The Land Rover Defender was launched in 1948 and, incredibly, production only finished in January 2016 after a continuous run of 67 years. Outwardly, there is little to distinguish the post-1983 vehicles from the Series III Land Rover. A full-length bonnet, revised grille, plus the fitting of wheel arch extensions to cover wider-track axles are the most noticeable changes. Internally, coil springs offered a more comfortable ride and a permanent four-wheel drive system derived from the Range Rover featuring a two-speed transfer gearbox with a lockable centre differential. A modernised interior and a new series of progressively more powerful and modern engine characterised things under the skin. In August 2011, Land Rover announced an update of the Defender for the 2012 model year. By this time, Land Rover publicly acknowledged that it was working on a project to produce an all-new replacement for the Defender. Then in line for the 2012 models was the installation of a different engine Ford decided, due to cost reasons, not to modify the engine introduced in 2007 and so the engine was replaced with the ZSD-422 engine, essentially a 2.2 litre variant of the same engine.

Originally supplied on 30th June 2015 by Ridgeway Land Rover, Oxford as a TD Pickup this example of the later 2.2 litre six-speed manual has just four former keepers and sensible mileage for what could have been quite the workhorse. This example in October 2016 when relatively new was subject to a category D insurance loss which is commonly light damage that is not economical to repair, with this in mind the second owner decided to convert his pickup to a hardtop example and fitted the glass sides and rear seats for practicality in daily use. Recently our vendor has had a light Alcantara roof lining fitted along with tan leather seat covers front and rear to give it that modern ‘hipster’ look. Offered with an MoT test certificate until July 2024 OY12 YGN was serviced just last august which followed on from a service earlier that year with Potts 4 Wheel Drive when the clutch was replaced and whom also serviced the car in 2022, prior to this it was serviced in 2020 by Douglass Motors and Ridgeway. An entirely cool yet capable off-road machine attractively priced example of the last incarnation of the Defender before revision in 2020. Consigned by Mathew Priddy.