1985 – 2016
From the early ‘80s the arrival of other Land Rover ranges (beyond the iconic Range Rover which launched in 1970) drove the need to better define the traditional legacy Land Rover brand. It was decided that the vehicle had to give up its distinctive ‘Land Rover’ family title. Also at this time advancements in the automotive industry, competition from incomers into its traditional markets and an ever-growing recreational interest in the brand combined to require material improvements to the Land Rover offering. The vehicle became positively car-like with a more accomplished dash and (over time) long overdue comforts (electric windows, power steering and the like). But most significantly, the traditional leaf spring suspension gave way to coil springs. It was thus decided to re-brand the legacy “Land Rover” as the “Ninety” and “One-Ten” (loosely approximating to the wheelbase of the two principal chassis on which the range was built).
Latterly, in 1990, to announce a further suite of improvements, the wheelbase identifier was preceded with the generic title “DEFENDER”. And so it remained until the last Defender was manufactured in 2016. The rebranding announced a new 2 litre Tdi engine, borrowed from the Discovery range, matched with the recent LT77 5 speed gear box as the default specification. But the all-important build off a separately constructed chassis continued. So, whilst by this time the Defender had lost its monopoly of being the ‘go to’ light utility 4WD vehicle, a wide number of adaptations were still being applied to it by after-sales manufacturers. Many examples of which are featured in our collection.
