Land Rover Defender V8 Soft Top could be an Octa from 25 years ago
The latest six-figure classic Defender in the works bespoke lineup is a convertible, for maximum access to that rumbling V8
Land Rover Classic has revealed another ludicrously expensive works bespoke Defender restomod. Meet the Defender V8 Soft Top, ostensibly an old-school Defender 90 to which Land Rover has taken the sheers.
Being Land Rover Classic, the job is a little more involved than that, with a top-to-bottom recommissioning and restoration of a 2012-2016 Defender, to a customer’s exact specification, for a price starting at £234,000.
That specification now includes a choice between four soft canvas roof colours – black, sand, dark khaki and navy. The hood is an all-new bespoke design to ensure a ‘perfect fit’. There’s also a smaller ‘bikini hood’, as pictured here, for partial cabin protection from the elements. If Solihull made a Porsche Boxster Spyder… Or perhaps consider it a glimpse of the fun Land Rover could have had making a Defender Octa 25 years ago, given it won’t even entertain producing an Octa 90 today.
Based on the design of the last convertible Defender, which ended production in 2016, the full hood features extra tie-down points for more high-speed security. The side and rear sections can be unzipped and rolled up without removing the whole thing, for a part-alfresco Defender driving experience without betting fully on a sunny, rain-free day. As we can see in the images, there’s a pretty substantial roll bar behind the driver and passenger to ensure occupant safety in the event things go diffs-up.
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All of these works bespoke Defenders get the 410bhp, 379lb ft naturally aspirated version of the now mostly retired 5-litre V8 engine. It is sans supercharger because fitting one is an impossibility in terms of packaging and cooling, plus 0-62mph in 5.9sec is quite enough in an old Defender.
The rest of the car is just about upgraded to meet the extra potency. Big Alcon brakes (335mm front, 300mm rear) are clamped by four-piston calipers; suspension upgrades include Eibach coil springs and anti-roll bars paired with Bilstein dampers; and the steering rack features the power steering system from the P38 Range Rover for improved ease and response.
We can’t see this Defender winning a convertibles comparison test, but the changes, as we’ve felt when testing the hard-top 90, round off its flaws for a driving experience that’s fun rather than frightening.
