The best of British: The End of the Land Rover Defender

If we’re talking about wellies, then we’re talking about Hunters. If we’re talking about music players, we’re talking about iPods, but if we’re talking about off-roaders, then there’s only one machine that springs to mind; the Land Rover Defender.

A true automotive icon, dreamt up on the sands of Anglesey by Maurice and Spencer Wilks, its body was cobbled together from aluminium because steel was in short supply following World War II, and its sea-green shade came from surplus military aircraft paint. It may have appeared a botch-job, but 68 years later its straight lines and ability to trample any terrain still put a smile on all those who sit behind the heavy wheel. The love affair started back in 1948 when the British army was looking for a British equivalent to the USA’s Willies Jeep. Scraping together what they could after the war, Land Rover conjured up the Defender from Aluminium and leftover army surplus paint used on Spitfires.

It is a machine that defines our pluck – as intrinsic to the fabric of Britain as the monarchy. This age-old recipe of form and function has been a mainstay of country life longer than most pensioners can remember – and for very good reason.

Sadly, times have changed. The romance and charm of the Land Rovers Defender – a charm that made even the most rugged of men, with oil on their faces and mud on their trousers, get a little misty-eyed – has evaporated. Polar bears have less ice on which to hunt and sea levels threaten to force us all into tree houses; the petrol and diesel-powered vehicles roaming the globe forced to take a large portion of the blame. Defenders were never made to be environmentally friendly, they were built to serve a purpose: to get from A-B, conquering ploughed fields, swamps, sand and any matter of obstacles that prevented those in rural areas going about their daily business. Little wonder the army become so reliant on them. But those in sandals and shorts have won their fight and the Defender of old is being brushed aside for a more contemporary model.

And 2015 has been announced as the final foray for the bug-eyed brute after 67 years at the crease. Dry your eyes however, because every masterpiece leaves behind a legacy. A legacy that won’t die without a fight, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Defender.

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