airbags – putting the nail in the coffin of Defender exports to North America, as the cost of redesigning it to meet these requirements would have far outweighed the vehicle’s sales potential.

So that was it for the NAS 90. After a short but glorious moment in the California sun, this most stylish of Defenders came to the end of its life all dressed up with nowhere to go.

There’s a silver lining, though. The NAS 90 was in there at the start of a revolution that saw the Defender take its first steps away from its agricultural heritage and towards becoming the style icon it is today. It was a very serious off-roader, but unlike almost anything the UK had seen it was cool, too. And Britain’s Defender builders – including Land Rover itself – have been imitating it every since.

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THE WOLF OF ALL To many people, the Wolf was the best vehicle Land Rover ever made. Built for and off-roaders alike, this was a Defender designed from the chassis up to have than ever before – all of which ensured this super-Landy would go straight to the Words: Mike Trott Pictres: Graham Blakeley

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STREETS

the Army and now highly sought after by enthusiasts greater strength, reliability and ease of maintenance top of the Solihull food chain

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hen a vehicle from decades past sticks in the public conscience, it’s normally because it was either stupendously good or woefully bad. The original Mini, for example: and the Austin Allegro.

Names play a part, too. Take the Nissan Sunny, for example. And the less said about the Ford Probe, the better. As for the word ‘Hummer’, it sounds like an adjective for a bad attack of wind after ten pints of bitter and a dirty curry. But even if that’s not a pretty image it’s plenty appropriate as an analogy for that vehicle…

Which brings us to iconic 4x4s. ‘Defender’ turned out to be a great name for the thing that used to just be called a Land Rover, for starters.

But when they needed a name for the superduper, bottom-kicking and world-conquering version of the Defender the Army asked them to build, they needed something with a bit more panache. ‘Invader’ might have helped with export sales to a few countries, but probably wouldn’t have carried the right message.

There’s a lovely rumour which says that during a meeting somewhere in Solihull, an engineer on the project warned that they needed to handle the project with care lest it come back to bite them.

‘Maybe we should call it the Wolf, then,’ someone quipped. True? Who cares.

Back when the Wolf was developed, the Army’s Land Rover fleet was getting distinctly past its sell-by date. The naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel engine is strong and dependable but a bit on the ancient side, and these 90s and 110s weren’t built to be any more squaddy-proof than the ones being sold to farmers.

The Wolf brought Army Landies into the Tdi era (leapfrogging the 200 and going straight to the 300) and put Our Boys aboard a fleet of trucks that had been strengthened in all the right places.

It was much, much more appropriate to its purpose at the time – but time never slows, and since then the need for greater protection against roadside bombs and the like has seen it replaced by newer, purpose-built military creations.

As a result, over the past decade or so these hardened combatants have been relieved of their military duties and told to go and find a life away from danger. To help them along the way, companies such as Agri-Plant SV (Special Vehicles) act as a sort of occupational therapist – a middle man, if you will, between the realms of the MOD and civilians.

Agri-Plant’s Graham Blakeley is one of these middle men, and he recently introduced us to one of his latest patients, this Wolf 90.

‘We gets loads of surplus MOD equipment, including a lot of Land Rovers,’ says Graham.

‘This being a Wolf, though, is better than standard. I think they’re amazing. I like taking them out on a test drive – they’re so much lighter and really fly along.

‘If I had one of my own, I’d probably change the colour to nighthawk black. I like the history behind them, but they are particularly sought after and consequently cost a fair bit.’

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Above: One of the defining differences between the Wolf and earlier military Defenders was under the bonnet – where, instead of the old naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel, you find a 300Tdi. The MOD had the option of using the Td5 (and some Wolf-spec trucks bought by the German government in 2003 did have this engine), but took the view that its increased reliance on electronics would make it a liability to maintain in the field Top right: Another advantage of buying a Wolf is that you won’t have to shell out on a roll cage. It’s as strong up top as it is underneath, this truck Above right: One attraction of this particular Wolf against most others is that the pioneer tools on its bonnet have managed to survive the demob process without disappearing Right: If you find yourself despairing every time you see the interior of a Defender from the Td5 era onwards, what do you reckon to the opportunity to climb aboard this one every morning in the knowledge that you’re its first registered owner? You’re looking at a proper Landy here and no mistake Graham and his colleagues took delivery of this Wolf straight from the MOD and had it checked over and prepared by a specialist before giving it their own final inspection.

‘We steam cleaned the vehicle and Waxoyled the undercarriage so it is in the best possible condition for the new owner. It is as yet still unregistered, and as such the new keeper will be its first registered owner.’

You could look at is as a passing-out parade for military vehicles – carefully dressed up and readied for their next adventure. Agri-Plant moves on other vehicles too, including tippers, dumpers and dozers, excavators, cargo trucks and even tanks. But with Landies like this around, you’ll struggle to notice any of that.

Lest we forget, the Wolf is by no means just a standard 90 with a chic name. A strengthened chassis and stronger axles make it well worth the premium, and when you combine 300Tdi power with the kerb weight of something like a Mercedes C-Class you’ve got a truck that can go places in every sense. Reaching the magic 100mph isn’t unheard of; in an old 2.5 nat-asp, that only happens if you’ve driven off a cliff.

Back in the mid-90s, when the original MOD order was placed, Land Rover was about to replace the 300Tdi with the Td5. But the Army wasn’t up for the more modern engine. When

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you’re playing chicken with RPGs, you’d rather not have a light come up on the dash saying ‘computer says no…’ As it happens, the Td5 has proved since then to be extremely reliable, but sometimes the ease with which a thing can be fixed is paramount.

‘We have the original CAST certificate issued by the MOD,’ continues Graham, ‘which covers all the vehicle data, chassis number and so on. The date into service is 01/04/1997, so registering it for the road would put this on a P-plate.’

Back then, some rudimentary sums using government figures on the value and size of the Wolf contract suggest that the Army paid about £21,000 apiece for these special Land Rovers.

As always, 90s would have been worth a little less than 110s, but you get the idea. We’re talking about a 30% price premium over what a standard 90 cost at the time – and that doesn’t include the sort of discount you get when you order 8000 trucks in one go!

That illustrates the cost of the work that went into making these Landies a cut above your average Defender. And when you consider the sort of prices people still ask for very ordinary old Tdis and early Td5s, a good Wolf is a classic case of ‘spend it once, spend it right’ – even at the five-figure prices they still tend to command now.

This one has 116,000 miles under its wheels,

but most of the time these supremely overengineered machines will have been used on fairly untaxing patrol duties – and let’s not forget that vehicles under the keep of the Ministry of Defence are maintained to the highest standard regardless of cost.

‘This Wolf may have been involved in reconnaissance missions,’ says Graham.

‘Certainly nothing to do with the Royal Marines, though, as it doesn’t have the aquatic kit on.

‘It still has the original explorer kit, though – which usually goes missing – including shovel, pick axe and the sling attached to the bonnet.’

Some versions of the Wolf were designed for tropical environments and others for winter surroundings – it’s essential to know what you’re getting if at all possible, and with its engine preheater and heated windscreen the latter could make a worthwhile choice if you’re planning to buy a Land Rover for everyday use.

Either way, the Wolf is Land Rover at its best.

Shrugging off what the world throws at it, it can adapt and survive in different climates – and as a predator, it’s right on top of the food chain.

As Defenders go, this is not your average squaddy. Strong, smart, highly trained and honed for action, it’s more like James Bond. No wonder it’s the pick of the ex-MoD crop for everyone who knows a good truck when they see it.

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AERIAL B

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BOMBARDMENT Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Harry Hamm

The first thing you’re likely to notice about Tony Vincent’s Defender 90 is that it has a lot of antennae. But it’s more than just a self-propelled base station – it’s a HF/VHF/UHF rig that can broadcast from the sort of places where radio stations are seldom to be found

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back in the days when hardcore modded Discoverys were still a rarity, one of the most hardcore of the lot was built by a chap called Tony Vincent. He’s gone on to become a pretty well known name in off-road circles, as he’s the man who created Bonkas 4x4 – one of the most active clubs in Britain.

Bonkas, and Tony, are based in South Wales and have come to know the region’s lanes and play sites very well. The club is also known locally for its volunteering, and when the weather gets dodgy its social media pages quickly light up with members offering assistance to those in need.

But while Bonkas has been getting bigger, Tony’s Land Rover has been getting smaller. The Discovery has given way to a Defender 90 200Tdi, though while it’s shorter in reality there’s nothing very small about it. Apart possibly from how you feel when you’re stood next to it, because as well as a +3” lift and 35” tyres it has about a foot and a half of roof rack sat on its gutters – and enough radio antennae to make you wonder whether BBC actually stands for Bonkas Broadcasting Club.

Starting at the bottom, those tyres are 35x12.50R15 Cooper Discoverer STT Pros. They sit on steel modulars, which in turn are bolted via 30mm spacers to a pair of axles containing Ashcroft halfshafts and four-pin diffs.

Sitting on top of the axles are +3” springs and +5” shocks. The latter are hosted up front by tubular top mounts, while those at the back are Terrafirma units with an adjuster dial on their lower body. Staying at the back, the springs sit on lifted mounts and run relocation cones up top. The trailing links here are cranked to allow more droop, while the radius arms up front are mounted to the axle using polyurethane bushes.

That’s more than enough to make a very capable more capable still, but Tony has stopped short of putting together a full-house toybox build. It’s not made for loony-tune articulation or mongo challenge unbreakability, but for superior green lane skills and all-round competence as a recovery truck in what is, at the end of the day, an all-round daily driver.

You’d expect a build like this to include a winch and so it does, in the shape of a 13,000lb unit mounted on an ARB bumper and bull bar. There’s another at the back, too, tucked away behind the crossmember and hidden beneath the floor.

Not surprisingly, the truck’s electrical capacity has been boosted to cope with its hefty potential for extra draw when winching, and there are now two Optima Yellow-Tops looking after it. These also provide the juice for the radio system behind all those antennae.

At the heart of this is a Yaesu 857D HF/VHF/ UHF transceiver, which the manufacturer says ‘provides base station type performance’ in what is the world’s smallest unit of its type. Yaesu’s own Atas-120 VHF/UHF antenna is the big beast you see up front, and in addition there’s a Wilson 1000 CB whip and a pair of VHF antennas further back. The whole rig is boosted by a Texas Star 1200w amp – if you know your radio chat, you

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Both axles are original to the vehicle, all the way down to the rear drum brakes which were still standard on Defenders when this one was built. They’ve got heavy-duty halfshafts and four-pin diffs inside them, all sourced from Ashcroft, and lifted spring mounts at the rear.

Suspension is by +3” coils and +5” shocks, with tubular top mounts up front and relocation cones at the back

Above: An ARB winch bumper and bull bar provides massive protection up front, and there’s more down below in the shape of a solid steel steering guard. The sills won’t bend for anything, either – and with mounting points for a high-lift jack they’re one of the first routes of recovery should the 90 get beached Below: Rear winch is neatly tucked away under the floor and behind the crossmember. Its tray provides handy mounting rings for a pair of recovery shackles

A mushroom-style snorkel is decidedly old-school Defender, and what’s not to love about that? The same could be said about the box-section roof rack, though its angular design might lead to a few shuddering moments on the lanes. The curved LED bar is very sexy – in fact, it’s about the only curved thing you’ll see on a Defender, and between it and another array on the bumper, it lights the road ahead for about ten times the 90’s stopping distance

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The 200Tdi engine is often referred to as the best unit Land Rover has ever made. Tony’s is pretty standard, but the stuff around it has been liberally upgraded. There’s a performance aluminium radiator up front, complete with electric fan, as well as a higher-capacity intercooler, and at the other end you’ll find a straight-through, side-exit stainless exhaust. A bit of a rummage around would unearth a K&N air filter in there, too, as well as a couple of silicone hoses to help it all flow right

might be familiar with the phrase ‘blowing my windows out,’ and from what we experienced on board another Bonkas vehicle this is almost literally true of what Tony’s 90 can pump out.

Elsewhere inside the vehicle, it’s the very picture of a well sorted Defender. Not so much for the ultimate in off-road prep but for being able to get both into and out of every sort of situation you could reasonably expect to encounter in the real world. Recovery gear is housed in an ammo box bolted to the floor, for example, and there’s an ARB compressor feeding an air tank for tools and tyres alike. And also for a train horn…

You’ll see a power inverter here, too, alongside a twin mains plug on the back of the bulkhead, and between this and the second battery tray is a triple-burner hob.

Camping gear and recovery kit taking pretty much equal precedence here…

The whole lot is arranged around the rear stays for a full internal-external roll cage and anchoring straps for a set of four-point harnesses. These keep the vehicle’s occupants securely strapped in to a pair of seats from an Audi Quattro.

With LED headlamps and light bars on the front and back of the roof, this is a 90 that’s set up to get places, get home again afterwards and never be lost in between times. You wouldn’t expect the head honcho in such a vibrant off-road club to lose his bearings while leading a lane run, after all.

Not that it would be a problem – though if such a thing were to happen, you

can expect the banter to be more than a little merciless. ’I did a little off-roading myself and enjoyed it so much I created Bonkas 4x4, in order to enjoy a hobby with like minded people,’ Tony explains. ‘With so many members there is always someone up for a bit of off road fun, and we have such good marshals who run our events too.’

No small matter, that, and nor is the age-old Land Rover thing. You know, that Land Rover thing. ’All Land Rover owners have to learn basic mechanics,’ laughs Tony. ‘If anyone has problems on a run, marshals and members all help each other out.’

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That’s the very essence of a club, and all the members of Bonkas 4x4 have a lot to thank Tony for. He might not have realised it at the time, but the club he started back then has grown beyond his wildest expectations.

The same might not need to be said about his Defender, though having downsized in chassis length from his old Discovery he’s now got a vehicle with really serious off-road ability but not enough modificationss to make it a liability.

It’s a 90 to be proud of, this one – and while its spec list may be just enough, the way it looks is brimming with attitude.

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Burning Desire

What does the future hold for an old 127 fire engine after years of neglect? In the case of this one, it held a nut and bolt restoration – and a bit more besides. By the time Brian Tonks was finished with it, this big beast of a Defender was looking better than ever before…

Words and pictures: Mike Trott

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hen I was growing up, like most small boys I always appreciated the scale and presence of a fire engine. Standing at the side of the road as the piercing howl of sirens approaches, following by the insistent flashing of all those blue lights… it was something no mere ambulance or cop car could match. Enough to leave a bus queue on the floor in a puddle of seizures, at any rate.

While I’m on the subject, I once had the responsibility of calling the fire brigade after a stricken damsel next door had failed in her quest to make beans on toast. Two fire engines were promptly at the scene… and pretty soon they were gone, too, once they had satisfied themselves that the beans were only mildly baked and sometimes, actually, there is smoke without fire.

Off-duty, I’m sure the firemen all had a chuckle at the poor woman’s expense. I certainly did, and I wouldn’t even know which end of a fire extinguisher to point at the burny stuff.

I also like to think that when their work is done, firemen drive home in vehicles that look like fire engines. Every last scrap of logic tells me this is ridiculous and they go about in Fiestas like the rest of the world, but in my head they should stay in character and drive something big, impressive and red. And I think I may have found just the vehicle for the job.

Brian Tonks isn’t a fireman, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had told me he was. That’s because his daily drive is this superlatively restored Land Rover 127 Crew-Cab Hi-Cap. It’s definitely big and extremely red – and as for impressive, well, it’s hard to know where to start.

This Defender is, for sure, a proper titan among vehicles. See it on (or indeed off) the road and, if it had a Transformers badge on the front, you could happily convince yourself that underneath is a tenstorey high machine called Renegade.

But this is no mere Transformer. Instead it has bold, black Land Rover lettering on a glossy red body – which, it should be stated, was not always in such top condition.

Brian is the owner of Tonks 4x4 in Huthwaite, just west of Mansfield. He’s been working on vehicles

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While he was rebuilding the 127, Brian changed its engine for a 200Tdi. This is more powerful than the old 2.5 TD unit and, heaven knows, more reliable. Another more prosaic concern was that had he tried to fit anything newer, he would have ended up knocking heads with the DVLA’s points system for modified vehicles, and nobody takes that on and wins. These days, engine and body alike sit on a galvanised chassis and bulkhead: the only point of familiarity there with the vehicle in its pre-refurbished form is that ‘sitting on’ is exactly what its body was doing to the previous frame - it was literally held together by gravity. The previous owner had had it for six or seven years with an eye to restoring it, according to Brian, but finally gave in to reality and let it go to someone with the time and facilities to actually get it done

“This is sort of a British take on some of the big American pick-ups. If points weren’t an issue, I’d probably consider a Cummins conversion” most of his life, completing the restoration of his first classic car at the age of 15.

He’s a bit of an off-roading enthusiast too, though. And it was the need to combine that passion with a reliable and practical workhorse led him to the 127.

This Landy, originally a quick response fire appliance at Coventry Airport, would have been the first on the scene should the worst have happened. ‘The guy who had the truck before me had wanted to do a rebuild on it, but after six or seven years he decided to sell up,’ Brian explains.

‘It wasn’t in the best shape when it came to me.

The body was just sat on top of the chassis and the rest was mainly in pieces.’

Just over a month later, Brian had transformed this shed of components into a capable off-road

tool with more than enough room for some tools of its own in the back. ‘I had a 110 Crew-Cab before, so there wasn’t loads of room in the back.

The 127 came up and it made sense in terms of practicality. I can fit all the family in and it has a high towing capacity, which is useful for work or when the missus uses it for the horsebox! It’s just nice to have something different.’

Different, it certainly is. Aside from the fact that you don’t see many 127s about, full stop, you see even less with old airport livery masking sections of the body. You’ll find a couple of strobes on the tailgate, for example, as well as on the front A-bar, which warn followers that this machine is not to be messed with.

The lights and rescue decals aren’t the only nice touches, though. There are new side steps, a

Puma bonnet and a KBX front grille, while inside Brian really has made it a true all-rounder – the stylish Exmoor Trim seats are a big improvement over the original bum-holders. Shame about the radio, which was stolen just days before we met Brian, but at least they didn’t get take the rest of the truck with it.

It’s not just about the looks, though. Like many of Brian’s projects, the 127 went through a complete nut and bolt rebuild as well as what he calls a ‘straightforward’ bobtail job. Now, with a galvanised chassis and bulkhead to boast of, it’s ready to serve another quarter of a century without blinking.

‘We’ve kept all the original parts, he says.

‘Except for the engine, which is now a 200Tdi. It was a simple choice, really – it has more power

Wake up inside this Landy and you wouldn’t peg it for being a quarter of a century old. The modern dash and cubby help there, as do a very nice set of Exmoor Trim seats

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and is great for what I need it for. Besides, anything newer would have cost me on the DVLA scoring system.’

Ah yes, that. One of the things that makes Britain great, and no mistake. ‘This is sort of a British take on some of the big American pick-ups,’ Brian continues. ‘If points weren’t an issue on the 127, I’d probably consider a Cummins conversion!’

The turning circle matches its American counterparts’, anyway, but the Land Rover machine is better looking (of course). It should be called Red Five. Its BFGoodrich Mud-Terrains help it tackle more than just highways (and runways), too.

So, what was it I was saying about off-duty firemen? This would be the perfect vehicle for Sam and Elvis to ride home in after a hard day’s work saving Pontypandy from its own extraordinary ability to go up in flames at the drop of a hat… or for taking the whole family out for a weekend’s camping adventure, with plenty of space in reserve for recovery equipment in case it snows a little and everyone with a super-sporty SUV gets hopelessly stuck in half an inch of the stuff.

However Red Five is actually in line to be superceded at some point, as Brian is working on a 6x6 rebuild at the moment. Because, you know, sometimes a mere 127 just isn’t big enough.

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As daily runabouts go, this will be even more unusual, but we admire the extraordinary and the different and that means we admire Brian and his vehicles really quite a lot.

As for the 127, it’s an extremely fine example indeed of how a well used but neglected old Landy can be given a new lease of life when someone who knows what they’re doing gets their hands on it as a project. From what had been allowed to descend into a disgruntled and soulless collection of parts to being reborn as a truly magnificent Land Rover, this is the happy tale of a truck that rose like a phoenix from the flames – and of one man’s burning ambition to create a smokin’ hot Defender.

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RAIDERS OF THE L Tomb Raider Defenders are among the most desirable and sought-after vehicles edition was created to cash in on the vehicle’s starring role in the 2001 movie of appearance they caught people’s imagination like few other Landies have ever chance… well, that’s a mistake you don’t make twice…

Words and Pictures: Mike Trott

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LOST 90 Land Rover has ever made. This short-run limited the same name, and between this and their cool managed. So failing to buy one when you had the

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here are moments in life when you might look back and wish you had taken up a certain opportunity. An example might be when you find yourself on Netflix, binge-watching your latest flavour of the month, and your partner offers you the choice of either watching the season finale or going to bed.

A glance at your phone, through the matchsticks, confirms that it is 3.47am. The remaining logic in your head tells you that sleep might be a wise option, especially as it’s a Tuesday morning and you have a presentation to give at work in under six hours.

But you don’t want to do that. You want to find out how it all ends. So, you hit play on the next episode, fall asleep regardless and only get woken when your two-year-old black lab thinks it’s time to lick your face clean of its skin. Your partner is long gone and it’s only then that you wonder if perhaps she wasn’t talking about sleep at all.

Either way, hindsight is certain to dictate that going to bed would probably have been the smarter choice.

Opportunities come and opportunities go. The opportunity to buy a Defender, for example, only lasted from 1982 to 2015.

Yet Mike Cinderby is a Defender enthusiast who found himself regretting the chance he never took. Back in 2001, he was eyeing up a

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The classic ye olde Defender style dash provides a perfect home for a tablet mount. This is joined inside the vehicle by an Alpine stereo amd a pair of heated Recaro seats. Behind them, the roll cage means there’s no need for a bulkhead, allowing more leg and headroom up front as well as better access throughout the vehicle

Defender but then he went and bought an Audi TT instead. And when he came to his senses, the Defender was gone.

No, it didn’t take him 14 years to realise what he had done. It happened a lot quicker than that.

But the year might give you a clue as to why he was so keen on this particular Defender. It was, you see, a Tomb Raider.

as she ventured out into, er, tombs, to, you know, raid them, and stuff.

As you can probably tell, we weren’t paying much attention to the plot. Who would, when there’s Angelina Jolie to look at? Sorry, when there’s Angelina Jolie’s Defender to look at?

The showroom take on Lara’s Landy was a little less exclusive than the actual movie motor,

“I knew exactly what I wanted.

Everything was specific. I like the fact that it’s now very personal to me – it’s my Marmite, isn’t it?!”

This special-edition model was created to cash in on the Defender’s appearance as Lara Croft’s weapon of choice on the silver screen.

For the original 2001 blockbuster, Land Rover built a sum total of three vehicles. No more than film props, their job was to carry Angelina Jolie

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with production restricted to 250 units. These were made up of 90 Station Wagons and 110 Double Cabs, and it was one of the former that Mike fell for – but, initially, rejected.

‘I’ve always wanted one, ever since they came out,’ he admits. ‘I ended up buying this one

just over ten years ago. It was one that Nene Overland had converted a few years after they came out.

‘It was before their Icon stuff came along and was too much money at the time. But then I saw the same vehicle being advertised by a private seller a while after and sort of jumped on it then.’

It would be reasonable to observe that he hasn’t looked back since then. To give you an idea of just how big a part of Mike’s life the Defender has grown to be, indeed, all you need to do is spend a moment speaking to him about where it lives.

‘It was always in my head to do my house up with a loft conversion, and then finally do the garage,’ he explains. ‘I’ve designed the garage around the Land Rover, even accounting for the height and dimensions of the door. It was the grand plan, as they say!

‘I’ve tried to keep the Defender half decent, but I use it for work and it’s been used like a dog in many ways – it’s still a real workhorse.’

Nonetheless, to try and keep it in decent nick last year he booked it in to Hereford 4x4 for a sevenmonth rebuild.

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With just 67,000 miles on the clock, the Defender didn’t need a new chassis but instead was treated inside and out with Buzzweld’s well known protection products. It got a galvanised bulkhead, too, which has helped to ensure its long-term future.

There’s now a Discovery transfer box deep within the bowels of the beast, while the suspension is running heavy-duty Old Man Emu shocks and springs on the rear.

Because the 90 was converted to a soft-top previously – and Mike’s wife had started calling it the Wind Wagon – he sourced a new top, sides and full-size doors (rather than the existing splittops) from a breaker prior to the rebuild, with the new elements being resprayed in a gleaming coat of Bonatti Grey.

The extent of the work done by Hereford 4x4 goes beyond just the body and engine, too. Inside the 90 you’ll spot heated Recaro seats, an Alpine sound system, a tablet holder and a (working) heated windscreen.

‘I knew exactly what I wanted,’ says Mike.

‘Everything was specific. I like the fact it’s now very personal to me – it’s my Marmite, isn’t it!’

This Tomb Raider 90’s recipe also includes a remap and a set of wheel spacers to help keep up that chunky posture. ‘Ever since I saw them in the showroom, it’s that rugged look that appealed to me. I suppose it comes from being a little boy and loving the Tonka Toy look.’

Now Mike has finally got his truck of choice, he can play with it to his heart’s

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content. Not that there’s anything wrong with Audi TTs, of course, but he won’t be making the mistake of turning his back on Lara Croft again.

You never forget your first love, as they say – and with Hereford 4x4’s outstanding work putting the cherry on top of an already rare and wonderful Land Rover, it’s a love that’s set to endure.

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FULL STEAM

Only a fire tender can carry enough water to satisfy the appetite of a traction happens to run out of steam in the middle of a muddy field. Even a fully laden a half of water, though. The solution? For Andy Webb, it was to create a Land Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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AHEAD!

engine – but only a Defender can get there if it 110 doesn’t have the capacity to carry a ton and Rover like no other…

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any years ago, Midlandsbased truck driver Andy Webb found himself going along to a steam fair. He decided to take the 110 Hi-Cap he owned at the time – little knowing that he was about to discover a whole new way of life.

It all started when someone got his traction engine stuck in the middle of a muddy field. No, it wasn’t stuck because of the mud. It was stuck because it had run out of water – and thanks to the mud, no-one could get close enough to bring it a fresh supply.

What self-respecting Land Rover driver wouldn’t jump in to help? Andy duly loaded the back of his pick-up bed and headed into the abyss – and within minutes, he was on his way to becoming a hero among steam enthusiasts the country over.

Before long, Andy’s 110 was as much a part of the British steam fair scene as real ale tents, polished brass and walls of death. The Land Rover became part of a team of water-carrying trucks dedicated to helping keep the engines moving, which included an ex-fire appliance and a few Series vehicles.

With the Defender proving its mettle even alongside job-specific fire trucks which were built to carry water, Andy soon began to hatch a plan to enhance its credentials even further.

His scheme hung on the notion of creating a 6x6 version of the 110, which would combined epic load-carrying ability with the endless traction for which Land Rovers are famed.

‘You don’t need the kind of off-road ability seen on challenge trucks,’ Andy says. ‘In essence, all you’re doing is getting across muddy fields.

But standard fire engines aren’t up to that task, whereas the Land Rovers manage it with ease.

So it seemed obvious to me that the ideal would be to combine the water capacity of the fire trucks with the 4x4 potential of the 110.’

The triple-axle conversion was surprisingly straightforward, says Andy, who did it by sliding a

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The standard rear propshaft runs to a through-drive Reynolds Boughton axle with an output flange on the back of its diff housing, and this in turn spins a further prop running back to the original rear Salisbury. Both rear axles are located using trailing arms and A-frames – those for the furthest back are welded to the extended portion of the chassis Reynolds Boughton through-drive unit in between the original Salisburys. A standard Land Rover prop runs from the transfer case to the middle axle, with another powering the third.

‘It’s deceptively simple,’ Andy told us. ‘There’s no over-engineering involved at all. It’s just a straightforward additional link to the drivetrain, and it works a treat!’ The whole plot runs on standard 110 springs and shocks, with A-frames keeping them in place – the only modification is a set of helper air-springs which are inflated when carrying a heavy load.

The trio of axles are turned by a 3.5-litre EFi V8, via an LT85 Santana gearbox. The engine started out on carbs, but Andy did his own Range Rover sourced EFi installation – adding 35bhp in

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the process – as well as converting the engine to LPG. There’s no need for anything clever in the rest of the drivetrain, though, nor indeed the suspension – it’s the extra axle that gets all the plaudits, spreading out the vehicle’s footprint to the extent that it can run 235/85R16 tyres (that’s a narrow 7.50 in old money) without sinking in.

No need for a flotation size here.

So, that was the easy bit. No, really, it was. The bodywork, on the other hand, was where Andy’s skills got their biggest test. Fortunately, he has plenty. ‘This was the most difficult part of the build,’ he says. ‘But we got there in the end. It was definitely a case of design by evolution.’

The ‘we’ in question refers to himself and David Howell, aka Swampy, who between them

removed the rear crossmember to make way for a crew-cab conversion using the pick-up bed from a Ford Transit. They actually ended up with a three-door, in fact – the fourth was turned into a solid panel to hold the LPG inlet pipe in place.

There’s a subtle little comedy reference to this in a sticker on the window where the door would be, which you can see in the picture opposite…

Both sets of rear wheels are covered by the pick-up bed, meaning there was no need for wheelarches. Then, with the Transit’s back body reconstructed on top, in went a pair of water tanks to give the Landy a payload of 1.5 tonnes.

‘We do a fair number of traction engine shows,’ Andy explained to us. ‘I also use the vehicle for family holidays, and the kids love riding in the

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The 110 still runs its original 3.5-litre V8 engine, but these days this is fuelled by a Range Rover EFi system instead of the old carbs. The engine was converted to run on LPG – and with an entire Ford Transit pick-up bed atop the two back axles, there was no shortage of space to lob in a couple of gas tanks between the chassis rails. Another interesting mod is the addition of a second alternator; four batteries are wired into two completely separate electrical systems, one for the vehicle itself and one for all its auxiliaries. Thus Andy can winch away to his heart’s content, knowing he’ll still be able to fire her up afterwards back!’ As you can probably imagine, even by Land Rover standards this truck is pretty handy in front of a caravan…

‘It’s always a laugh to turn up at camp sites with this outfit,’ Andy continues. ‘You get used to the double-takes as people try and work out just what you’re driving!’

As well as being every child’s dream ride, the cabin is a carefully designed work of fitness for purpose. So too is the rest of the vehicle, indeed, with four 12-volt batteries wired up into two separate systems – one for the vehicle itself and the other for all its auxiliaries. ‘It’s always amusing to finish using the winch for a lengthy

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recovery job,’ says Andy, ‘with the work lamps just dimming through lack of power, then jump into the cab with the engine starting on the button.

Onlookers can never quite work that one out!’

The winch he’s talking about is a four-tonne Husky mounted just behind the cab, which plays out through a fairlead in the rear subframe.

There’s also a six-tonne PTO unit on a homefabricated front bumper, and elsewhere the vehicle also carries an air compressor and 3KVA generator for use at shows. ‘The equipment is there for steam rallies,’ says Andy. ‘It’s integral to the design of the vehicle, and means it can do its job with the minimum of fuss.’

Giving your Land Rover an extra axle and building it a whole new back body can’t really be described as a low-fuss way of making it better at what you want it to do. Especially not when the job ends up taking 15 months out of your life.

Still, the results are absolutely worth it. Andy’s kids would agree on that – and so too would all the traction engine owners who wouldn’t be able to keep going without him.

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LIFESTYLE PIONEER Blinged-up 90s and 110s are ten-a-penny these days. But back in the early 1980s, all it took was some cloth trim and a bit of carpet to make the earliest County station wagons appear luxurious. This one is so early, it’s equipped with the ancient 2.25 petrol engine – meaning it can claim to be one of the first lifestyle Defenders ever built Words and Pictures: Mike Trott

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veryone knows that the roots of the original Land Rover stretch back to 1948. This was the year that witnessed the dawn of a new breed of motor vehicle, capable of doing more and going further than any four-wheeled machine before it.

And that’s pretty much how things stayed for the next 35 years. Sure, there were a couple of growth spurts in the wheelbase, a number of heart transplants and a nod towards safety with the introduction of seatbelts, and later on something that resembled a dashboard, but by and large Series vehicles were very much alike.

If the Series I represented Genesis then, surely, the Ninety and One Ten signalled the beginning of the New Testament – a step away from the old ways and a period of embracing newer technologies and automotive configurations.

Of course, this being Land Rover in the early Eighties, most of the body panels for the 90 and

110 vehicles came from the old Series Land Rovers anyway. But there were differences – and major ones, too.

The One Ten came first in 1983, followed by the Ninety a year later, but both models adopted new features such as coil-sprung suspension, front disc brakes and a permanent four-wheel drive system borrowed from the Range Rover.

But it wasn’t all about the mechanicals. Little modifications were made to establish the face of the new Land Rover and, in reality, started to piece together the ingredients that would form the icon we covet today.

The indented grille was ditched for a flushfacing frontage, while the split windscreen was replaced by a single-piece item. The result? A design that would continue for another 30 years until production would cease in 2016.

Nowhere is there a better example of those first changes being implemented than on a small,

unsuspecting Ninety found within the Dunsfold Collection. If you wanted to see a vehicle first-hand that captured perfectly the Land Rovers of the time, then end your search here.

This Station Wagon 90 was built among the earliest in 1984 and is finished in the County spec, denoting a more luxurious interior and plusher seats. I love the upholstery, purely because it’s so unique to the period.

Dunsfold has the good fortune to have known the vehicle since 1991. And the two-owner machine has been lovingly cared for while still retaining all of its original features, including engine, chassis, gearbox and even paintwork.

As this was one of the first 90s to be assembled, the Land Rover had to make do with one of the 2.25-litre petrol units carried over from Series III production. That marks it out as being a real rarity, because it was just a few months down the line that an enlarged 2.5-litre version of the engine would appear.

That’s definitely not a negative on this occasion, though, as the 2.25 petrol is an absolute sweetie and bumbling across the field in this 90 gives me nothing but joy. If I could add any 90 to my dream Land Rover garage, this may well be it.

Observing this Ninety is like coming across a screenshot of a happy memory captured many moons ago, and it looks as splendid now as I can imagine it did when the first owner picked it up back in 1984.

The 90s and 110s took Land Rover down a new path, but still possessed the soul that made all of these vehicles so special. And this Dunsfold gem is like looking through a window back in time – to the period where these changes were first being rolled out for the world to see.

Things like a clock and stereo, rear washwipe, fabric seats and a carpet on the floor marked out this 90 as something totally out of the ordinary. So too, obviously, albeit in a very different way, does its 2.25-litre engine

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A SENSE OF

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F LONGING With their ultra-long wheelbase, great weight and what could be called ungaily proportions, the 127 and 130 have a more limited audience among private buyers than the 90 and 110. Those enthusiasts who do take them on, however, tend to be very happy with their choice Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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our-door pick-ups seem to have been growing exponentially in popularity for as long as anyone can remember.

But there was a time, before the Isuzu-built Vauxhall Brava became the first Japanese double-cab officially offered in the UK, when the market consisted only of personal imports and one solitary, seldom-seen version of the Land Rover Defender.

This first appeared in 1983, badged as the Land Rover 127. Like the 90 and 110, it was named after its wheelbase, and also like them it was available with a choice of body types. The 110 didn’t get a double-cab option until more than a decade later, but the 127 was offering it from well before the arrival of Tdi engines and, with them, a change of name to Defender 130.

By then, it was already a hit with utility companies and armed forces alike. Its ability to transport crews and equipment into the back of beyond was pretty much unmatched, except perhaps by much bigger vehicles with running costs to match, and the flexibility it offered its customers was enormous.

Many 127s and 130s are still in service with the sort of operators who need what they alone can offer. But just as the 90 is more popular than the 110 with off-road enthusiasts, the longest Landy is seldom seen on green lanes or at playday sites.

That wheelbase makes it a handful to manoeuvre at the best of times – it’s not quite 50% longer than a 90, but it’s many times less convenient to pilot through the woods.

One thing you do notice of people who own 127s or 130s, however, is that they tend to absolutely love them. And when you cast doubt

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“I looked all over the place, and found it really tough to source a decent one. They command a premium if they’re in good order, so I was determined to spend my money wisely” upon their choice’s off-road ability, you’re likely to get an answer which is full of praise for what their vehicles can do.

People like Mark Townsend, for example, who bought his 127 from a friend and set about modifying it for life as an off-road training vehicle.

It was registered in 1983, putting it in the first year of production – but, by the time he was finished with it, boasted a level of spec much more in keeping with a later 130.

When Mark opened his off-road training centre, he decided he wanted a vehicle that could accommodate five people in forward-facing seats while also providing a separate storage area for muddy equipment. With no 110 Double-Cab on the market at the time, there was only one vehicle that was up to the job.

‘I looked all over the place,’ he told us, ‘and found it really tough to source a decent one. They command a premium if they’re in good order, so I was determined to spend my money wisely.’ As it turned out, that meant putting much of it towards replacement parts and heavy-duty mods to help his chosen Landy cope with the relentless offroad life it now had ahead of it.

The engine and gearbox, for example, gave way to the 200 Tdi and LT77 combination that became standard following the move to the Defender name. But that was just the beginning.

At the back, all 110s and 130s were fitted with a Salisbury rear axle. But up front, Mark

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complemented this with a heavy-duty 24-spline unit which, having come from a V8-engined 110, proved straightforward to fit.

Being an early one, the Salisbury axle left Solihull with drum brakes. Mark told us he was forever clearing muck out of them – and also that he was planning to replace them with discs, which remains a common thing to do on old Landies. Less common is fitting fiddle brakes, but he reckoned that with discs on board, this would make it a lot easier to slew the vehicle around the place while lining it up to fit through narrow gaps between the trees in the woodland where his training centre was based.

Another mod to help get over the vehicle’s length was to fit custom-built front and rear propshafts, made from steel tube with a quarterinch wall thickness. ‘The propshaft at the rear is the first thing to hit the ground,’ he explains. ‘So it’s worth spending the time and money to make sure it is strong enough to take a few knocks!’

He took a similar approach with the steering bars, replacing them with heavy-duty units to be able to cope with impacts on the ground, though of course Defender owners of all wheelbases have been doing this since time immemorial.

The wheels and tyres getting turned by the steering bars were 15” Compomotive alloys wrapped in 35x12.50R15 General Grabber MudTerrains. Mark chose these as a compromise between the need for traction in the woods and

civility on the road, where he commented that the 130 was always a popular sight when he picked his kids up from nursery…

Helping as many people see it as possible, and making room for those big tyres, was a +4.5” Ironman suspension lift, combining extended springs with spacers for improved flexibility and a greatly enhanced ride height. ‘With the extra ground clearance, the vehicle has just as good a ramp-over angle as a 110,’ he told us. ‘It makes a real difference to its performance off-road.’

Other mods were, as they say, built not bought, though they were bought by other people as Mark used to sell them. These included the underbody guards and the cage over the rear load bay, as well as the front bumper which was home to a Milemarker H12 winch.

Other modifications included a snorkel and raised axle and transmission breathers, as well as auxiliary lighting and an aluminium roof rack.

Inside, meanwhile, you’d find a power inverter and a 1.5-litre onboard fridge – handy for keeping all those off-roading students refreshed.

There was still more on the cards when we photographed the 130, such as locking diffs, rock sliders, four-link suspension and a full exo cage.

But already, this was a 127 of a very high standard indeed. Much of the work may have gone into addressing the limitations its wheelbase created – but with that done, it became a very good advert for thinking outside the 90 and 110 box.

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COOL BRITANNIA

Having spent the last seven years selling only to the North American clients, Land Rover restorer Arkonik has at last returned to Britain. Which is great news for customers at the top of the market, because the company rebuilds Defenders to the very highest standard – and the new show truck it created to mark its relaunch here is among the coolest 110s you’ll ever see Words: Dan Fenn Pictures: Alan Kidd and Arkonik

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A

t the start of this year, Somerset-based Land Rover restorer Arkonik announced that it is once again to start building vehicles for customers in the UK. The company withdrew from its domestic market in 2012 to concentrate on North America – a decision which has seen it grown strongly in the intervening years and given it the platform to come back to Britain with its unique offering of high-end resto-mods.

The vehicles it builds have been developing during that time, too. Arkonik’s own premises are more like a manufacturing factory than a restoration workshop, and it uses a network of the very highest quality suppliers. But in recent times, it has opened a post-registration facility in South Carolina, allowing it to start offering Chevrolet LS3 V8 engine and 6L80E 6-speed automatic gearbox conversions to customers in the USA – and this drivetrain will also be available in the UK. To demonstrate the point, earlier this year Arkonik unveiled what it calls ‘the most powerful, tech-laden vehicle (it has) ever built’. The vehicle, an early 110, is a replica of the first Defender the company’s owner Andy Hayes rebuilt back in 2006. But it’s much more besides…

For starters, the engine is indeed a 6.2-litre LS3, as found under the bonnet of the legendary Corvette. Mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox, it puts out 430bhp – giving the 110 a 0-60 time of less than six seconds.

Driving it, the urge is relentless. The engine produces instant power, but it’s manageable, and while shifts are not imperceptible they’re smooth and instant. The last thing you’d want would be long pauses followed by shuddering jolts and slaps as an old-school auto shunts its way from ratio to ratio – we’ve all been there, and it’s an uncomfortable place, but it’s a place from which Arkonik has distanced itself with this installation.

Whether a Defender needs this kind of acceleration is open to question. But you don’t need to use all of it, or even much of it, to appreciate the LS3’s oceanic torque. And anyone with a soul will love the sound of the exhaust – a rich, throaty burble which turns into an urgent bark under load, just the way a V8 should. The vehicle doesn’t scream ‘look at me’ the way some high-end Defenders do, but ‘listen to me’ is a given.

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 4pp Arkonik UJO.indd 95

95 25/02/2021 23:59

Modular front and high-back second-row seats make the best of the Defender’s infamously cramped cabin and give it a real feeling of comfort. They’re trimmed by the specialists at Ruskin Design using a combination of tweed and Autograin Burnt Oak leather. The cubby box is finished to match, and the whole interior is set off by an alcantara head liner

Anyway, not being too lairy in its appearance makes it far nicer to look at than some of the modded 90s and 110s you see being produced for clients with more money than taste. Arkonik’s Land Rovers are all created to personal order, but something they tend to have in common is a degree of understated elegance. With the lightness of touch that comes from having a steady hand on the styling tiller, there’s no need for ghastly accoutrements to make up for a basic lack of class.

The Defender’s wheels measure a suitably modest 18” in diameter, for example. They’re wrapped in Cooper Discoverer AT3 tyres and behind them is a set of Tarox brakes mating six-pot calipers with drilled and grooved discs. No need for bling when function has such a fine form.

The same can be said of the side steps, which fold and retract automatically when the doors

are opened and closed. Showy? Try telling that to someone whose kids struggle to get aboard their 110 but who needs to use it off-road without wrecking its sills – especially if he wants to be able to get out after a session in the mud without ending up with it down the back of his trousers.

Arkonik is capable of building off-roaders when that’s what the customer wants (indeed a reassuring number of the vehicles in its factory have winches). And while this one is more of a street machine, it’s subtly so. There’s nothing like a deep slam and vast alloys to make a Defender look stupid – but this one is nothing like that. It does run lowered Eibach springs and anti-roll bars, but they only drop it by one inch.

The suspension is completed by Bilstein gas shocks and SuperPro polyurethane bushes, but of which help further to control the Defender’s

ride – making it that much more entertaining to unleash its big engine. Nonetheless, the driving experience hasn’t been turned into that of a super-saloon – it’s still a Defender, and still a big, hefty, high-up beast of a vehicle. There’s that familiar feeling of culture shock when you jump in after driving something else, as if suddenly the world has turned completely alien on you, but then after a few miles you settle in and it all makes sense. Only this time, it makes more sense than usual – and, the more you get used to it, the more you discover that you’re driving something very special indeed.

Inside, too, it’s still a Defender – but much more so. You have the familiar upright seating, and there’s not a lot even the best of restorers can do about the cramped proportions within Land Rover’s angular cabin, but soft-touch leather trim,

Is it an indulgence or an investment? If you’ve got it to spend in the first place, what this 110 proves is that a rebuilt Defender can be both

The traditional four-spoke steering wheel is an unmistakable nod to the Defender’s past. But it’s part of a cabin that’s been radically modernised, with a high-definition Dakota digital instrument panel and an infotainment module running Apple CarPlay software

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:59

The Chevrolet LS3 engine is a thing of absolute beauty, as is the noise it makes both at idle and under load. Producing 430bhp, it propels the big Land Rover to 60mph in less than six seconds Inset below: Plenty of Land Rovers end up with hand-painted chassis, and that’s exactly what this one has. Safe to say it’s not the kind of hand-painting anyone has attempted on any of the others, though…

woven carpets and alcantara headlining certainly help. Modular front and High-Back Heritage second-row seats have been trimmed by the master craftsmen at Ruskin Design using Autograin Burnt Oak leather with tweed inserts, and the same theme is continued on the inward-facing bench seats in the back.

The door cards get the same trim treatment, as does the cubby box. The former are trimmed with billet aluminium handles and so on, while the latter is home to USB ports and a wireless charging station. The seats are heated, of course, and a Dakota digital instrument panel sits tidily within a leather-trimmed dash.

There’s ambient mood lighting, too, which helps set off what is a beautifully comfortable interpretation of a traditional Defender cabin. No, it’s not like stretching out in a Range Rover, but the quality of the materials are right up to that level and the standard to which it’s been put together leaves the original a long way behind.

Naturally, the price you’d pay for this vehicle would leave the original behind too. It wouldn’t

quite get you a Rolls-Royce, but at around £200,000 ordering a Defender like this would put you bang in the middle of Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini territory.

It says something about Arkonik’s clientele that many enjoy the process of speccing, ordering and receiving their vehicle so much that they come straight back to buy another. Each of the company’s Defenders is unique, making them a special kind of collector’s item, and they’re treated like heirlooms – as they very well should be, because even by Defender standards, they’re built to last forever.

With Arkonik now back in the UK after those seven years selling only to North America, the company says that commissioning it to build a 90 with an entry-level sort of spec list could be expected to cost around £90,000. Even this is hardly cheap, but compare it to

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 4pp Arkonik UJO.indd 97

what a moderately specced new Discovery or Range Rover would cost from new – and what each would be worth after three years. Project that on to ten or even twenty years, and you have a cast iron excuse for indulging yourself.

Is it an indulgence, or an investment? It depends on your point of view, perhaps. But as far as we’re concerned, the very good news is that if you’ve got it to spend in the first place, what this 110 proves is that a rebuilt Defender can be both.

And if you spec it the right way, it can be all the off-roader you’ll ever need, too.

97 25/02/2021 23:59

POWER TRIP

Gareth Raynor can’t have been a very happy man when his old Range Rover blew up. But when somebody offered him a 200Tdi 110 for the old truck’s scrap value, his frown turned upside down. Not that it stayed a 200Tdi for long…

Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:56

W

hen you’ve got a Land Rover that you love, and it blows up, that tends not to be ever such a good thing. But when Gareth Raynor’s old Range Rover did just that, his misfortune turned out to be a passport to something better than he could ever have dreamed of.

This happened at a time before rough old Defenders were sent flying upwards in value by the appearance of the DC100. Even then, though, Gareth got lucky – when someone offered him a 200Tdi 110 for the scrap value of the Rangey. It won’t shock you hugely to hear that he said yes.

He knew the 110 would never be as comfortable as his old Range Rover. But it was going to be far cooler. He had a plan, you see.

This involved an engine. There’s nothing wrong with the 200Tdi, but Gareth had always been a fan of the 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8. His mate Ian had done something similar in his 90, and Gareth put a good one right at the top of his shopping list.

Fitting the mighty great Chevy unit under the Defender’s bonnet turned out to be far easier than you might expect – of course, having already done it once on Ian’s truck made it that much easier – and it ended up mounted a little further back than the original Tdi. This meant a custom exhaust, but you’d have expected the job to need one of those anyway.

The engine was bolted to a four-speed auto box (later replaced with a five-speed LT77 manual, chosen both for its strength and its remote oil cooler), and away Gareth went… straight into some water. Cue one engine rebuild and a waterproofing programme.

This involved fitting twin snorkels to keep the big engine supplied with enough air (they look cool, too), as well as a Real Steel insulation sleeve on the HT leads. Gareth moved the ignition coil inside the cabin, too, where it was housed in a roof console to keep it as far from harm as possible. If the water gets this far up, the driver’s going to drown, so a spluttering engine is unlikely to concern him.

Aside from that little incident with the water, Gareth also put a hole in the 110’s original fuel tank. Rather than messing about with guards, he simply replaced it with a Series III unit on the basis that this is a smaller target. The tank’s lower capacity wasn’t an issue as the truck had been converted to run on LPG, with twin gas tanks giving him a range of 250 miles.

LPG is a lot cheaper than petrol, but with a 5.7-litre V8 shifting something this big, bluff and heavy from A to B with 35” mud tyres on the road and an enthusiastic driver behind the wheel, you’re still not talking about a cheap car to run.

The Chevy is a very reliable engine, though, so it’s cost-effective in other ways – and anyway, who cares about the dull stuff when getting about is this much fun?

So, we have a 110 with an engine that goes beautifully and sounds lovely. But as you’ll have spotted, there’s more.

Whereas Ian had his Chevy in a 90, Gareth soon realised that though the 110 had fallen into his lap somewhat, he was a big fan. ‘I think the 110-inch wheelbase is more forgiving than that of the 90,’ he told us. ‘It’s a lot better over choppy

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 2pp Raynor 110.indd 99

ground, and I think it can really help to get you out of trouble.’

But let’s talk about the 110’s rear overhang. In standard form, this gives it a departure angle of 34.5° rather than the 90’s 53°, and it didn’t take long for this to rattle Gareth’s teeth when he dropped off a ledge and landed on his back chassis.

The solution? It’s simple. Lay into it with a grinder until the back body finishes a couple of inches behind the rear wheels.

The problem? It’s simple. The hard-top is now too long.

The solution? It’s simple. Lob the hard-top and turn it into a truck-cab.

Another reason for doing this was that as well as being a toy, Gareth used his 110 as a daily driver. That meant four hours each day – and when you’ve only got an old-school Land Rover heater, a truck-cab takes a lot less keeping warm than a big old van.

Providing cover for the rear tub, in went a pair of bespoke storage lockers, hidden under a layer of aluminium chequer-plate – an idea Gareth came up with as a means of keeping his spare parts and valuables secure. A locker on each side of the load bay was fitted with a pop-up lid – a system that looked tidy, worked well and only cost a few tens of pounds to make. ‘I’m not a big fan of expensive bolt-on components,’ Gareth explained to us. ‘I like to dream up original ideas myself, and see if they can be achieved in the workshop.’

Surrounding it all, he fitted a full external cage which covered the rear tub as well as the cab and ran down to a set of custom rock sliders. As normal with exo cages, its everyday job was to rub against trees, but come the crunch…

Holding it all up was a +2” spring and shock lift, with the extra weight of the Chevy engine controlled by twin front shocks on mounts from Qt Services. Gareth used rose joints wherever possible in the suspension to add flexibility, and swapped out the front axle for a stronger Salisbury unit. The vehicle was late enough in the 200Tdi era to have been built with disc brakes all round, so the factory-fit Salisbury at the back was left well alone.

Further mods included heavy-duty bumpers at both ends, but Gareth explained to us that he wasn’t bothered about bolting any winches to them. ‘I generally go off-roading in company. If I get into a pickle, one of my friends will be on hand to rescue me.’

So, here’s a Defender built by an owner with the imagination to do things his own way. Will it come as any surprise to you to hear that he rigged it up with external speakers so everyone else could enjoy his stereo too?

Thought not. Though for most petrol heads, no music could sound better than the noise that comes out of this 110’s exhaust pipes when Gareth puts his foot down. He may not have intended to buy a Defender when his Rangey bit the dust, but he sure did embrace the opportunity that came his way. And what a truck he created in the process.

99 25/02/2021 23:56

A Landy down

I

f you’re English, it’s kind of the law that you’ve got to mock the Aussies. But you’ve also got to be secretly jealous of them. Because they get to live in Australia. While we’re shivering on the beach at Skegness and trying to dodge floaters on the tide, they’re surfing joyously and trying to dodge yet more exotic animals that want to kill them.

100 4pp Perentie 6x6.indd 100

Anyway, I am a fan of Australia. No, seriously.

Not everyone tries to mug you in the street and the wildlife is generally… well, in the wild. Except when it lurks under your toilet seat, obviously.

Or behind your sun visor. But you know what I’m saying. And hell, when the landscape is this epic you don’t mind sharing it with the rest of the animal kingdom.

Especially not when they’re animals like the perentie. This is Australia’s largest lizard (and the fourth largest in the world, after the likes of the Komodo dragon). It lives in the Outback, it hides from humans (very smart, as the Aborigines used to eat them) and it hunts stuff like snakes, wombats and even dingoes. It grows up to 2.5 metres in length, it’s great at hiding, burrowing

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:54

under

The Perentie is an army Defender done the way the Aussies wanted it. And if you’re forever wishing Land Rover would go back to building vehicles the way you really want them, it might just be the answer to your prayers. And the good news is that now, they’ve started being demobbed…

Words and pictures: Mike Trott

and climbing trees, it can run fast enough to catch a fleeing rabbit and when push comes to shove it’s armed with claws, teeth and even a tail that can mess you up a treat. Make no mistake, this guy is full-house gnarly.

That’s why the perentie’s name was very appropriate indeed for what is one of the most remarkable off-roaders ever built. It looks like a

Land Rover – but if you’re one of those people who turns the page in righteous anger every time you see something that’s not Japanese, well, you’re not reading this any more anyway. And more fool you, because this is probably the Land Rover that would turn you.

That’s because it was built by the Aussies. And as we all know, the Aussies love their Jap trucks.

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 4pp Perentie 6x6.indd 101

Let’s go back to the 1980s. The Australian Army was after a new range of four and sixwheeled off-road vehicles, and 4x4 makers from around the world were invited to tender for the job. Land Rover’s importer Down Under saw an opportunity – but the stuff it was being sent from back home in Blighty wouldn’t do at all.

At this time, Land Rover was still churning out 90s and 110s with the desperately slow old 2.5 diesel. This engine did end up with a turbocharger, but not for several more years.

That was never going to be enough to satisfy the requirement for a payload of up to 2.0 tonnes, especially given competition from stuff like the Unimog and Merc G-Wagen, so Land Rover’s Australian arm turned to Isuzu for something a little more suitable.

What you have here is the 4BD1-T; a 3.9-litre four-cylinder diesel from the masters of the craft at Isuzu. There were two different versions of the engine – a naturally aspirated unit, which went into 4x4 models, and a turbocharged one used in the 6x6. Given the capacity and sheer size of the latter, it’s comforting to learn that it had power steering, though the 4x4 wasn’t exactly a featherweight itself and in that model it was all down to elbow grease.

Other differences include obvious chassis mods to cope with the extra axle. For the 6x6 variant, the frame has been extended to cope with the extra weight on its back, and the rear axles ride on leaf springs rather than the usual coils of the 110 on which the vehicle is based. And while we’re on the subject of the chassis, on all versions of the Perentie it’s galvanised.

Intriguingly, another difference between the 4x4 and 6x6 (and indeed the Perentie and every other Land Rover) is that the latter has a widened body and rear chassis. The panels retain the angles of the exterior, so the vehicle doesn’t look out of proportion, but once you see a full-sized spare wheel mounted between the chassis rails you realise that yes, this is a bit different to your average Landy.

The Perenties were registered into service over a five-year period between 1987 and 1992.

Coincidentally, it was in ’87 that Marc Pedersen started up Agricultural and Cross Country Vehicles; Marc and his team have been importing demobbed Perenties to the UK since they were retired from service in February 2013.

These days, military vehicles like the Thales Bushmaster have replaced old Land Rover based machines on the front line. Of the 400 6x6 models that were built, the 6x6 you see here is one of the few that’s made it all the way from Australia. And we say ‘made it’ because it’s no quick process…

‘It takes about three to four months to get them over here with all the correct permissions,’ explains Marc. ‘Having a good shipping agent helps too. Sometimes these vehicles have no paperwork and once you get them over here you have to contend with the IVA (Individual Vehicle Approval).’ Sounds pretty much like your worst nightmare, right?

101 25/02/2021 23:54

‘We deal in vehicle trading mainly; we used to do a lot of British Army stuff, but it’s more utility vehicles now. We’re the only ones that really import Perenties as well, because the paperwork can be such a pain.’

Fresh off the slow boat to the UK, this 6x6 is one of the Assault Pioneer models. These can carry up to six troops (including the driver) and have storage space for ammunition, guns and other offensive devices.

There are racks for jerry cans on the rear to keep that 3.9-litre lump turning over, as well of course as six-wheel drive for when you need to get this goliath off the highway.

Sometimes people who buy and sell vehicles don’t have any great fondness for the ones they can make money on, and the 6x6 is definitely a Land Rover to divide opinion. So we asked Marc if this big beast was his jar of Foster’s.

‘Yeah, I love these,’ he replied. ‘We try and buy things that we actually like ourselves.

These haven’t got any electronics. You’ve got a good solid engine up front – very reliable and torquey. And it’s got the LT95A gearbox – which in my eyes is the strongest box Land Rover has ever built.’

That is high praise indeed. But then, you would like to think that one of the Commonwealth states would know better than to go into battle with just some feeble little 4x4.

The Perentie 6x6 is a little on the heavy side, though, so if you passed your driving test after 1997 you’ll need a C1 licence to drive one.

Above: The Perentie was being made at a time when back in Britain, people were hot for putting chrome bull bars on Shoguns and Vitaras. This is a proper ‘roo bar – if you’re doing fifty when half a ton of wildlife leaps out in front of you, you need some proper protection Below: For such an imposing front bar, there’s more to it than just massive strength – the bracing is impressively subtle. As for the winch mounted in the middle of it, that’s a proper military-spec bit of kit driven by a PTO and wound with no-nonsense steel cable

Like the 110 on which it’s based, the 4x4 Perentie has a coil-sprung back axle. With heavier loads to lug, however, the 6x6 rides on leaves – which are hung from a galvanised chassis. To accommodate the spare wheel, the chassis rails are set farther apart than on a standard Defender – and if the chassis and engine are what give a vehicle its identity, then this isn’t a Land Rover. But you know better, right?

Look beneath the bonnet of a UK-built Land Rover from this era and you’d find a naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel. Unless it’s already been ripped out in a state of despair by an owner desperate to swap cabin noise for some sort of horsepower, obviously. Here in the Perentie, on the other hand, we have a 3.9-litre Isuzu engine – being a 6x6, this model has the turbocharged version, and as well as that the big Japanese unit drives a power steering pump. Note also the bonnet above it – as the bracing signifies, this is a potential infantry position – much more than just a cover for the engine

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:55

‘These haven’t got any electronics. You’ve got a good solid engine up front – very reliable and torquey. And it’s got the LT95A gearbox’ Left: There are familiar elements in the cabin, and the logo on the steering wheel gives the game away, but behind that custom screen you’re in a space whose width and headroom are unrecognisable. Is it a true Land Rover? Is it a true Defender? f you care, well, we’d humbly invite you to get over yourself…

Below left: There’s plenty of space for the guys in the back, too, which is only fair as they need to be able to get at their stash of weaponry without delay

Right: The shape of the bulkhead, screen surround and dashboard bears precious little resemblance to any Land Rover.

Familiar items crop up here and there, and the transmission is cherry picked from the best stuff Solihull made at the time, but that’s as far as it goes Still, despite the Perentie putting a fair amount of pressure on the scales, the 6x6 can at least outrun its reptilian counterpart as you change up through the four-speed transmission and on towards about 50-55mph. It also has that very

welcome and probably necessary bonus of power steering, don’t let’s forget.

There are other 6x6 variants of the Perentie, too. An ambulance adaptation is one example; these have fibreglass bodies and air conditioning.

But surely the most ruthless-looking version is the celebrated Long Range Patrol Vehicle, a bristling, gun-toting brute of a thing which, as well as looking mean in ways you didn’t know possible, has a 365-litre fuel tank allowing it to cover about 1000 miles without a single stop (so, in Australia, about enough to get you to the shops for a pint of milk).

There you go, another little dig at Oz from a Brit who, joking apart, is in complete awe of this fantastic country and its fantastic beasts. And if you ask me, the Perentie is the most fantastic of them all – whether on four legs or six wheels!

Needless to say, many of the creatures found in Australia are best kept over there in the Southern Hemisphere. Funnel webs, brown snakes, box jellyfish, saltwater crocs… no thank you. But as far as Perenties go? They can have a first class ticket all the way.

Thanks to Marc at Agricultural and Cross Country Cars, whose Perentie we photographed for this article. Check them out at www.exmod.co.uk.

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25/02/2021 23:55

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover Ad Spread.indd 13

105 01/03/2021 17:49

A shine of the

The detailing and presentation on Ade Bayley’s spectacular TD5 Defender 90 would put many a show car to shame. But he’s not scared to push it big-time when it comes to doing what it was built for. Which is a whole lot more than just posing on the street…

Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Harry Hamm

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:52

times

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W

hen you’re driving down the street and you see a really nice, clean, straight Land Rover coming the other way, admit it… you assume it’s a tart’s handbag. Even if it’s all modded up, if it’s not all dented up as well, or at least covered in crud, you make a snap judgement about the bloke behind the wheel.

If it looks as if it’s actually been cleaned in the last six months, that just makes things worse. And, God forbid, if it’s actually shiny…

The Land Rover you’re currently sneering at could be Ade Bayley’s 90. If it is, the last laugh is very much on you. Because yes, it’s really, really straight. Yes, it’s finished in a very funky paint colour. And yes, it looks like it’s just been cleaned.

Polished, even. But yes, oh yes, it’s an off-roader alright. And yes, too, it was built, not bought. All the way up from the chassis.

This 90 is the fourth that Ade has owned, and between them they’ve seen him through from passing his test to the present day. His first ever car was an old 90 from the 1980s that had had a 300Tdi put in it – ‘that was probably a good thing,’ he says, ‘as it didn’t go very fast!’

He’d already been off-roading for a few years before this, so needless to say he was soon at it in his Landy. ‘Like a typical teenager!’ What that says about him now - in fact, what it says about all of us now - we’re not sure. But anyway, he threw on a winch, a snorkel, a roofrack and a set of off-road tyres and that was about that, modded enough to have fun, if not exactly to turn the world on its head.

The years have come and gone since then, and so have a variety of everyday vans and cars, but Ade has always had a 4x4 in his life. And the 4x4 has always been a 90. Work has brought him into contact with a supercharged Range Rover, which is nice, but it’s also brought him into contact with how much it costs to run a supercharged Range Rover, which is anything but. ‘Parts for a 90 are cheap,’ he says, ‘and I’ve always got access to an abundance of them.’

Working in the Land Rover business has plenty to do with that, and it’s also what brought his 90 into the light. Back in the day, he was part of a team who made their living by building whole vehicles from parts and registering them on agerelated plates through the DVLA points scheme.

107 25/02/2021 23:52

There’s no shortage of companies offering to unlock more power from your Land Rover’s engine, but being a West Midlands boy, Ade kept it local and went to IRB Developments. With a full-width intercooler, Stage 3 map and boost box, as well as a loom extension and Equipe air box, the TD5 under the bonnet has plenty going on – Ade reckons it’s putting out about 180bhp

Above: Progressive-rate +2” springs and DeCarbon shocks sit in tubular top mounts from Extreme 4x4. Heavy-duty radius arms and cranked trailing links locate the front and rear axles respectively

As is the way of things when something works and the red tape merchants decree that clearly, it mustn’t, that door has long since slammed shut.

But Ade and his mates found that there was more money to be made from just trading in parts, anyway. When you can buy a duff old Landy for, say, a couple of grand, strip it down for bits and flog them off for a grand more, where’s the logic in buying a load of parts and doing a stack of work to build them into a truck, even a good one?

That, however, is what Ade did for himself.

He already had a 90 at the time, which he’d had slammed and remapped to 205bhp at the wheels (settle down, he’s redeemed himself with this one), but then his mate got hold of a body and he started getting ideas.

These involved a galvanised chassis (an original which he had done, rather than an aftermarket one) and the engine, transmission and axles from a 90 he bought in as a write-off.

Put that little lot together, add in some cool extras like a Gigglepin twin-top winch, Challenger 4x4 front end and a couple of roll cages, and what have you got? One very fit hardcore Landy ready to be ragged mercilessly in the company of Ade’s no-compromise off-roading mates, that’s what.

Yes, a couple of roll cages: you did read that right. On the inside is one from Challenger 4x4, which is there to keep the body up if the offroading gets a bit too lairy. On the outside is a full Safety Devices job that lets the truck lean into whatever trees cross its path without ending up looking like a recently emptied bag of crisps.

That’s a lot of protection (and weight), and there’s plenty more besides, but as we mentioned above, this is a Landy that’s done its share of winch challenges. Bish bosh, bye-bye door and roof, etc etc.

Now, we mentioned that Ade already had his remapped street machine. But having decided that, to be fair, you don’t need two 90s when they’re both cool, he decided to straighten this one out a bit. Off went the fast one to a new home (not that you’re looking at a slow 90 here either, with a Turbo Technics variable vane turbo, IRB intercooler and Stage 3 map warming it up to about 180bhp), and into the garage went his offroader for a bit of a spruce-up.

This involved replacing the beaten-up panels with, well, ones that weren’t beaten up. What they also weren’t was the right colour, though, so it was respray time. Being a man who likes

Above left: This is a place where what you need is strength, strength and more strength. Anything that makes it past the chassis-mounted steering guard will come upon a Dan Bars drag link, and it won’t win. The same can be said of the Extreme 4x4 panhard rod and Qt diff guard, and there’s a Land Rover sump guard hidden from view here to provide yet more defence Above centre: Rock and tree sliders are off-the-shelf units from Extreme 4x4. They mount on to the standard chassis outriggers to be capable of taking the weight of the whole vehicle, whether it’s dropped on a stump or jacked up with a high-lift Above right: The back of the vehicle is just as well protected as the front. The rear crossmember is bolstered by a pair of bumperettes from Extreme 4x4, and below it is a steel tank guard from Mantec. Another Qt diff guard looks after the most vulnerable part of the axle, too

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:53

Far left: The chassis is over-plated to strengthen it up for mounting the rear winch and the internal roll cage. The latter was supplied by Challenger 4x4, while the former is the old familiar Warn 8274 running a Bowmotor 2, Gigglepin mainshaft, heavy-duty brake and 38 metres of 10mm Marlow rope Below left: If you only nick one idea from this article, we bet this is the one. Ade installed the winch so the face of its mounting cradle is perfectly positioned to abut the door skin when it’s shut. He then cut out the plastic lining and shaped a hole in the door itself to leave access for the fairlead.

Pause for a moment to think about how just tricky it must have been to get the positioning right and, while we still think you’ll nick the idea, we don’t think you’ll do it without a lot of thought his motors to look good, Ade chose a nifty metallic blue, setting it off with a set of sawtooth alloys from much later in the Defender’s model life, and the result is what you see here. Clean, shiny, beautifully presented but still every inch a hardcore off-roader. The 35” Cooper Discoverer STTs wrapped around those groovy rims are his road tyres, by the way – he’s got a set of Silverstone Extremes for off-roading, but he left them at home for our photoshoot because ‘they’re on horrible wheels.’

If you’re still sneering, well, more fool you.

Lots of people build 4x4s to this level of extreme preparation, but how many of them ever pay as much attention to the details as Ade? Inside, a leather steering wheel and stainless gear knobs set off a cabin featuring perfectly colour-matched seats from no less a beast than a Mitsubishi Evo XII. And at the back, a Warn 8274 pays out through a perfectly shaped postbox slot cut in the skin of the rear door. ‘I’ve lost count of the hours I’ve put into this 90,’ he admits – but every time he

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 4pp Bayley.indd 109

climbs aboard, we reckon he’ll remember why it was all worth it.

The fact is that, really, this is two trucks in one. It’s a very well developed off-roader, and it’s an extraordinarily well presented daily drive. As always, there are compromises to be made in life, and Ade admits that now it looks so good, perhaps he’s not going to go in so hard when his mates are throwing their own 90s into the woods.

But he also admits that when that time comes, perhaps he just will anyway…

21 25/02/2021 23:53

GOLDEN BROWN There’s something particularly special about an early 110 in the farmyard-camouflage shade of brown Land Rover used to call ‘Arizona Tan.’ This is not one of those vehicles, despite first appearances, but it’s not your average 110 either – it’s fresh from a painstaking restoration job from which it’s come up smelling not of roses, but of Rolls-Royces…

Words: Mike Trott Pictures: Russell Stevens

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B

rown is a bit of an unusual colour. It can, in the right shade, look completely fantastic.

On the other hand, if you get the tone wrong, the only thing people will comment on is how it resembles the colour of skid marks… and not the rubber kind.

I think it would be unwise to progress any further without giving some necessary examples.

Of different tones, I mean, not skid marks. A guy I know, for example, used to own a Mk1 Ford Fiesta in a colour which Ford optimistically named Roman Bronze. He, and needless to say all his friends, preferred to call it Deep S**t.

Anyway, positive mental attitude. It may be the colour of some stuff you don’t want to stand in, but there are many very fine brown things in the world. Jennifer Lopez possesses a rather admirable complexion (among other things) and I’d be surprised if anyone would deny that this good use of the colour brown. Chocolate: that’s another one we can put a big desirable tick next to, along with conkers and even the majestic grizzly bear of North America. And don’t let’s forget mud, without which there would be no Land Rovers.

Brown things can be so fine that The Stranglers even did a song, about a hundred years ago, called Golden Brown. I’ve no idea what the golden brown thing in question was… panfried chestnut mushrooms, possibly, or a nice warm slice of toast. Which reminds me, Nutella.

And now I’m thinking of toast smeared in Nutella.

And now I’m thinking of Jennifer Lopez smeared in Nutella, and now I’m having a brown-ness overload, and…

Where were we? Ah yes, brown cars. Consider some of the vinyl interiors from a few of British Leyland’s more disastrous creations, or indeed the unhealthy looking paint colours on many a Maxi or Marina.

Even Land Rover had a dodgy tan moment or two a few years back. The Land Rover 110 County Station Wagon came in an array of colour schemes, but who could forget the Arizona Tan option on those early pre-Defenders? ‘Arizona Tan’ sounds like it might be the name of a Singaporean porn star, and no doubt she’d also

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It would have been so easy to finish off the restoration with a high-glam leather interior that turned the 110 into something it’s not. To be fair, though, if that’s what appeals to you (and for sure they can look amazing), you probably wouldn’t choose to paint the vehicle brown and leave it on steel rims be interestingly brown, but in Landy parlance it’s cow-dung camouflage.

The thing is, though, it looks absolutely brilliant. Maybe it’s because these days we associate it with the classic early days of the Defender, but as brown things go it’s right up there with Megan Vaughn tucking in to a deep fried Mars bar on a granary bap.

Russell Stevens’ 110 County Station Wagon should be all the evidence I need to convince you.

Powered by the 3.5-litre Rover V8, it dates from 1983, making it a pretty early one – and what

you’re looking at here is a Defender at the right end of a thorough restoration.

‘I was looking specifically for a V8 Station Wagon and came across this one by chance,’ explains Russell. ‘The owner’s son was advertising another Land Rover which I missed out on. He sent me a photo of this one, on which his father, a well renowned vehicle restorer, had lovingly carried out a nut and bolt rebuild over a ten-year period.’

And ‘lovingly’ really is the word. The paintwork looks like it’s had the finest cocoa mass in the

world carefully smeared over every crevasse.

(Excuse me while I force myself to concentrate…)

‘Although it was off the road when I bought it, the truck has only covered about 100 miles since the restoration was completed and had been undercover since 2009,’ continues Russell.

He followed up himself with a few bits and pieces of work needed to get the 110 back to its very best. All the oils and fluids were changed, as was the front diff, the latter to deal with a noisy pinion. One MOT ticket later, and this Landy is brownie heaven.

‘All is now excellent and the V8 sounds amazing with the tubular manifolds and stainless

You can just about see a galvanised chassis under there. Supplied fresh by Richards Chassis, it was the starting point for a restoration that took ten years and resulted in a vehicle which Russell says is better put-together than a months-old Puma he also owned

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 26/02/2021 00:07

The engine is a beautifully presented example of the venerable Rover V8 – a lot shinier and more colourful than the vehicle looks from the outside, and lovingly rebuilt with A-list parts to run as smoothly as only a well set-up V8 can steel exhaust,’ beams Russell. ‘This was a labour of love by a real professional, a classic car restorer who had done a lot of work on vehicles for collectors, including Rolls-Royces.’

There’s a touch of Rolls-Royce about this Landy too, actually. And here’s where the judges at a concours would smell the other kind of brown.

Because that’s not Arizona Tan you’re looking at.

No, it’s Rolls-Royce Nutmeg Brown instead. Not that I’ve been trying to deceive you or anything.

This 110 did start life out of the factory in Arizona Tan. Russell politely describes the colours as ‘somewhat dull’; we’d demur, but this is his truck and his story so let’s keep quiet.

Besides, most of the brown Defenders that have been brought back to life have been given newer, more vibrant colours, and those that have remained in their original hue have tended to be the ones that look about as fresh and youthful as the crowd at a Rolling Stones gig.

But when someone comes along and actually gives the poor thing a bit of moisturiser and sends it for a day out at the spa – aka a proper body shop, not the kind that sells lavender and ylang ylang shampoo – you can have yourself quite the head turner.

The beauty is more than just skin-deep, too.

‘A Richards galvanised chassis has been fitted and all the suspension and drivetrain has been replaced or restored,’ says Russell. ‘The new Rover V8 engine was provided by Dunsfold Land Rover and upgraded with Edelbrock carbs, Mallory ignition, tubular manifolds, an SS stainless exhaust, high-torque starter motor and twin Kenlowe fans,’ he adds.

Admit it, you’re jealous.

‘All the brakes, hubs, hoses and the wiring loom have all been replaced.

The original seat cover material was tracked down and the original head lining is still in place. I have receipts for around £20,000 for the restoration, and that doesn’t include the hundreds of hours of dedicated labour.’

It was the kind of labour that really ought to be called craftsmanship, to be honest. Russell also knows what it’s like to be the owner of a Defender 110 that hasn’t even reached its first birthday, and says the factory panel fit and finish was ’nowhere near as good as on this County.’

There’s no doubt someone felt this 110 was very special – at least special enough to warrant such time and effort on making it more wonderful than ever.

The quality of its tan isn’t the only special thing about it, either. Being built in 1983 means this County Station Wagon was one of the first 110s to emerge from the production

line. However, Russell thinks the story could go even further than that…

‘The seat box mounted transfer lever and the sliding windows indicate that this might possibly be a pre-production model. Although it can’t be confirmed, its early ownership history is thought to have been with a landowner in Scotland. It then came south and found a number of previous owners in Middlesex before passing to the restorer and finally, to me.

‘This is an extraordinary vehicle in a condition that would make it very hard to use it off-road.

Land Rovers should be used for what they were intended to do, of course, but in this case, highly capable as it might be, I just don’t think that is an

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option. That beautiful Nutmeg Brown finish just does not lend itself to green laning!’

The man knows what’s good for the skin of his 110. Ladies, perhaps Russell may even have a few cosmetic tips for you… Not running your face along a tree would probably be a helpful one.

Honestly, this is one of the most beautiful, desirable Defenders we have ever seen. It doesn’t bash you over the head with its perfection, but take a closer look and there’s so much about it to admire. And of course it proves once and for all that as with food, nature, wildlife and celebs we all like to perv at, brown is beautiful. It’s just that when you put it on a Land Rover, it’s more beautiful than ever.

113 26/02/2021 00:07

THE X-FACTOR Some Defender builds are laden with equipment, some are effortlessly classy… and some just have a television and Xbox 360 in the back. This ex-military 110 van is combines a street-machine image with the traditional character of steel wheels, sliding windows and even its original 2.5-litre naturally aspirated diesel engine – it’s not to everybody’s taste, but what could be more X-Factor than that?

Words and Pictures: Mike Trott

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DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:57

P

lainly, Defenders are iconic vehicles.

They’ve gained star status for a whole host of reasons – one of which is their many appearances on the silver screen. Defenders fit right in to action movies – as proven in the most recent Bond flicks, particularly Spectre and, of course, the new No Time To Die. Further back in the early noughties, the Defender also starred alongside Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. There’s a very fine restored example of a genuine Tomb Raider 90 elsewhere in these pages – and while Andy Hopcroft’s 110 is not one, it was very much inspired by the appearance of Lara’s wagon.

‘I wanted it grey with a black roof, like Lara Croft’s,’ says Andy. ‘And that would’ve been ace.

‘But the professionals said red – so we went red.’

The professionals Andy refers to are the guys who helped him turn an ex-military 110 into the smart Solar Red wagon he drives today – Matt and Chick from OS Fleetcare and HTL Fabrication. Their garages share a site with WOM Automotive, where is where the vehicle was delivered after being bought in an online auction.

Having worked alongside the MoD for years, when Andy decided he wanted a Defender as a project vehicle, there was only one place he was going to look: ‘It was bought from Witham Specialist Vehicles, who have a contract to sell the MoD’s disposable fleet. I’ve worked with the MoD for a long time and I know they service their vehicles very, very well. I know that what you’re getting is essentially one really careful owner.’

So, having decided to embark on a rebuild, and with his 1994, ex-military 110 bought and delivered to the site, the next step was one present in any good story: the pub. ‘In the pub,

There’s colour-coding and decorative touches everywhere you look, all of it co-ordinated. Not bad for a vehicle which, prior to this project, was shown the signs of having been brush-painted three times during its life. Above, what used to be the interior of a squaddy-fodder 110 is now home to a TV and Xbox 360…

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25/02/2021 23:57

Above left: The Xbox 360 and plasma TV are definitely a whimsical touch, but it’s a great way of filling the hole in the back of a 110 like this that’s been demobbed out to civvy duty. Up front, leather seats with quilted red diamond stitching is pretty whimsical too in an old army bus, but it’s pretty comfortable too – and is colour coded to the vehicle’s bodywork Andy did a lot of talking,’ says Matt. ‘We just nodded and agreed with him.’

‘Then they went and did what they wanted!’ interrupts Andy jovially. ‘We started off wanting to get the vehicle right, before it looked right.’

Matt and Chick went over the Defender from top to bottom, checking that it was mechanically sound and changing what they needed to. ‘Most of it stayed the same,’ admits Matt. ‘All of the brake parts were redone. But there wasn’t a great deal that needed doing on the rest of it. We gave it a good waxoyling underneath and that was it.’

‘We took out the auxiliary power unit,’ adds Andy, ‘And dragged out all of the MoD equipment that was left in it.’

Well, almost all of it. Sat in the driver’s seat, Andy points out the gun mounts up front that have remained in place between the seats.

A reminder of the history of the vehicle, it’s surrounded by contemporary upgrades that have rejuvenated the cabin’s aesthetics. The reupholstered seats are garnished in black leather with red diamond stitching and trim to match the bodywork. They are comfortable and stylish re-workings of the standard seats, boasting Land Rover embroidered belt pads.

The same pattern and finish is carried through to the seating for four in the rear, too. There’s another flash of red on the custom dashboard,

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which houses a touch-screen sat-nav and entertainment system, and this also displays the image from a reversing camera. Former radio antenna mounts on the roof have been replaced by rear facing spotlights. Then, in the back, in the LED-lit cabin, sits a storage unit accommodating a TV and an Xbox 360.

Now, that’s really not very Defender at all, is it?

Though you could say it is quite Tomb Raider…

‘The Xbox was a case of “Why not?” in the pub,’ says Andy. ‘My kids absolutely love it. I use the Defender with them all the time, and I pull in at home and end up leaving them sat on the drive while they finish off!’

Despite the amount of tech that’s been added to the 110, it was something a lot less complicated which proved the most difficult.

‘When it came, it had been brush-painted – three times,’ says Chick, with a face that suggested he wasn’t reliving fond memories. ‘We found it had previously been green and black, cream and black, and brown and black. It took eight hours a day sanding – for five days – to get it off. There was lettering on the side in oil-based paint which wouldn’t move, either.’

‘The only other problem we had was the relays,’ recalls Andy. ‘When we connected the LEDs, they just kept blowing. Then we worked out what it was and we easily sorted it.’

‘I’d worked on Land Rovers before,’ explains Chick. ‘But we’re not specialists in them. We usually work on Mercedes Sprinter vans.’

Matt continues: ‘It was a nice change and they’re fairly simple. No electrics or diagnostics – lovely jubbly! Just lots of WD40!’

Aside from the borderline blinding shade of red, there’s plenty of attention to detail on the exterior of the 110 as well as the inside. The diff matches the bodywork, as do the nuts on the wheels. The protective plating on the front and the black grille give a rugged, youthful face and up close, the finish is so smooth it’s enough to help anyone – except Matt and Chick – forget that it was ever hand-painted.

‘It’s a striking colour and very much a headturner,’ admits Andy. ‘It’s like a rampaging armadillo when it comes down that road, but it’s still a 1994 Defender. That’s what it is, just with a modern twist. We wanted to change the aesthetics so it looks and feels fresh, but we also wanted to leave it as close to that feeling of driving a 110 during the process.’

But just because it’s had a makeover doesn’t mean that this Landy has been shirking any work, though. ‘I use it a lot,’ declares Andy. ‘It will happily sit there at 70. It is a Land Rover, there’s a bit of wind, a bit of noise, but it gets up there and

DEFENDER The Story of the Real Land Rover 25/02/2021 23:57

stays up there. It’s been off-road a bit, too, it’s been shooting – it’s a great shooting bus!’

When the subject of project regrets arose, all eyes tentatively flicked to Andy, waiting for him to say the colour is wrong. But he surprised us all.

‘It’s different, you don’t see Defenders in that colour,’ he laughs, diplomatically. ‘We came very close – because we’d changed the colour, the interior, made it more comfortable and aesthetically changed a lot – to going a couple

4pp Hopcroft 110.indd 117

of steps further. Should we have dropped in a 300TdI? Or a Td5 with power steering? If you’re trying to keep a car the same, then the answer is no. But we have already altered enough to warrant that extra step if we wanted to.’

And that’s a good point. Despite the appearance and the plethora of gadgets, somehow this Defender still feels like a Defender.

Beneath the LED running lights, the black grille and the cosmic spray tan it’s still a working vehicle. It’s just a soldier that’s retired from service and had his teeth whitened amid a mid-life crisis.

However, Landies are as diverse as their owners, meaning that half would vote for a completely unique vehicle, while the rest champion an authentic rebuild. Which is kind of what this is – with the two aspects of this build placing it on the fence, the decision was made to keep the 2.5-litre diesel unit in place.

Like every project, however, the 110 still isn’t totally finished. ‘The next owner can just drop another engine in, if that’s what they want to do,’ says Rob, director of WOM Automotive, which had it listed for sale when we took our photos.

‘It’s easier to do that than to revert it back to what it is now.’

And besides, there’s always something else you can add to make your car just that bit cooler.

‘I’m thinking about fitting some optics in the back,’ Andy says with a smirk. ‘Not for the kids, but for when I take it shooting.’

Mechanically speaking, this Defender isn’t a hybrid. But there is an argument to be made that in some ways that’s exactly what it is. It’s been restored to work as it was always intended to, with its original running gear. But then it’s been given an ostentatious red coat and loaded with gadgets.

Like all Land Rovers, too, it can carry its passengers pretty much anywhere – yet this Defender does have a different aura to most you encounter. You may love it, you may hate it, you may even not be sure what you think of it, but one thing is clear – when it comes to personalisation, this Defender rules.

25/02/2021 23:57

A Strip in Time…

Buying someone else’s old project can be a very cost-effective way of getting your hands on a sorted Defender. But when the time comes for major work, you’re to find yourself opening a can of worms…

Words and pictures: Dan Fenn THE STOP-START STORY of our Land Rover Defender 90 Td5 has focused largely on the Editor’s enormous indecision as to what to actually do with it. The vehicle came to us two and a half years ago as someone else’s modified off-road toy – something we’d normally be cautious about, but in this case the seller was an old friend and the 90 was a known quantity as a result.

The original plan was to use it as-is, add a few mods of our own

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and end up with a more hardcore variation on the same theme. Or was it to do six months of as much green laning as possible then take it off the road and turn it into a British homage to the NAS 90s of 25 years ago?

Yes, the NAS 90 was 25 years ago. Way to feel old…

Anyway, fate intervened and it turned out that the 90 wasn’t really fitting the bill for what we wanted to do. One reason for this was that

it was one of the last with inwardfacing rear seats, and these have been long since discredited from a safety point of view. A definite issue for the Ed, who has young children. Of course, there are ways of addressing this, but they tend to involve either spending a small fortune or making do with a bodge.

Not being able to park anywhere for more than about five minutes

without worrying that it’s going to be nicked is a bit of an issue, too.

We all know what a massive, neverending problem this is for Defender owners; there are various ways of protecting yourself, but all you can really do is fix things so it’s easier for the scabs to thieve someone else’s instead.

Finally, and this is a little embarrassing, the off-roading we do

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Any programme of work on a vehicle that’s done much off-roading is likely to start with WD40 being sprayed all over the place. In this case, it started with a load of dried mud being fetched out for access to the fixings that wanted freeing off. The towbar isn’t exactly an item of off-road equipment, but it’s not a pretty sight either. It had to come off, as the crossmember behind it was rusted out at each end, but we’d have been removing it anyway in our quest to get the 90 back as close as reasonably possible to its original spec tends to involve a lot of motorway miles to get to and from the clusters of green lanes scattered all around the country. And if there’s anything you don’t want to be using for motorway miles, it’s a 90.

So, after many months of prevaricating, we decided to do

what so many people are choosing to do with their Defenders now. We were going to take it back, if not quite to actual showroom standard, then to as close as we could get to original condition.

You see an awful lot of tarted-up stinkers for sale at idiotic prices,

but that’s not what we’re about.

With very low miles, few owners and a proper wad of history, the 90 is a sound one. Still, we didn’t want to turn it into a blinger. The aim instead is to remove the accoutrements of its life as an off-road plaything and turn it back

into what it was, or is – a high-spec, late-letter Td5 XS with almost all its life still ahead of it.

Step one was to strip away the off-road equipment. At the same time, we needed to replace the front wings, which were beaten to death (and, in one case, had had a hole

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The Safari Snorkel wasn’t designed to be used with an exo cage, so a bit of inventiveness was required when it was originally fitted. With the breathers unclipped and the cage mountings freed off, it’s unfixed from behind the wing and lifted away. The blanking plate over the original intake in the wing shows where the snorkel would normally have sat

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5: The front hoop is fixed through the wing to stays mounted to brackets on the chassis outriggers. Both will be removed; first, the cage is unbolted in preparation for the external part being lifted away 6-10: To free off the exo part of the cage, the bolts through the roof to the rear hoop need to be freed off. As it turns out, this is (much) easier said than done. First, though, the headlining needs to be undone and dropped off for access to the brackets, which means removing the mirror mount, sun visors, vanity light and door seals. You definitely need to be patient… blown through it for the snorkel), and the rear crossmember, which was rotten.

That’s the sort of stuff you often tend to buy from Britpart, which is just what we did. The company supplied a replacement

crossmember and both wings, along with the hardware required to fit them. We also ordered up a set of side sills and a standard front bumper, as well as four new springs and shocks – more on these at a later date.

However well it’s been looked after, a major part of dismantling a vehicle that’s used off-road is going to be fetching dried mud out from every corner of its underside. Sure enough, the workshop floor was soon looking like the inside of a

Gro-bag, but before long there was enough access to all the various fixings for the atmosphere to hang thick with the smell of WD40.

Changing the crossmember is another story altogether, but an interesting feature of the job here

As we’ve mentioned before, we wouldn’t normally take a punt on someone else’s old off-roader. But the 90 was a known quantity as it had spent all its life with a good friend, so we knew its history. We didn’t know a pile of broken glass would coming pouring out of the roof lining when it was dropped away, though…

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11-13: Undoing the bolts from the roof bracket is a truly horrible job – access to the nuts on the inner side of the roof is almost non-existent 14-16: With the cage finally unbolted, it can be lifted away. It’s pukka kit, made by noted cage specialist Protection and Performance, so we’re keeping hold of it in case the 90’s next owner wants to refit it

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Below: The bolt-on diff guard was always scheduled for removal – it’s an effective way of protecting the diff casing from impacts, but we no longer have a need for it. Interestingly, it was showing signs of rubbing against the fuel tank – as was the tank itself, seen here dropped off while changing the rear crossmember

was that in order to have enough clearance underneath the vehicle, the roll cage would have to be unbolted. Not a problem, as it was on the list to come away anyway, but you might not expect the extra body flex to make the difference.

That, however, is how tight the tolerances are under there.

On the subject of the cage, it has an external front hoop and stays and an internal rear portion which replaces the bulkhead. We decided to leave the latter part in place – it’s providing the strength that the bulkhead would have provided, and while it certainly wouldn’t qualify as rollover protection in the eyes of a scrutineer any more, there’s enough about what remains to keep the roof up in most kinds of inversion.

Another good example of close tolerances came when we examined the bolt-on guard protecting the rear diff. It had done its job well – but it had also been rubbing on the fuel tank in the process. Just that extra thickness was enough to make the difference.

So, lots to come off, and we’ll let the pictures tell the story.

But what this covers is the general process of

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stripping away the off-road kit, not including specific items that were due to be replaced directly.

Again, that’s another story. Fair to say there ought to be enough here

to convince you there’s nothing to be scared of in taking on a project – or that pulling apart an old Landy is too much of a Pandora’s box ever to be attempted…

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A Welcome Boost

Defenders’ clutch pedals aren’t known for being light to operate. This might be okay when you’re plonking a size 12 welly on top of it, but for everyday running around it’s been blamed for many a sore left knee – and in extreme cases can put people off owning a Defender altogether. Happily, RedBooster’s clutch servo offers an answer – we watched one being installed Words and pictures: Mike Trott

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and Rover Defenders are famous for many things. Their ruggedness, their capability, their simple design… and their heavy clutches.

You do get used to it, but that pedal next to the tranny tunnel has been known to cause many a dodgy knee. They got lighter as time went on, but even on the most modern Defenders the effort required every time you change gear can be a real problem for some.

There’s an answer to this, however. The RedBooster is a clutch servo unit designed to take the weight out of the vehicle’s clutch operation, providing better control and saving you from that achey left knee that’s the sorry lot of so many Defender owners.

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The unit is a vacuum servo, similar to the ones used in cars’ braking systems. RedBooster UK, which supplies it in this country, has versions available for all Defender and pre-Defender versions of the 90, 110 and 130, including Tdi, Td5 and Puma models (as well as Series trucks, should that be the version of the ‘Defender’ you prefer), and offers them for vehicles with right and left-hand drive alike.

At present, a RedBooster will cost you £400 delivered in the UK for a Defender with the steering wheel on the right. Add £50 for a lefthooker and a bit more for delivery beyond our shores, and you have something that costs a lot less than all the physiotheraphy you might end up needing if you try to soldier on with a gammy

knee and the clutch that made it that way in the first place.

The other cost will be fitting, should you not want to take the job on yourself. RedBooster does provide instructions tailored to your Defender of choice, but for now here’s a look at what the process entails. We watched on as the guys at leading Land Rover specialist Marrion 4x4 carried out the conversion on a Puma-engined 90 – a job which, who knows, might just have allowed its owner to keep his much-loved Landy for years to come rather than waving it a tearful goodbye and hobbling off into the sunset…

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1: Firstly, the new vacuum tank (long black box) needs fitting. To allow this, off come the bonnet and wing-top cover 2: The tank will be secured via two Z-shaped brackets, which are secured neatly on the inside of the lip

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3: The next step is to relocate the cooling system header tank; this only applies to Td5 and TDCi models 4: The tank will move over to the left-hand side of the engine bay, foward of the heater air intake duct. The upturned leg of the bracket provided with the kit attaches to the lower bolt fastening the L-shaped bracket which supports the wing top to the inner wing 5: Once the bracket is fixed, the remaining fixing hole is drilled through the plastic inner wing and the bolt secured through it and into position

“It costs a lot less than all the physiotherapy you might end up needing if you try to soldier on” 6

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6: The header tank is now ready for transferring over to its new position. This can be done without the need to drain the cooling system; simply place a brake pipe clamp on the pipe close to the water pump to reduce fluid loss, then unbolt the tank from its mount and disconnect the pipework 7: Attach the tank to its new bracket and secure with the stud and nut 8: Now the pipework can be reconnected, starting with the existing pipe which linked the water pump to the bottom of the tank. Pull the pipe from behind the engine and reorientate it on the spigot of the water pump by about 90 degrees

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9: The surplus length will mean you can cut the piping down to size, before neatly connecting it to the bottom of the relocated header tank 10: Next up, discard the small 8mm pipe leading from the radiator to the top of the tank, but retain the two end clips 11: Install the new tube provided from the rad to the top of the tank and cable tie along the wing for tidiness

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12: Drain the hydraulic system through the slave cylinder bleed screw and disconnect the wiring from the pressure switch 13: Loosen the pipe nut holding the clutch hydraulic pipe to the hex-shaped banjo and take off the pedal box cover 14: Remove the master cylinder and actuating rod. Take the shaped washer and spring clip from rod and apply to the cylinder

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15: Now we need to fit the main bracket. Fit the directional rod through the top of pedal box and align the bracket master 16: Tighten the main bracket then push down the pedal to return the nut on the end of the directional rod, taking care not to overtighten it 17: A clevis pin aligns through the rear, before a split pin can be fitted for security

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18: Refit the pedal box cover then locate the RedBooster servo on to the main bracket. Do not connect the fork to the crank at this stage 19: Remove the double coil spring that sits at the top of the clutch pedal 20: Fit the replacement spring. This one was a little loose, so we adjusted the washer to pull the spring a bit tighter

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21: Now it’s time to set up the servo. Place the clevis pin through the fork connector, making sure it can slide without force 22: Remove the pin from the master cylinder and place it on to the end of the servo. Adjustment is key here 23: The pin on the end of the clutch should extend outwards and move the master cylinder after 3-4cm of pedal movement 24: Fill the master cylinder with brake fluid and pump the clutch to bleed the system. Then fit the banjo hose, bend the steel clutch pipe on to the adapter and tighten on to the base of the pressure switch 25: Connect the piping, start the engine and loosen the two nuts on the master cylinder to check for movement on the pedal one last time

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An expedition along Africa’s East Coast in three Land Rovers, two inflatables and a 35-ton dhow sounds challenging enough. But when your goal is to distribute thousands of mosquito nets to remote villages in the battle against malaria, getting there is just the beginning…

Words: Dannie de Groote Pictures: Cooper Tires

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efore you start reading this article, here’s something to do. Close your eyes and count slowly to thirty. No, go on, trust us… it’s worth it.

Thank you. Now it’s thirty seconds later,. What has changed? Nothing… except that during that time, another child in Africa has died of malaria.

A virulent tropical disease spread through the bite of the anopheles mosquito, malaria is so prevalent in much of Africa that it kills even more people than HIV. A global eradication programme begun in 1950 ultimately failed, and like an indestructible monster in a horror movie, it’s back – and it’s stronger than ever.

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But it’s not just illness that kills the 300-500 million people who die of malaria every year.

It’s something far more evil: poverty. The vast majority of victims die for want of education on how to avoid contracting the disease and, worse still, the means to stop the killer mosquitoes.

That’s why renowned South African adventurer Kingsley Holgate conceived the African Rainbow expedition. Three Land Rovers, a couple of inflatables and a traditional sailing dhow plied a coastal route from Durban to the southern border of Somalia as part of a programme to distribute more than a quarter of a million insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets to

pregnant women and small children, while also presenting health education shows in remote villages where proper everyday medical services are an unimaginable luxury.

The expedition was in effect split into two parts. At its southern end, it was a straightforward overland affair, dependent on two Defenders (a 110 Station Wagon and a 130 Double-Cab) and a Series IIB forward control. Beyond the north-eastern Mozambiquan port of Pemba, where the dhow was launched, the trio of 4x4s provided support as the traditional Arabic craft continued the team’s work along the coastlines of Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya.

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Both powered by TD5 engines, the 110 and 130 were supplied by Land Rover as one of several event sponsors. Equally important in allowing the vehicles to keep going over thousands of miles of hostile African terrain was the support of Cooper Tyres, which provided the rubber on which they rode. The third vehicle belonged to Pierre Roode, a South African volunteer; some 34 years old, it’s a fine example of the IIB. The team nicknamed it Mzee Kobe, Swahili for ‘old tortoise.’

Between the three of them, the Land Rovers formed a perfect team for the expedition’s purposes. The bonnets of the 110 and 130 provided a perfect platform from which to

address crowds of locals eager for education on malaria prevention, while the IIB was fitted with a powerful loudspeaker used on many occasions as a public address system – and on many more to get the party started by blaring music out across the villages hosting the travellers.

In addition, having a forward control model helped the team carry as many mosquito nets as possible, as well as providing a very visible self-propelled advert for what the expedition was all about. ‘Research shows that an average of no more than two percent of people in rural villages can afford or have access to a mosquito net,’ say the organisers. ‘Our message is: whilst malaria

kills, it is an avoidable and curable disease that we need to keep on fighting.’

It was more than a little ironic, then, that a number of the expedition’s own members succumbed to the disease during the course of their trip. Of course, all of them had immediate access to quality care, unlike the many other sufferers in the regions through which they passed, but nothing could have illustrated Holgate’s point more effectively.

Malaria was just one of the many hazards the team faced as they pushed on northwards. Many of the dhow’s crew suffered tropical ulcers, a Land Rover was deposited on its side, and one

In parts of Africa, the sad reality of overland travel is that you need to take an armed guard with you. Even when you’re on a humanitarian mission of mercy, the bandits who prey on travellers will only see you as a target

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The main convoy was made up of two Defenders and a Series IIB, which as well as being able to carry loads of mosquito nets worked wonders as a mobile theatre and party bus. They were joined by various other Land Rovers along the way – from the Lightweight visible in the background here to a Discovery 3, which at the time was nearly new of the group, Bruce Leslie, narrowly escaped death while trying to save one of the inflatables’ Yamaha outboard motors. Confronting a wouldbe thief, Leslie was stabbed brutally in the neck and found floating in the water in a pool of blood – but after a lengthy recuperation back home in South Africa, he was able to rejoin the expedition for its final stages.

Compared to this, the rolled Land Rover was little more than a minor inconvenience. Once back on its wheels, the vehicle was ready to continue as if nothing had ever happened. But it could have been far, far worse, had a groundbreaking river crossing gone wrong – which it very nearly did.

‘We joined forces with Colin Fitzgerald’s team from 4x4 Mega World in South Africa,’ said Holgate. ‘Using their massive inflatable pontoon, we floated one of the Landys across the crocodile-infested Munuwayo River. Over thirty years ago, during the Portuguese days, dug-outs were lashed together to do this crossing, but since then no vehicle has made it across. The villagers couldn’t believe their eyes!’

During the crossing, however, a vicious crosswind began to blow. Even during a carefully executed manoeuvre, this had the potential to spell disaster. ‘I had visions of having to explain to the sponsors why a Land Rover full of mosquito nets had fallen into the drink,’ said Holgate. ‘Fortunately, we made it.’

By this time, the dhow had already been launched and the sea-borne part of the expedition was well underway. The idea was that it would progress at more or less the same pace on land and water, with regular rendezvous when the boat could put in to ‘port.’

‘When you’ve had a few long days at sea in the Spirit of Adventure dhow,’ said Holgate, ‘believe me it’s a wonderful sight to see the Landies’

lights flashing a greeting and hear Mashozi (the Zulu nickname for the lead driver, his wife Gill) on the radio. Looking forward to some nyama on the coals… we’re fast becoming tired of fish… a welcoming bottle of Captain Morgan and a bedroll that doesn’t rock and roll in the swell – it’s great when the land and sea parties meet!’

WHO IS KINGSLEY HOLGATE? Nicknamed the ‘Grey Beard of African Adventure’ and known as Africa’s most travelled man, Kingsley Holgate is one of his continent’s most colorful characters. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he has undertaken a great many adventures along with his wife Gill and son Ross – including, back in 1993, the world’s first voyage from the Cape to Cairo in inflatable open boats.

This was backed up by 4x4s, illustrating the importance of off-road vehicles to the sort of work the family do. Prior to the African Rainbow Expedition, Holgate used Land Rovers on Extreme Latitude, a circumnavigation of the globe following the Tropic of Capricorn which also involved bikes, dugouts and bullock carts.

Between them, the three members of the Holgate family have survived countless attacks of malaria as well as the threat of bandits, wild animals and landmines.

Described on his website as something of a latter-day David Livingstone, Holgate has followed in the footsteps of many of the early explorers. Unlike too many of them, however, who rode roughshod over local customs and etiquette and had no respect for man or beast, he has devoted his life to traditional African cultures, especially that of the Zulus. To find out more about Kingsley Holgate, pay a visit to www.kingsleyholgate.net

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These meetings tended to take place every few days, with contact maintained using GPS and HF radio. Complementing Mzee Kobe, the 110 and 130, driven by Mashozi and Dane Hewitt respectively, were nicknamed Livingstone and Stanley after the great explorers from the days of the empire.

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For a great deal of the way, the three-strong convoy of long-suffering trucks had nothing more substantial to follow than goat tracks. ‘This is Land Rover country,’ said Holgate, ‘and in the villages old battered Series IIs and IIIs are still used as taxis. Stanley and Livingstone have got a few familiar squeaks and groans; they’ve worked really hard on several expeditions and are now overloaded with mozzie nets, so we’re being even more demanding – but they just keep going.’

Not that any expedition would be complete without a mechanical crisis or two – though in this case, the source turned out to be more than a little unusual. ‘While camped in the bush up north towards the Rovuma river, Stanley would run for three seconds and then stop dead.

It must be the immobiliser, we thought. We change batteries, then get hold of Land Rover South Africa on the HF radio; they are incredibly supportive and even give us a secret code from the UK with which to bypass the system. But still nothing. We aren’t going anywhere from the middle of nowhere!

‘One would maybe expect a rogue hippo to go for the inflatable boats as we distribute nets to remote rural villages. One might expect the fear of unexploded land mines, and the hassle of bridges that were washed away in the last rainy season. In the dhow, we’ve learned to handle the rough seas when the kusi trade wind blows wild. But who would expect the expedition to be brought to a complete standstill by a small furry long-tailed rodent? The little blighter had crawled in behind the Landy’s dashboard and, having

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merrily eaten its way through a fistful of wiring, had even made a nest of the pieces!

‘Hours turned into days as Ross worked his way through a labyrinth of chomped wires. “Okay turn the key,” he’d shout, followed by… “nothing!”

Finally, Mashozi heard a rustling noise from the food box at the back of the vehicle, and the rat’s reign of terror was over. ‘Then,’ continues Holgate, ‘as Ross joined the last two pieces of rat-eaten wire, there was a spark, the dashboard lights came on and there was that comforting, familiar roar of a TD5 Land Rover engine. It was dark, we

squeezed the last few drops of Captain Morgan from the bottle and celebrated by throwing a “road runner” chicken on the coals.’

Celebrations were indeed a regular occurrence throughout the expedition. None more so than the party at Pemba, when the convoy arrived after its journey from Durban to ceremonially launch the Spirit of Adventure. Surrounded by mangrove swamps and giant baobab trees, Pemba Bay is the largest in Africa and played a central role in the expeditions through which the original explorers set forth to discover the continent.

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‘I wouldn’t have missed this journey for anything,’ said Holgate. ‘It’s been a fascinating odyssey. The beauty of the palm-fronted coast, the colourful and friendly village people, the adventure of pulling and pushing our expedition vehicles across deep, wide rivers, the campfires at night and the fulfillment of saving lives.

We bounce along goat tracks, the elephant grass taller than the Land Rovers. Last night a thundering downpour caught us unaware as we camped on the banks of the Rio Lurio. But our spirits are certainly not dampened as we prepare to launch the Spirit of Adventure.’

As if to emphasise the links between the two parts of the expedition, the Land Rovers even played a part in the launch as they were used to pull the vessel’s mast up. Then, after a final night’s preparation work by the light of a full moon, the fun could begin. In Holgate’s words: ‘Enamel mugs of Captain Morgan are raised in a salute to our historic journey up the East Coast of Africa. Flambos flicker on the beach, the tide is up and the inflatables ferry everybody back to shore.

Barefoot in the sand, it’s party time as music plays from the horn speaker of Pierre’s 34-yearold forward control Land Rover.’

But everyone knew that there were tough times ahead, with the searing heat of the monsoon season building every day and countless miles of hostile terrain, some of it laced with landmines from spent conflicts, to be tackled by the three Land Rovers.

No wonder, then, that there was a party to eclipse all others when the dhow finally put in to port at Omuhipiti, better known as Ilha Da Mozambique, at the end of its voyage up and down the coast. A flotilla of more than thirty smaller fishing dhows sailed out to meet it – these were part of a celebratory reception

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committee which included traditional dancers, local dignitaries and, of course, three battered Land Rovers.

But the trip didn’t end there, either for the vehicles or the dhow. Spirit of Adventure continues to work as a humanitarian vessel, assisting medical programmes and helping out on wildlife programmes – as well, of course, as playing a role in the never-ending battle against malaria.

And the team’s job wasn’t over, either, as it continued on another 400-mile leg up the Zambezi to hand out a further five thousand mosquito nets. This time, it was the inflatables that took the strain, backed up as ever by the

three Land Rovers, before finally the expedition returned to the coast and made its final trip back to South Africa. There, the three expedition vehicles were joined by more than two dozen other Land Rovers in a gathering described by Holgate as ‘an act of solidarity against malaria.’

With a Captain Morgan bar at the centre of things, even he might have admitted that there was enough room for a little bit of mutual backslapping after such a mammoth undertaking.

The fight to contain malaria goes on… but at the end of the African Rainbow Expedition, Kingsley Holgate and his team, along with their three very well travelled Land Rovers, could certainly congratulate themselves on a job well done.

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Mountain High

People come to the Defender through all sorts of routes. If you were huddled under wet canvas on a disastrous camping holiday, for example, and the people next to you were larging it in their converted 127, you’d arrive home knowing exactly what to do next. Which is how one British couple began their love affair with an old military ambulance called Katy…

Words and pictures: Andrew Kendall

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riving to Italy in an ambulance seems rather silly on face value. When the ambulance in question is more than a quarter of a century old, you’d perhaps think the driver has gone a little mad.

But this ambulance, who goes by the name of Katy, has been enjoying retirement by gallivanting

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over to the Italian Alps to explore the countryside and continental trails. She’s a big old girl, and that’s because she’s not just any old ambulance: she’s a Land Rover ambulance.

I’d seen a converted 127” ambulance while on a camping holiday in Iceland, while I spent two weeks in the rain a small tent. ‘What a wonderful idea,’ I

thought. ‘How do you build one of those?’ Back home, I did some research and found I didn’t need to build one – they already existed.

I’d been browsing eBay for a while when we purchased Katy, our 127, in on a bit of a whim. I had just attended the funeral of a good friend who was always up for an adventure and sharing some good

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tales over a beer, so it seemed appropriate. That was in February 2011.

She was described as ‘a Land Rover ex-military ambulance conversion with a solar panel to charge the second battery, on-board water tank, fridge, stove, toilet, hand-held shower’ and as a vehicle that ‘goes well and pulls like a steam train.’

That wasn’t all. ‘There are many, many years of happy camping here and don’t forget it will go just about anywhere,’ said the listing. So what could go wrong? We bought her, brought her home, cleaned her up and almost immediately set off to visit family in Yorkshire.

We soon had niggles, though. Well, major issues, really. A catastrophic failure of the gearbox and transfer case on the M42 was a bit of a sign. So we went and got some nice refurbished units from Ashcroft. While we were at it, we shifted the ratio from the military 1:1.67 to the standard Defender 1:1.4. This allowed us to move out of the horse-drawn carriage lanes on motorways and into the flow of regular vehicles with internal combustion engines.

A couple of tester trips in the UK were enough to persuade us to invest in a full suspension upgrade, with Azalai 130 Camper springs and new 25mm front and 28mm rear Extreme 4x4 anti-roll bars. These proved to be quite literally a life-saving upgrade on our trip to Italy.

We wanted a good introduction to proper overlanding with a view to it providing good experience for the longer trips we’d like to do in the future. I had come across Alpine Rovers on a couple of forums, and we decided to join them for a number of reasons: they only took small groups, their tour was on mainland Europe and the destination in the Alps was somewhere we would be interested in as my wife Rhian and I are both geologists.

The equipment we had on board consisted of a fold-down double bed, various cupboards and a shower. There was also a portaloo in the truck when we got her, but we’ve taken it out as we don’t fancy driving the contents around!

Katy also has a three-burner stove, 50-litre water tank with electric pump and electric hook-up, which can power the water heater and shower, as well as a large solar panel charging a leisure battery, two Calor bottles and the usual array of spare parts and manuals just in case.

We booked on to Alpine Rovers’ one-week tour around the Susa valley in Northern Italy just to the West of Turin, but took enough leave to make it a full two-week holiday. Leaving from home in Cardiff at the end of July last year, we made our way down to Dover to catch the ferry and onwards to Arras. At this point, anything beyond the UK was considered a success.

It was a really hot day and running at 65 mph meant Katy was in danger of looking like a panting dog, so we were regularly stopping at rest areas to let her cool down. According to the map we had, there were campsites in the area south of Dijon, which is a fine wine producing area – so naturally we had to go and investigate!

We heading to the Camping Grappe d’Or at Meursault, directed by our sat nav. To our horror, though, at the gate hung a sign saying ‘Complet’ (full). We were out of luck… or so we thought.

As we sat there trying to decide what on earth we could do, a nice lady (Juliette, as I later found out) came walking towards us. ‘I bet you need somewhere to stay?’ she asked.

Yes, we said, we did.

And before we could ask if she could recommend somewhere else, she said they could find us a place to park because they have a rule there – which says they always tried to help cyclists, Volkswagen campers and Land Rovers!

We were shown into a wonderful secluded secure courtyard where we were able to stay the night. A nice meal with a truly superb Chardonnay white and the day ended very well indeed.

In the morning, after a nice breakfast, Juliette showed me pictures of her and her friends out in their Land Rovers, including her 1980 Series III, and told us we would always be welcome. And with that, on to Italy we travelled.

The Alpine Rovers team consisted of Mandy and Mike Springer in their Tomb Raider 90, and also ‘German Mike’ in his 109” Series III. Their first reaction to Katy was interesting: ‘That’s bigger than we imagined!’ Clearly 127s are an uncommon sight on such trips.

The next day, we set off into the mountains on the north side of the Susa Valley, up to Mount Jafferau.

I was very nervous as to how Katy would cope with the steep tracks to come. Mike advised second gear, low ratio and diff-lock engaged for the loose stuff, and to avoid changing gear on anything steep.

We took his advice. By the time we had done a fair chunk of climbing and the tracks were levelling out, we were making it into third or even fourth gear (still in low box, of course) on the flatter sections and running easily with almost no smoke, even at this high altitude.

Through some more woodland, we found our first problem with Katy’s proportions. You don’t wish to comment too much on a lady’s size, but she was collecting the trees as she passed them and the awning rail soon needing a spot of bending back into shape.

Through the rest of the tracks, though, we had no significant issues. We found ourselves able to keep up well with the group, though we did have to take a few more shunts at the tight hairpins. Mind you, with Katy’s wider offset Wolf wheels, we were actually not doing much worse than German Mike’s 109.

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The following day took us back down from that high point and across the valley to Argentiera.

Nothing too extreme, but the scenery remained magnificent – and there were some washed-out corners that had us carefully balancing on three wheels as we eased our way through them. I believe the Americans describe these as ‘butt puckers…’

Our reward was a wonderful campsite, with no-one else in sight and a huge waterfall tumbling down the mountain in the background.

Our next leg took us on the high route from Siestre to Usseaux. Back on day one we had seen a superb Unimog that had been converted into a camper van, and guess what was coming towards us on one of the

narrowest sections with a 2000ft drop to the right…?

The Unimog was still superb, but the prospect of trying to squeeze past it was anything but.

I was very unsure, so I asked Rhian to step out of the vehicle while Mike came forward and started directing me as we inched closer and closer. Just as we were through and Mike said to pull forward, my rear wheel dropped into a hole on the edge of the precipice. All I could do was power on, terrified of what might be happening. It was my scariest moment – but in hindsight, it’s also the one I talk about the most!

For day four, we intended to top out the trip at 10,000 feet at Rochemolles – but the weather was to

beat us. There was still late snow across the road and we were limited on time and places to turn around, so we beat a retreat at 9329 feet and headed back down to find our camp site. This involved our first river crossing, but the route was well known to the guides and proved easy.

It was at this campsite that the benefits of having a 127 became clear. It was lashing down with rain and the mist had set in – and we were able to just pull up and put the kettle on while the rest of the team struggled with their tents. We did offer cups of tea all round, though!

With the rain making the high mountains rather an unpleasant place to be, we dropped down to the

Right: This is where joining an organised tour pays for itself. River crossings can be the most dangerous part of an expedition, but when you’ve got a guide from a company like Alpine Rovers who’s been there before and knows the route, you can point your truck into the water without fear

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When your sat nav is showing you an elevation like this, not to mention the road ahead, you know you’re no longer that guy whose idea of a holiday is a week sitting by the beach at Skegness with a hankie tied around his head

lower altitudes for some gentle lanes and a bit of touristy stuff. The next day we finished our adventure by doing part of a wonderful route on an old Roman road heading back towards Susa.

We only did part of that route, though, because there had been a landslide and there were rocks to climb over which our guides thought would be a problem for Katy with her extra-long wheelbase.

That’s clearly a compromise you have to consider in one of these vehicles.

We set off for home after several wonderful days of mountainous trail riding, having gained an immense amount of confidence both in our Land Rover and in our abilities to use it properly. The run back north through France was rather less eventful, though we did make one stop at a place I had wanted to visit for a while.

This was the Thiepval Memorial, in the Somme region. The memorial is to the 72,191 missing British and South African men who died between 1915 and 1918 in the Battles of the Somme, who have no known grave.

I have a great uncle, Sergeant William Allison Barnett MM, remembered on the memorial. He was recommended for the medal just two days before he was killed in action on 15 September 1916, which was the first day that British tanks were used in action.

Thiepval is one of those places that everyone responsible for sending people to war should visit.

Imagine if every politician were forced to sit here and think for a day on the consequences of their actions.

The memorial is visited by a lot of old soldiers, and we were only in the car park for about a minute before we had a crowd around us. A military ambulance seemed like an appropriate vehicle

aboard which to have travelled here; it felt as if Katy was paying her respects, too.

We made it home to Cardiff in mid-August, with no issues having cropped up during our 2020-mile| round trip. Katy impressed all the group, ourselves included – though she certainly wouldn’t have made it in the state she was in when we bought her.

We do have things we want to do to improve Katy. But we intend to take German Mike’s advice seriously: ‘Only add things that add value. Knowledge of how to cope and fix things is more useful than any gadget.’ I think he approved when I said the most important things I carried on-board were a tool kit and a Haynes manual for the Defender!

Do we want to go on other adventures? Clearly, yes is the answer. But there is work to do – more

electrics to sort out, and the bulkhead needs repairing or replacing. I do want to make some more improvements to the interior, too, and Katy definitely deserves a respray.

As so often happens, though, work has got in the way this year and I’ve had to put things on hold. My perfect adventure would be into Uganda, where my Gran lived for ten years, but we’ll probably do a few more shakedown trips to places like the Pyrenees or Morocco before trying anything like that.

I’m often asked if we’ve taken Katy on any adventures, and now at last I feel I can look people in the eye and say yes. ‘She’s been over the Alps,’ I tell them. ‘And I don’t mean on tarmac. I mean up and down the mountains. And it won’t be the last adventure we have together, either.’

To be honest, a 130 wouldn’t be many people’s first choice of Land Rover for mountain trails with regular tight hairpins.

But when you arrive at your camp site and while everyone else is battling with their tents, you’re already making a cup of tea, everything else is forgiven

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BIRDS OF A

N

ot many people go from knowing so little about Land Rovers that they’re not even sure what colour the oval is meant to be, to traversing the globe in a Defender 110 County Station Wagon which they single-handedly fixed up. Then again, not many people get to take a three-year long overlanding trip, exploring the continents of Europe, Africa and

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North and South America. Perhaps some people just have all the luck.

Luck isn’t what Neill and Julie Bird would put it down to. The Doncaster-born couple (aka the ‘Overland Birds’ – get it?) are far more likely to cite careful preparation, generosity and karma as the reasons they were able to take part in this life-changing adventure.

The trip commenced in October 2011 and ran for a grand total of 974 days. But it was in the works long before that. Two years before Neill and Julie set off, the third member of their team joined – and perhaps even planted the seed for what was to come.

‘We bought the Defender in 2009, a year before we decided to go overlanding,’ Neill explains. And

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DEFENDER When Neill and Julie Bird set out on a life-changing overland expedition aboard their rebuilt Defender 110, they didn’t really know what to expect.

But after almost three years on the world’s roads and trails, they had learned more than they believed possible about themselves, our planet… and, of course, what it’s like to live in your Land Rover…

Words: Gemma Pask Pictures: Neill and Julie Bird

why a Defender? ‘It was inexpensive to buy, and parts are available almost everywhere.’

‘Instead of buying a brand new vehicle, we decided to buy a cheaper one and use the excess money to fix it up.’ Neill goes on to explain that the Carnet de Passage was another motivator in buying a cheaper vehicle. Alongside the document itself (up to £225) and the refundable

deposit (£350), country specific payments are also applicable. As the highest risk country Neill and Julie were visiting was Egypt, the security risk rate was 800% of the car’s value. ‘A £25,000 new car costs £200,000 in carnet and an old £1500 car costs £12,000,’ says Neill. It makes sense, once you get your head around it…

That, at the time he bought the vehicle, was

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more or less the extent of Neill’s knowledge.

‘I had no tools, no Land Rover knowledge,’ he continues. ‘I did have help from people on internet forums, but I was mainly self-taught. I taught myself how to weld and completely rebuilt the Defender – I replaced

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nearly all main components, fitted heavy-duty suspension to cope with the weight, rebuilt entire axles, even rebuilding the transfer box, and installed a fridge, a cab heater and a bed.’ Not bad for a Land Rover rookie…

In all, Matilda spent 662 days on the drive. Ah yes, that’s her name. There’s no complicated story behind it, however. ‘Julie chose the name because she always said it’s what she’d call our daughter if we ever had kids; Matilda is like the child we never had. Oh, and we like the film!’

Matilda was officially christened in Botswana, by means of a shiny sticker Neill and Julie had

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made for her. One of the first 300Tdi-engined Defenders, she had 195,000 miles on the clock when Neill and Julie first got her – these days it’s more like 300,000.

So, with a good-as-new Defender on the drive and some savings they had accumulated over the years, the Birds had a decision to make. It was watching the adventures of Long Way Down and Top Gear that really got them thinking about overlanding around the world.

So that’s what they did.

Aboard Matilda, Neill and Julie travelled across Europe, through Syria, Jordan and Egypt (good

luck trying that now), down the east side of Africa, and across southern Africa, then headed to South America, travelling through the likes of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, El Salvador and Mexico, before entering the USA in Texas and visiting probably every state known to man. They then continued into Canada and finally came to a halt in Alaska. As if you hadn’t already guessed, that’s one heck of a journey.

So it’s little wonder Matilda encountered a few setbacks en route. When we say a few…

Neill takes up the tale: ‘She had a spare turbocharger fitted in El Salvador, got her one

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“We had no air-con and we were travelling in 45° heat – we had the windows down constantly for 12 months! Eventually we bought a fan…”

and only puncture in Kenya, the shock absorbers broke and the windscreen wipers never worked properly. We changed the springs in Tanzania to double springs from a 130, had a new gearbox fitted in America that only lasted 14,000 miles, and the transfer box came out more times than we care to remember…

‘We had no air-con, either, and we were travelling through Ethiopia in 45° heat… We had the windows down constantly for 12 months.

And when the floor gets hot it’s like putting your feet on a radiator. Eventually we bought a fan, probably the best addition of all!’

The question is, what do you do if your Defender encounters a problem in the middle of nowhere – say, a smashed wing mirror in the remote Kenyan market town of Maralal?

‘We’d been off-roading for four days and one of the wing mirrors smashed when we were in the North end of Kenya. We were in the back of beyond and thought there’d be nowhere to get it fixed, but we were told of a local shop that sold wing mirrors. We went in and asked, and the guy behind the desk disappeared and returned holding a blue Britpart box containing a replacement.’

Either Britpart is everywhere or Neill and Julie really do have all the luck. Except with transfer cases, obviously.

It may sound like the best part of the three years was spent repairing Matilda, but that’s certainly not the case. The Defender 110 suited them nicely in the grand scheme of things.

‘We liked sleeping in the car more than a bed in a hotel,’ says Julie. ‘We could camp almost anywhere and it just looked like a parked car.

We camped in the VA Waterfront Mall in Cape Town, along the Nile in Aswan and even on

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Broadway in New York and we had no problems.

You just need to choose the spot.’

‘Mechanically the Defender is good,’ adds Neill.

‘We didn’t have a single failure that really stopped us and in fact not a single failure other than the gearbox that meant we couldn’t go. Most things I fixed right there and then. Although things like the shocks were broken, we were still able to drive the vehicle.’

The trip itself sounds like something plucked straight from a 4x4 enthusiast’s daydream. But as always on the road there were some tough times, too. Towards the end of 2011, there was significant unrest in Syria – the start of a bitter and prolonged civil war, as we know now. And this was at exactly the time that our trio crossed the

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nation’s border. ‘We put pawprint stickers on the side of the vehicle to stop it from looking like an army vehicle,’ says Neill.

‘Ethiopia drove us to despair at the time.

Children were constantly throwing stones at the car – but in hindsight it was a beautiful place.

Mozambique and Egypt were particularly difficult places, and there was an incident in Costa Rica involving a man with a gun…’ Need we say more?

As is to be expected, being away from home wasn’t always the easiest of matters. The pair sadly lost a relative in late 2011, at which point they were in a very remote area with no chance to getting to an airport for well over a week. ‘Luckily we had a satellite phone for emergencies. Very useful as long as you have numbers in it to call!’

In Brazil, on the other hand, it was all fun and games. Kind of. ‘We’d parked up in a car park and heard something at the back. When we looked out we could see two teenagers sitting behind the car… do they call it “making out” these days? The boy can’t have been interested though – he was picking our Malawi sticker off the side of the car!’

Neill and Julie are big believers in karma and ‘paying it forward’ – doing something good for someone in the hope that it will inspire them to do something good for someone else, and so on. ‘Rescuing and helping others is the way,’ says Neill. ‘We passed some remote areas and bad roads and if we saw someone stuck or broken down we stopped and helped for as long as it took to get them moving.’

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Their many rescue missions included a motorcyclist stranded with a dead spark plug in the middle of nowhere, a Massey Ferguson tractor broken down at the roadside and a car that had ended up in a ditch with a snapped tow rope.

‘How or why his car was where it was is anybody’s guess,’ says Neill.

Remember the satellite phone we mentioned earlier? Well it turns out it was able to come in handy in more ways than one. ‘We got a message on it that a traveller on a motorcycle had crashed in a very dangerous area. We were 750 miles away in a different country. We took little part in the rescue other than moral support over the phone, but he managed to get the not-so-local police to come rescue him and his bike (which was in two halves).

‘His new Kenyan wife who he met there while mending his bike is expecting a baby next week!

We are now lifelong friends.’

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And nor did their heroic endeavours stop at vehicle rescue. Having come across an Italian couple in a Land Cruiser who needed a new car battery, it turned out that they’d accidently deleted a third of their pictures from Kenya. ‘It took me well over a day to recover them sat in a café on Lake Gondor,’ Neill recalls.

‘They also had the slowest internet in the world.’

‘Both Italians cried when I managed to recover well over 80% of their photos. The guy wanted to kiss me. I declined…’

After all that, let’s hope karma will indeed come back around and in return they’ll get the chance to get back on the road sooner rather than later.

‘We had to come home because we ran out of money.’ The immortal spanner in the works.

‘But we’re saving up again and are planning on heading back out within the next five years.’

‘In South Africa, we met a wise man named Coen and his wife Trudy (we piggy-backed with them for a while because they had an ice machine in their camper and a pre-booked camping spot!)

One of the things Coen said to us was “there’s no time, only money” and it’s very relevant – staying in many of the places we visited was relatively inexpensive, but moving around is what costs.

You can have all the time in the world but it’s money that gets in the way.’

Having said that, there’s an interesting breakdown of fuel costs on the Overland Birds’

website, showing prices ranging from £1.33 per litre in Germany down to just 12p per litre in Egypt. We know a fair few Brits who would like the sound of the latter.

Nonetheless, Neill, Julie and Matilda are back home and prepping for their next adventure.

‘Matilda is getting a full rebuild,’ says Neill.

‘Everything is going to be changed again.’

So there you have it: proof that in the space of a few years, you can go from being a complete Land Rover newbie to an overlanding pro with a cabin full of memories. And if you’re ever in Africa and lose a wing mirror, head for Maralal – they’ll no doubt have plenty.

There’s nowhere near enough space here to recall all of Neill and Julie’s adventures, much as we’d like to. So for many more stories and photographs, plus advice for those considering doing something similar, head on over to www.overlandbirds.com.

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