Land Rover Defender
The Defender is a vehicle which has a varied fan base across the world; from the British army and the Royal family right through to farmers, emergency workers and people across the world who need a vehicle which will do it all.
The story of the Defender doesn’t begin in 1990 when it came to market, but instead, much earlier in the roots of what came before it.
Land Rover pre 1990 had of course, had the highly successful series cars which had given them a worldwide fan base. You’ll see them everywhere from rural, sleepy England to the outback in Australia and far flung corners of Asia.
After the Series range, Land Rover introduced the Land Rover one Ten in 1983 - which represented the wheelbase of 110 inches - a shorter wheel base is then introduced in 1984 which is the 90 - although the wheelbase on this was slightly over 92.9 inches.
There’s also the One Two Seven, which is the biggest in the range and really wasn’t introduced for the domestic market, but more for the heavy going user - people like the army, emergency services and so on. I’ve personally seen them liveried up for use by the fire brigade.
Then at the end of the 80s you get the introduction of the Discovery - which actually prompts Land Rover to give the range a bit of a shake up and they then rename the 90 and 110 to Defender 90 and 110 respectively. It’s worth mentioning the Discovery whilst slightly more refined and suited to families, also filled that mid gap being the 100 inch option.
Although the earlier pre 89 cars aren’t strictly called a Defender, you’ll find most people naturally call them this due to the later name change and the similarity between the cars and the later Defender badged models.
Despite having that boxy feel of the Series cars, there were some big changes which reflected response to competitors, modernisation and the growing need of the global market.
Some of these included coil springs to replace the leaf springs used on the series, a permanent 4WD system which wasn’t new - but instead had been lifted from the Range Rover, a modern feeling interior, the one piece screen and predictably, engine improvements as the range developed, alongside many other smaller tweaks to take the cars to the next level.
A lot of these changes made the cars much easier to drive and use than the outgoing series, which in turn, expanded Land Rover’s market to a new audience: the domestic user who fancied something a little more rugged but more refined than the Series.
In 1990, the Defender is then introduced and with it, the engine we’ve got here today: the turbodiesel 200TDI - which was a big step up from the 2.5 litre engine which had come before it and now had alloy cylinder head, intercooling, direct injection and crucially, a decent set of workarounds for some of the problems in the 80s where the cars had been failing due to rebreathing their own sump oil.
The new engine gave higher cruising speeds but also improved towing capabiliy and a brochure from the time boasts the capability to tow up to 3,850kg/8,487 pounds - which means it lends itself nicely to pretty much every job at hand.
This one we’re testing today isn’t precisely as it left the factory and plenty of valuable work has been undertaken by Fred and previous owners with works including a fully galv chassis, hybridised garret turbo, big aluminium front mounted intercooler, Roamerdrive overdrive kit, bulkhead replacement, uprated bearings within the gearbox and plenty of other finer touches to improve the ownership and driving experience.
Sadly, the Land Rover Defender of today is all but a name in comparison to this classic shape Defender we’ve got today. These are still commanding high prices, are very desirable and most poignantly, still the car people think of when you say I am heading out in a land rover defender.
But as every owner knows, there is always room for improvement, so here’s Freddie telling us his plans for 2025.