This is one special Defender 90!

Indeed it's the inspiration behind my business LR-XS, I bought "Winston" in 2006 after having a number of other Land Rovers before but I longed for a decent 300TDI Defender and then Winston came up for sale from a dealership in Croydon and he was perfect! 58,000 miles on the clock and in really good condition.
purchased from Land Rover Harwoods in Croyden new by a London based Harley Davidson bike specialist and then by a dog grooming company he hadn't led a hard life and came  with full service history from Harwoods up until 2002, from then he has been serviced by various specialists including my own company LR-XS, the service book is stamped right up to date.
I have lots of receipts going back to 2006 and as I said he was only on 58,000 at ten years old. I spent a fortune on him back in the day, between 2006 and 2010 I had spent close to £10,000 on various upgrades and enhancements, he was washed and polished every two weeks; indeed friends would tell me I would wash the paint off I cleaned him so much, and don't get me wrong I still took him out exploring and green laning I just took good care of him at the same time.

It was time to upgrade in 2010 and I purchased a Td5 110 XS which I never bonded with as much, anyway between 2010 and 2018 a couple of my customers had taken care of him and in July this year I was offered him back and couldn't refuse, the plan was just to put an MOT on him and find him a new home but before long we had already removed the body from the chassis and the rest is history...…….

Unlike most rebuilds we have salvaged almost everything from the original vehicle as it was in such good condition, the bulkhead was absolutely mint, not a single repair required other then correct preparation before painting, the chassis is original other then a rear cross-member, even the doors were in exceptional condition, every body panel is an original 1996 item, everything just correctly stripped down and re-painted.
We are nothing but fastidious at LR-XS, we do not do half measures or take shortcuts, even the lower dash panel had the vinyl wrap removed, the steel shell was repaired, re painted and then re-covered. The interior has been carpeted like a Range Rover rather then a Defender, panels left bare from the factory have been custom made to fit perfectly into every corner. The vehicle has two layers of Dynamat throughout the entire floor section and the whole of the inside of the bulkhead has three layers of Dynamat Extreme, the well known big firms out there just stick one layer of pre-cut Britpart Dynamat, not worth bothering with to be honest, this has had a proper job, every CM of the floor has two layers....
The chassis was stripped bare and primed/painted with our very own special mixture of paints which ensures the correct satin finish but yet offers durable protection, the bulkhead out-riggers on this vehicle are like new! Still date stamped "96"
All suspension and running gear is new or overhauled, Ashcroft transmissions gearbox,and genuine clutch assembly. The brakes are all new and has uprated vented front discs.
The engine is the smoothest 300TDI I have even known, its had an oil change twice a year since 2006. It has had a genuine Bosch fuel injection pump and cambelt within the last 18 months also.

It really has had a proper going over, I have over 50 photos showing the rebuild and all of the Dynamat. We have added a few little tasty items like full Wipac LED light set along with LED headlights (stunning!) not a fan of KBX grills to be honest so we re-painted the originals gloss black, new front bumper is gloss black and TD5 style end caps body coloured to match the door mirrors, hinges also gloss black along with the rear cross-member and wheel carrier, we wanted a retro looking 90 in the original Coniston Green but with a little something to bring him up to date without going to mad, same goes for the interior, top of the range carpet set throughout with the original front seats and a period set of "trakkers" (early Exmoor trim) seats that match, it looks just right, original door cards have all been painted satin black to match.
Frankly to much to list on the rebuild, please don't mistake this for a "quick buck" turnaround seen by some, the quality of trucks some companies are trying to sell at the moment is embarrassing to the industry! This project was not going to make me any money, that didn't matter we just had to do it right, it's taken three highly skilled members of staff over three months to complete, a customer build to this standard would have cost £36000 minus the vehicle.

The 300Tdi is a proper Defender through and through, no ECUS, no electrics and no nonsense, ultra reliable unlike the TDCI's.....I like a TD5 but complicated and expensive to fix in comparison, the 300TDI will always start when you need it most.
I could bore you for days but a picture can tell a thousand words and really you need to come and view this to believe it, I have seen 2016 Defenders that are terribly built by Land Rover and already starting to rust, and I am sorry but the TDCI engine and transit gearbox is junk! We have had yet another customers TDCI engine blow up within the last two weeks. Come take a look, I would love to tell you the story in person.
James LR-XS