Vehicle Description
If you have someplace very remote to go, and want to do it in
style, this absolutely dialed-in North American Spec 1993 Land
Rover Defender 110 is the right tool for the job. Freshly
refinished in beautiful Alpine White paint and a modern 3.9L V8
motor and auto trans, this rare and valuable Landy is the best
vintage 4x4 we've ever featured. Period.
For the first time since 1974, we colonials were finally able to
purchase a utility Land Rover (not to be confused with the Range
Rover, which has been available on this side of the pond since
1987), and the first exported offering was the 1993 Defender 110
County 4x4; 500 of which were batched to the US, and 25 to Canada.
Imported as an "image car", the Defender 110 wasn't expected to
replace the booming station wagon market in the US, but rather as a
marketing launching point for the new Defender 90 and Discovery
line in North America. Looking at the lines of the 110, you know it
was built for a purpose, not to be beautiful, with all of them
issued a massive exterior roll cage from the factory. That's not to
say that there isn't beauty in the functionality of this beast,
because nobody has yet come up with anything that goes through the
brush better than this. There are Landies in every corner of the
globe doing unbelievable things, and this one seems eager to join
them. Someone spent a great deal of money on the Alpine White paint
(which was the only color you could get, save for one that was
special-made for Ralph Lauren), the only color offered on the 1st
year NAS 110s, and the sheetmetal underneath is incredibly
straight. That means it hasn't been abused or bashed off-roading,
in fact we'd be surprised if it's ever seen more than a shallow
puddle in its lifetime, although it's certainly capable of
traversing pretty much all of the topography on Planet Earth. The
doors fit perfectly, the gaps are factory measured, and while the
face has changed a bit since the early days, it's still undeniably
a Land Rover everywhere you look. Big fender flares cover the
oversized tires, there's a black steel bumper with an attached
brush guard and incorporated Warn winch and Rigid fog lights up
front, 4 Rigid LEDs installed above the front windshield, tubular
nerf bars at the profiles, a massive roof rack basket accessed via
a rear-mount ladder and accompanied with a Hi-Lift jack, 2 more
Rigid LEDs out back, and a rear mounted spare with a heavy-duty
rear bumper just below it. And despite the heavy-duty 'Safari-Cage'
outside, the Alpine White top can be removed for open-air fun,
although the built-in windows provide quite the panoramic views as
well. Heavy-duty? Absolutely. But please don't get confused, this
Landy is extremely rare, and it's in such amazing condition in
could be shown in a museum.
The '110' moniker directly correlates to wheelbase length, and the
extra 20 inches of reach this Landy has on the Defender 90 is felt
the most inside with a configuration that seats 9. It's not as
plain inside as you might expect, with twin black leather bucket
seats up front separated by a center console, a leather 60/40
intermediate bench, and 4 center-facing black leather jump seats in
the cargo area. The floors are covered with black rubber and
commercial-grade mats and the simple gray door panels suggest that
the Defender means business, And yes, it's obviously a North
American-spec vehicle with left-hand drive configuration, which is
the best find you could hope for this side of the pond. Factory
gauges cover the basics and the controls were designed to be
interpreted by people of any culture, since these were used around
the world. The middle console now houses the levers for a
swapped-in 4-speed automatic transmission and transfer case from a
Discovery II, and factory A/C was standard in the NAS 110 and blows
nice and cold. The cargo bay offers a huge amount of room and all
that glass area makes it bright and airy inside with great
visibility.
Power comes from the Land Rover 3.9-liter V8, standard in all the
NAS 110s, and which itself was derived from Buick's all-alloy V8
dating back to the '60s. Although the 3.9L may not be as famous,
the venerable Landy 4.0L that ran from '95-'03 and helped elevate
the brand's already sterling reputation was derived from this 3.9L,
with only minor deviations and still of the same displacement,
making it essentially different in name only. Reliable and torquey,
it services the Defender quite well and with proven durability in
the most remote areas of the globe, you should have no worries
about getting to your destination. It's been properly maintained
and remains quite stock, ready to fire right up and conquer the
planet for decades to come. The alternator and most of the
electrical are mounted up high in case you want to fit a snorkel
and drive through a lake, but the cleanliness of the engine bay
suggests that it's never seen anything wetter than a car wash or
someone's drool. The 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission and
transfer case permit decent highway cruising and low-speed crawling
with equal success, and the suspension was designed to crawl over
boulders the size of Volkswagens without damage. It's incredibly
solid and clean underneath, complete with Bilstein shocks and
stabilizers, power steering, power front disc brakes, and
heavy-duty axles fore and aft. Handsome 16-inch steel wheels have
been powdercoated glossy black and wear 285/75/16 Toyo R/T Open
Country off-road radials.
Editor's Note: This Landy is incredibly rare, and in incredible
condition. It's basically 'Like New', drives perfectly, and its
collectability and prospective value growth has no equal in the
vintage 4x4 niche market. It simply doesn't get better than this,
and I'm proud to have just written about it. Call today!