2013 Land Rover Defender

If you are 6’ 10” tall with a 60” waist and would really prefer to be nearer the norm in terms of height and girth, you should try standing next to this vehicle.

We’ve all done it here at HQ and all of us felt considerably more petite and less clumsy for it.

One of the more diminutive members of our team got stuck in the tyre tread and had to be prised out with a spoon. 

This Brobdingnagian behemoth is as high as an elephant’s eye and blocks out most of the horizon when viewed from the side. 

Or the front. Or the back.

You’ll need a fireman’s ladder to get into it and an inflatable aircraft evacuation slide to get out again.

Every time we’ve looked around our unit, the cars adjacent to this giant seem to have moved closer to it. 

We believe it may be exerting a gravitational force upon them. 

Despite the fact that this Defender is so tall that its upper extremities will often be obscured by cloud, it has a custom-built snorkel.

Why?

For those occasions when driving directly to Calais seems a better idea than taking the ferry or Eurostar? 

Mercy.

By definition, any Defender worthy of the name can get you from Timbuktu to Ouagadougou quicker and more comfortably than an angry camel.

This one, we confidently imagine, could take you half way up the Matterhorn, pull a Challenger tank out of a ditch and survive a small-to-medium-sized thermonuclear blast.

By now, the more perceptive among you will have discerned that this 2.2-litre Defender 110 TD D/C didn’t leave the Solihull factory looking quite like this.

It has been comprehensively and radically customised by Anchor Customs Ltd of Dudley and is, we can safely say, utterly unique.

It is being sold by the people who customised it, and they specialise in top-end customisations of, primarily, Land Rovers and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

They bought the vehicle at an auction (where they were told that it had previously been employed by West Midlands Safari Park) some time ago and spent time during lock downs on carrying out the customisation work.

They’re only selling now because they’ve got too many other projects on the go and need the space. 

Highlights of the vehicle’s customisation include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Full roll cage
• Bespoke spot lights front & back
• LED headlights
• Electric windows front & back
• Bespoke snorkel
• Isolated battery electric points
• Wolf suspension kit
• Warn Zeon 10 winch
• NATO hitch interchangeable
• Bespoke built-in rear pull-out storage shelf
• Bespoke spare wheel rack
• Heavy duty jack
• 40-inch Maxxis Trepador tyres
• Full leather Autobiography seats
• All new electrics throughout
• DAB Radio
• Bluetooth
• Dash cam
• Apple Play compatible
• Bespoke gear lever
• Bespoke MOMO removable steering wheel
• Brand-new bespoke dashboard
• Suede-lined interior
• Smoked glass  
• Full underbody rust-proofing.

Like we said, it’s unique.

We have driven this hugely capable vehicle and can attest wholeheartedly to its ability to get from A to B via Q, X or, indeed, Z.

It starts, goes and stops just how it looks: you’ll know you’ve been wrangling a big old beast when you get back home, and we can think of easier vehicles to negotiate around the average multi-story car park.

It’s not for wimps. 

Apologies to wimps, obviously.

The bodywork is mostly untroubled by any dinks or dents of significance and the white paintwork is really very decent pretty much everywhere you choose to rest your gaze.

The shut lines and gaps are impressively crisp, consistent and even. 

The 40-inch wheels are in excellent condition and are shod with matching Maxxis Trepador rubber that looks like it’s got years of mud-plugging and hill bashing left in it. 

The trim, badging, lights, lenses and other exterior fixtures and fittings are all in fine fettle.

There are a couple of cracked and holed sections to the fibreglass either side of the bonnet where the bodywork meets the roll cage mounting brackets.

There’s also a little rust in evidence at one of the intersections of the roll cage tubing at the rear on the nearside.

There is some rather pimply paint on the bonnet in a couple of places, some micro-blistering above the o/s/f light cluster and a few scuffs and rough edges on the sills on both sides.

There are some scuffs and a little blistering at the base of the n/s/r wing, a handful of stone chips on the forward-facing aspects of the rear wheel arches, and what looks like it could be some bubbling under the black rubber trim around the base of the side windows.

We also spotted a small outbreak of blistering on the o/s/r wing just behind the door, some paint chipped off the o/s/r wheel arch, a few scuffs and marks around the edges of the bonnet, and some scuffs at the rear of the pick-up bay where the tonneau retaining clips have rubbed the paint away.

The inside has come a similarly long way from what the engineers of Solihull originally intended.  

The first thing you’ll notice are the red and black leather ‘Autobiography’ seats, two in the front, three in the rear.

They are untroubled by any creases, let alone patina, and are as comfortable, supportive and functional as you’d like. 

Everything in the entirely retrimmed interior, from the dashboard and gear levers to the headlining and door cards, is effectively brand-new – and it looks it.

The carpets and mats are fine, the instruments, dials, controls, Momo steering wheel and other interior fixtures and fittings are equally good.

The carpeted pick-up bay at the rear is in fine fettle as is the ingenious and very useful pull-out storage drawer beneath it.

We didn’t flick every switch, press every button or twiddle every knob, but those we did flick, press and twiddle responded faithfully to our instructions.

The engine and engine bay look very clean and dry. Everything appears to be in its right and proper place.

The undersides of the car look to have plenty of structural integrity. 

It comes with little by the way of pre-customisation provenance, but it was bought at auction by trade experts – the sort of people who were never going to buy a bad one and waste money on customising it. 

They have carried out all necessary serving and maintenance themselves.

The car comes with a clear HPI check, a current V5, a full set of keys and an MoT certificate that’s valid until 1.9.24.

If you think a standard Land Rover Defender is just a bit too twee and delicate and you’d like something that makes rather more of an in-your-face statement, this could be just the thing for you.

It’s had countless thousands of pounds spent on getting it into this condition and it’s safe to assume that you’ll be a very long time waiting to see anything else quite like it.

You may well need a bigger garage.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at the Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are strictly by appointment. To make a booking, please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, and read our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.