There’s Another Sort-Of New Classic Land Rover Defender

Production of the original Land Rover Defender ended in 2016, but, like the Pagani Zonda, the Fast & Furious franchise, and Elton John, it just can’t seem to sign off one last time. This, officially, is the Classic Defender V8 by Works Bespoke, and it’s the latest in a series of rejuvenated original Defenders that JLR’s Classic division has rolled out since production wrapped up.

It starts life as a Defender that Land Rover Classic engineers painstakingly source from the very last few years of production – 2012 to 2016. Out goes that car’s Ford-sourced 2.2-litre diesel engine, and in goes a naturally aspirated version of JLR’s faithful 5.0-litre petrol V8, producing 399bhp and 406lb ft of torque. That gets hooked up to ZF’s equally well-proven eight-speed automatic.

In the short-wheelbase 90, that means 62mph in an estimated 5.9 seconds, rising to 6.1 seconds in the long-wheelbase 110. Both top out at 106mph, which is really more than enough in an old Defender.

Previous versions of these sorts of factory restomod Defenders, like the Islay and Trophy Editions, have stuck to set colour schemes, but the Bespoke part of this one’s name suggests that things are a bit different here.

Indeed, buyers are able to choose from a huge range of colours, sorted into four themes – Heritage, Contemporary, Premium or SV Metallic – or even take in an object of their choice and get it colour matched, like a classier version of that thing you can do at B&Q.

There’s also the potential for lots of mixing-’n’-matching exterior accessories, with a choice of three different grilles, two styles of alloys, and various off-road addenda like spotlights, expedition cages and winches.

Inside, there’s a choice of two modern bucket seats, something anyone that’s been in an original Defender will recognise as a blessing, trimmed in lots of lovely, sumptuous cow peelings; and a small but useful infotainment screen. There’s plenty of colour choice in here too, and Land Rover also invites buyers to discuss bespoke options. There’s even the possibility of a camper conversion – nice.

Naturally, none of this comes cheap. A 90 starts at £190,000, rising to £199,000 for a 110 in five-seater form, and £204,000 for a seven-seater. Oh, and all those prices are excluding VAT, FYI. OMG. Still, fancy one of these over the new V8-powered Defender OCTA?