The idea of executing a special Land Rover Defender build was circulating around our design department for some time. The fact Land Rover ceased production of these much loved four wheel drives that have been around since 1948 prompted us to get cracking as a matter of urgency. Hand in hand the 007TM Spectre big screen movie was on release featuring SVO’s designed 110 DCPU Defenders with their most purposeful stand featuring top spec components only seen on few off road rigs.
This was enough to light the spark leading to our decision to proceed on a concept for a never done before 90 chassis Defender to be based on the Land Rover seen in the Spectre film. Making this a world first taking people by surprise going by the positive comments received after the launch video.
As soon as a black Defender 90 station wagon donor vehicle was allocated to the project, we started gathering the right external component, such as the beadlock wheels, tyres, extra wide wheel arches, roof rack and front roll cage, custom made front bumper and winch, snorkel, spot lights, NAS rear bumper, spare wheel carrier and many more parts from headlights to the same recovery/tow rope used in the film!
The external parts were true to the ones used by SVO on the original design. It was very important for us to make this as authentic as possible and use the highest quality components available.
Quite a bit of custom work and fabrication was required to get certain components to fit together, such as the roll cage and fixed snorkel. The bumper was custom made to mimic the bumper used in the film with the raised sides and a few more details required custom work.
On this build we decided to give the Defender 90 a two-inch lift and opted for the 35 inch tyres rather than the original 37’s that are more suited to the 110 on a two-inch lift. We also carried out a full suspension overhaul with replacement heavy duty radius arms, adjustable panhard rods, heavy duty steering arms, uprated steering damper and a full upgrade to poly bushes to ensure the drive and handling matched the exterior and performance upgrades.
In hand with that the engine was given a stage three tune ECU, air filter, exhaust system and intercooler boosting the power to around 185-190 BHP and raising torque levels to around 490 NM. A plan to uplift the interior with supportive leather seats, leather interior upgrade, a smaller leather steering wheel, satnav with full front and rear cameras.
This project took around eight weeks of research, design and the gathering of parts, fabrication and fitment of the vast number of components required for this build. Once the work was completed and the workshop dust blown off this masterpiece popped like the rise of the phoenix in all its glory.
This conversion is now available, please contact us via telephone or email to discuss your special edition build.
Further information can be found here.
Follow us on social media:
