Land Rover Defender - Special Editions

Special Editions

In recent years Land Rover has occasionally produced Special Editions of the Defender. These have usually been little more than a vehicle being fitted with certain option packs and equipment, although more bespoke Editions have been produced. Mostly they have been aimed at the more lucrative 'lifestyle' market than the Defender's usual commercial and off-road markets.

In 1992 the first Special Edition Land Rover Defender was produced. Called the 90SV (SV stood for 'Special Vehicles', as all the vehicles were produced by Land Rover's Special Vehicle Operations department), they were painted turquoise and were fitted with a black canvas Soft Top with standard door tops. Alloy wheels were also fitted, together with rear disc brakes (at that time a first for a Land Rover). Despite the vehicle's sporty looks, it used the standard 200Tdi turbodiesel engine. Only 90 were made for the UK market.

For Land Rover's 50th anniversary in 1998 two special editions were built. The first was the Defender 50th which was essentially a NAS (North American Spec) Defender 90 Station Wagon. It was powered by a 190 hp (140 kW) 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine and was the first Land Rover outside North America to be fitted with an automatic transmission. Air conditioning made them very comfortable vehicles too. For the UK and Europe they were painted Atlantis Blue, a dark green/blue flip-flop colour and had a Safety Devices roll-over protection cage for the front seat occupants. In total 1071 50th Anniversary Defenders were built; 385 for the UK home market, the rest for Japan, Europe and Middle East.

The second 1998 Special Edition was the 'Heritage', intended to hark back to the early days of Land Rover in the 1940s. Available in 90 or 110 Station Wagon form, the Heritage was only available in the two original colours offered by the company — the dark Bronze Green or the light pastel Atlantic Green. A metal mesh-effect front grille, body-coloured alloy wheels and wing mirrors and silver-painted door and windscreen hinges were all employed to make the Heritage look similar to the original Series I of 1948. Inside special instruments were used, with black-on-beige displays. The powertrain was the standard Td5 diesel engine and 4-wheel-drive transmission.

Possibly the best known Special Edition was the Tomb Raider of 2000, built to commemorate Land Rover's role in the first film of that franchise. The Tomb Raider was designed to look like an off-road expedition vehicle. Painted dark metallic grey with special badging and details, the Tomb Raiders came equipped with a roof rack, additional spot lights, winch, bull-bar and snorkel. They were available either as a 90 Station Wagon or a 110 Double Cab, with standard Td5 engines. The Defender actually used in the film (now on display at the Motor Heritage Centre, Gaydon) was actually a highly modified 110 High Capacity Pick Up with a specially fitted and tuned V8 petrol engine and a non-standard interior.

Following the first Land Rover G4 Challenge in 2003, G4-Edition Defenders became available. As well as the distinctive Tangiers Orange colour of the competition vehicles, yellow and black versions were also produced. Defender 90 and 110 Station Wagon versions were available, with front A-Bar, roll-cage, side-steps and front spotlights as standard, as well as G4 badging.

Since then, Land Rover have produced less extravagant Special Editions. The Defender Black was a 90 or 110 County Station Wagon with metallic black paint, roll cage and dark-tinted rear windows. The Defender Silver was a 110 County Station Wagon with silver metallic paint, front A-bar and spotlights, metal wing-protector plates and winch. The 1999 X-Tech was aimed at the commercial market, being a metallic silver 90 Hard Top fitted with County-style seats, alloy wheels and Alpine window lights. The second model year edition in 2003 was better equipped with wing protector plates and air conditioning.

There have also been various special editions of the Defender created by the company's overseas operations for sale in their specific markets such as the 'Sahara' edition and '55th Anniversary' Defender 90s sold in France- the former being a basic-spec Station Wagon painted in a sand-like tan colour and supplied with special decals and the latter being a Station Wagon fitted with numerous luxury options and special badges in the mould of the factory-built 50th editions. Sometimes individual Land Rover dealers have created limited editions of vehicles to suite their markets. A dealer in Scotland created the 'Braemar' edition of 25 vehicles to appeal to local agricultural and forestry buyers, being a 90 Hard Top supplied ready fitted with a winch, off-road tyres, spotlamps and worklamps, underbody protection and chequer plate.

2008 saw Land Rover's 60th anniversary, for which a new series of special edition Defenders were produced. Branded the 'SVX', three models were built. All were painted black with 'satin' effect body graphics on the vehicles sides and bonnet carrying the '60th' logo used throughout 2008 at various special events and on anniversary merchandise. Bespoke 5-spoke alloy wheels were used and a new silver-coloured front grille design was used. This also incorporated a new design of headlamp with the sidelight lamp being integral with the main headlamp unit, allowing the space previously used for the separate sidelight to be used to fit a pair of high-intensity driving lamps. Inside the SVX models gained Recaro bucket seats in the front row, alloy gearlever knobs and a Garmin GPS navigation system. The drivetrain was the standard 2.4-litre diesel and six-speed manual permanent four-wheel-drive transmission. The SVX edition was available as a 110 Station Wagon (only available outside the UK), a 90 Station Wagon and a brand-new design of 90 Soft Top- the first time a Soft Top model had been available through showrooms in the UK since 1992. SVX Soft Tops had only the two front seats- the rear load bay being used to accommodate the spare wheel and a lockable storage box. A new design of hood was used, sloping down towards the rear over a jointed folding frame, unlike the standard square-framed hood used on other Soft Top Land Rovers.