A British Icon Meets American Power In This Defender Restomod
The Land Rover Defender is a true British off-roading icon. While it may have started out as a simple tool for roughewn northern farmers with eyebrows on their cheeks, it’s turned into a truck no one wants to see die. Everyone even vaguely connected to the rural set in the UK, up to and including the Queen, has driven one at some point. It’s a supremely competent truck, with pretty much only the near-indestructible Toyota Land Cruiser able to best it. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its flaws. The interior is about as comfortable as the tool-filled barn it likely sits in, and for years, if you wanted to avoid freezing, you cranked open a vent to the engine which then deafened you. What if you could get the off-road ability while still maintaining all of your senses? It’s possible, really.
East Coast Defenders is a company based out of Florida who specialize in importing the metal workhorses and dramatically changing them. The Honey Badger is probably their finest work. The most immediate change, for anyone who’s ever sat in or driven a Defender is that your spine is no longer being hammered into innumerable bends by horrifying ride quality. The suspension has been lifted and upgraded, while the heated seats sport coats of white quilted leather. Between the seats, you’ll find a Kenwood console that’s hooked up to JBL speakers with a subwoofer. There’s also a six-speed Tremec manual transmission, but it’s what it’s linked to that seals the deal.
That’s right, it’s an LS3 small-block 6.2 liter V8, straight from a Corvette. This gives this 90-inch wheelbase Defender the ability to hit 60 in fewer than six seconds. I never knew I needed this in a Defender, but well, here we are. In case you’re worried about how the V8 is going to affect the cornering ability of the Defender, let me reassure you, because there’s a roll cage fitted to the truck. All I can think about is what it would be like to do an off-road drag race, maybe down a straight, narrow trail.
