Automotive

PuristSPro honors the Land Rover Defender, a vehicle with an unparalleled history.  The Defender has enjoyed production in Solihull, England for an amazing 67 years but will unfortunately be stopped in December 2015.  We explore the Defender and compare it to its modern brother the Range Rover.

Hand-built SUVs, the Land Rover Defender and the Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen, are both modern classics that are a part of the dying times. 

 

We see the marketing phrase “hand-built” all the time.  And it’s mostly meaningless.  Very few things are hand-built anymore.  Public companies are run by profits, profits dictate robots and efficient designs that minimize human labor costs. 

 

Land Rover Defender – rumored to be one of The Queen’s favorite personal vehicles that she personally drives, is almost entirely hand built.  While all the major metal pieces are pressed by machine, a large amount of the finishing of pieces, pre-assembly of pieces, riveting and welding are all done by hand.  Only seven robots are on the production line, in contrast the Range Rover production line has 328 robots.  The Defender has been built in Solihull, England for 67 years!  But Solihull production will supposedly end in December 2015. 

 

The Defender is destined to become a future classic.  Procure yours today and see where it takes you in the decades to come. 

 

 

The rugged go anywhere attitude of the Defender allows it to go anywhere, anytime, in any condition.  The Defender has been on all seven continents in all types of conditions. 

The Defender.  Versatile in combat and highly desirable during peacetime.  Long live the Defender! 

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It'd look good next to your Volvo P1800. 

It's also fuel efficient (by American standards) with a 2.2 liter diesel engine. 

...several of these in my neighbourhood, mainly late model Defenders, but there is a 110 and a Series 2 that I often see. My father had a Series 2 that he drove around Australia with friends in the 60s...could you imagine touring across Australia in a car flat out at 50mph?

Nice to observe, but terrible to drive on the road. Especially the SWB models....and the most off-road I've been in one is unsealed farm tracks

As for being hand-made...this is more a result of the production methods being stuck in the 50s (or really, 40's given the Solihull plant....) than due to some inherent craftsmanship.

Still, after all that, it will be sad to see them go. Another icon lost.

You're right.  It is more of a result of the production methods being unable to advance due to the design of the car being incapable for robots of today.  Not entirely due to the desirability of hand craftsmanship, but just out of necessity.  Good point! 

Will these cars still be available for purchase in Australia?  It's being stopped in the EU mainly for pedestrian safety compliance.  But you may possibly see Asian or African newly built versions in Australia after December 2015. 

Isn't there a small stretch of road in Australia that has no speed limit?  50 mph is painfully slow!  The animals will probably be able to keep up with you for short durations. 

..they are still for sale here. I used to work just down the road from the main local dealership (complete with a properly challenging obstacle course....) and last I remember they were still on the lot. I don't doubt they'll finish up soon as Solihull closes.

As for speed limits, for years the Northern Territory was limit free outside urban areas. I've done many kms flat-out on unsealed roads up there watching the fuel guage dip. It's actually pretty dull and the thrill of seeing the desrestricted zone sign wears off after a week + of those speeds, as the roads aren't that interesting, you're just trying to get to the next stop.

The NT closed down the desrestricted zones for a while, only to return them a couple of years ago, but it's limited to one section of one highway (I think)

As for 50mph in a Series II, that's down to a lethargic 50hp 4-cylinder and gearing really aimed at off-road use. Mind you, in the 60s, whole sections of central Australia barely had anything one could consider a road.

At least 50 miles per hour, 85 kilometers an hour, is faster than the normal horse with cart. 

Unsealed roads?  That's not good, most tires can't handle extremely fast speeds on poor road surfaces. 

In the United States, drivers don't maintain their cars well enough nor do they have the necessary discipline and training to drive on de-limited speeds.  Such a hill-billy shortsighted law would cost many lives here.  Most US drivers wouldn't have the discipline and the maintenance of their equipment wouldn't be conducive to safe driving at high speed driving.  And while I would enjoy faster journey times during my long-distance jaunts, I simply do not have the confidence in other drivers. 

...on a lot of those unsealed roads is corrugations. Many of them are really bad so you basically speed up until the car stops shaking like a jackhammer and sit at that. Much faster or slower means the car goes crazy again...really tiring and a great relief when the road smooths out. The are still many "roads" in central Australia that are a real challenge, discounting the weather and road conditions... some have nearly 500km between fuel access....

I can't vouch for the driving skills of Australians, but those roads are also really empty, you can drive for ages without crossing anyone. In the late 90s, we did a 3 hour round trip from Kununurra (in the Kimberly) and the only cars we saw were the others in our convoy....

So no fancy sports cars driving on these roads at 120+ miles per hour due to how corrugated the roads are.  I get the picture. 

Australia, true wilderness. 

Along with just few

It will be possible to buy non UK built Defender in other countries.  For instance, South Africa has a factory for the African market. 

But Western European sales is supposed to end in December 2015. 

Other factories are in Malaysia and Pakistan. 

I haven't seen the old Nissan Patrols in a while.  But yes, those are good machines too.  I usually see a convoy of them (with Toyota LandCruisers) in UN Peacekeeping missions depicted on CNN, BBC, or DW-TV news channels. 

Thanks for reading and commenting Damjan! 

You saw my post a few weeks back on the old FJ40.  I probably have a preference towards an old Defender to be fully honest.  I would love to have one.

Old Landcruisers (Toyota)

Old Defenders (Land Rover)

Old Gelandewagens (Mercedes-Benz)

I love them all. 

Realistically, I'd probably get a modern day Gelandewagen, it's easily serviced here in California, a lot of Mercedes-Benz dealerships equipped to service that car.  But I think Gelandewagens develop rattles over time.  All the older ones I've driven had interior rattling sounds that were somewhat to extremely annoying. 

Defenders here in California are quite rare, obnoxiously expensive for what they are, and not easy to service. 

I don't know, but I imagine old FJ40s are just a nightmare for service, there are probably few competent mechanics, and they're old cars so parts are hard to come by.  But they do look cool!  When I was in college, my roommate had the modern-retro Toyota FJ Cruiser, which is quite a capable car off the road too.  I did like that car.  And they don't sell FJ Cruisers anymore.  I'm reminiscing a blue bodied FJ Cruiser with a white roof, just driving down to the beach.  A couple surfboards (all broken and chipped), a blanket (an set of orange bedsheets that was made of 100% scratchy cotton), and a picnic basket (plastic cooler in reality) filled with (not sandwiches) tacos, corn tortillas and meats in Pyrex glass containers.  We would shred the meat on the beach and just chat about home and the funny memories of growing up. 

Rats, it's Monday.  Discounted Tacos are sold on Tuesday, Taco Tuesday... 

I wish I were there on the beach with you my Friend.

Safety and practicality are my main concerns. 

While I really like the look of the old Land Cruisers, the fact that the car is ancient and doesn't have certain safety features nor creature comforts is a concern. 

The Defender is good in a way that it has a small 2.2 liter diesel engine.  It will have a reasonable range on each tank of fuel. 

The Gelandewagen in the US always have very thirsty petrol engines.  Thus, the range of the car is simply too short to be practical.  Imagine going camping in the wilderness, you'll actually have to monitor your fuel usage quite carefully.  And in day to day driving, the range of the massive 25.4 US Gallon tank is only around 325 miles, assuming 13 mpg average and that you use almost every last drop of fuel.  Maybe an inline 6 cylinder diesel would be more appropriate?  And Mercedes-Benz dealers are abundant in the USA, so serviceability isn't a major issue. 

But all that said, I do like the Defender.  It's got the cloth interior, it looks the most authentic and modern, but more industrial interior than the Gelandewagen. 

i really enjoyed it even if it was not reliable, fast, confortable and even not the best one off road.

Thank you for sharing those nice pictures of the Defender in (presumably) Bolivia. 

Cars have to breath too, but I know I'd be the one struggling at 4500meters, and I'd probably be struggling more than the car. 

"it had character and that is so difficult to recreate" is a good quote! 

and you are right as well, you need some time to get used to 40-45% less oxygen