9 minute read
Modern Classic Defender A restored Puma in the style of an old Series III
MODERN CLASSIC
A Land Rover Defender that’s yet to reach its tenth birthday might not sound like the most likely candidate for a Heritage-inspired restoration. But this 2.4 TDCi Puma 110 was in need of some love – and what it got was one of the most creative builds you’ll ever see
Words: Harry Hamm Pictures: Vic Peel
There’s a bit of a split in the contemporary Land Rover modding scene. Everyday punters tend to start with tired old 90s and 110s and give them back their old sparkle (plus, more often than not, a load more on top). The loadsamoney customising houses, meanwhile, tend to like Pumas as they’re newer and, no doubt, because it’s easier
to take a hundred grand off someone if the car you’re selling them actually has a dashboard.
Adam Lilley is not a customising house. But he’s not your everyday punter, either.
‘I have been a Land Rover enthusiast since as long as I can remember,’ he says. ‘Growing up in the Norfolk countryside, I was always surrounded by these vehicles.
‘I got my fi rst 90 on my 18th birthday. It was an absolute rust bucket with no engine, so I set about a galvanised chassis swap and installing a 200Tdi engine. I built it with my great uncle and will never let this vehicle go!’
As well as an extremely cool Land Rover, something else Adam got out of this formative experience was an invaluable bank of skills and knowledge. And he’s been putting them to good use ever since.
‘My next Landy was a MOD 90 and Sankey trailer,’ he continues. ‘This started life as a hard-top but after repairing the usual rust spots, I sprayed it NATO green and converted it to a soft-top. My father was very surprised when I presented the fi nished vehicle to him on his 60th birthday!’
Inspired by a picture of a white Series III with a beige canvas hood, Adam decided to use the same colour scheme on his 110. Galvanised body cappings added to the classic image – and in addition to the grille, he added Heritage-style badging to complete the look
Pausing only to make a mental note to try and bring up our children just like Adam, especially the bit about giving Land Rovers to their dads, we move on to the 110 on these pages. It’s a 2.4 TDCi dating from 2011, and it’s got a nicely modest 74,000 miles on the clock.
But that’s not what you’re looking at. This is a vehicle any of the custom houses would be proud to create – but few of them would be capable of matching. We don’t say that because of the standard to which it’s been built (which is very high, but they should all be capable of that) but because of the lightness of touch that’s gone in to its creation.
For just about every bit you can see on a Defender, there’s a blingy replacement. This makes it all too easy to over-spec them, creating something that assaults your eyes from all directions and ends up as everything and nothing. Adam’s 110 is not like that.
‘I was inspired by an image I saw of a white Series III with a beige soft top,’ he explains. ‘I thought it would be cool to recreate this classic style juxtaposed with a modern Defender.
‘I also took inspiration from the final Land Rover Heritage editions and sourced a Heritage grille and badges to give it a special vintage feel.’
But it wasn’t always like this. ‘When I found the 110, it really deserved a new lease of life. It was a solid and dependable work truck with a great service history, but it looked terrible. It had been hand-painted in black, had work lights fitted all over it and was covered in reflective tape!’
The 110 had been white prior to being turned into such an abomination, so Adam resolved to take it back to where it began. And this fitted in very nicely with his vision for the project, too.
‘I purchased the vehicle with a plan to rebuild it to the highest standard,’ he says of his mission to rescue the vehicle. ‘I wanted to restore it to its former glory, while also adding some truly bespoke features that would really test my design and fabrication abilities, in order to create a complete unique one-off vehicle.’
Mechanically, the Defender is largely as it always was. Adam added Terrafirma Adventurer springs and shocks and renewed the brake pads and discs, as well as giving it a good general service and check-over, but this one is all about what’s up top and in the cabin.
In particular, Adam got together with a local fabricator to design a heavy-duty galvanised hood frame. This provides a home for the beige softtop – as well as leaving plenty of space for the 110’s undisputed party piece.
This is its seating arrangement – with two forward-facing rows lining up behind the driver and passenger to make it a genuine six-seater. Adam used Exmoor Trim seats, which he sourced second-hand and mounted using his own bespoke hardware. Even the belts were chosen to sit tidily when the seats are not in use, rather than lying around all over the floor the way the
Black and beige leather seats and a colour-cided facia panel are just the beginning for the 110’s interior. The rear has a unique wooden floor, and just look at those belt parks – more tidily positioned than you’ll ever have seen on a Defender before, and they point to a totally one-of-a-kind seating arrangement with three forward-facing rows of two
originals tend to. The installation is nothing short of superb, both in the way it looks and the way it operates – it’s one of those things a professional outfi t probably couldn’t risk selling because of the amount of hoops you’d have to jump through, but Adam has absolutely nailed it.
The seats themselves are fetchingly trimmed in black and beige leather with contrasting stitching, a look that’s carried through to the front – where the facia trim and cubby box are also colour-coded to the overall theme. So too is the rear door card, and there’s a custom wooden fl oor beneath those two rows of seats – but that’s as far as it goes. Adam did also instal a new Pioneer stereo, if that counts, however with the big stuff taken care of so effectively there was no need to tart it up with details.
The same can be said about the outside of the vehicle. Adam had the panels professionally resprayed and anything that can be galvanised was galvanised, but he resisted the temptation (and it was there, he admits) to throw on a garish set of alloys. Instead, he sourced a set of genuine Wolf steel rims and had them colour-coded to the vehicle’s bodywork – something which fi ts in perfectly with its Heritage theme.
And talking of that, on went a brand new Heritage style grille, along with Heritage Limited Edition aluminium badging. As fi nishing touches go, you’ll be doing well to beat that.
What works so well about this 110 is that it’s not overdone. Of course, it’s handy if you can start with a low-mileage Puma that’s been really well looked after, so you can concentrate on the fun stuff rather than having to get in among the oily bits and spend all your budget on things noone will ever see – but even then, we’ve all seen resto-modded Defenders that look like the waiting area in a Vegas brothel.
Adam’s proves that you don’t need to go that far. ‘Less is more’ is a monster of a cliché, and it’s often completely wrong, but too much is always too much. Start with a vision and you’ll end with, well, a vision.
And that’s exactly what this 110 is. Supremely conceived, skilfully executed and an absolute joy to look at. If you see a better one than this, buy it. Or better still, pretend you’re Adam and I’m your dad, and buy it for me.
