Description:
The North American Defender has a captivating provenance here in the United States. Requiring extensive modifications for American safety standards, Land Rover created what would go down in history books as the North American Specification Defender, commonly referred to as the NAS Defender. Outfitted with a 3.9 liter V8 engine, 5-speed transmission, all 500 of the initial Defenders brought to the US were only available in a single configuration: four-door and white. This would also be the last time they were ever sold here (legally) as well. Land Rover called these Defenders the 110 County Station Wagon denoting the hard top four-door configuration and wheelbase length in inches.
…the Defender is an improbable maelstrom of mechanics. It imparts a concussion-inducing ride, has terrifyingly low gas mileage (think: gpm versus mpg), a flummoxing interior with haphazard ergonomics, and a bevy idiosyncratic mechanical issues. So, why the hell would any one want to pursue owning a NAS Defender? Simple… it inspires.
Capturing what would eventually become the culturally consuming sport-utility zeitgeist, the Defenders practically sold themselves and Land Rover followed the four-door 110 in 1994 with what would become a bona fide icon in the US: the Land Rover Defender 90 (the D90). The hearts of Southeast, Pacific Northwest, Southern California and Atlantic coast men (and women) quickly gravitated to the D90, with its irresistible bold North American specification colors (e.g. AA Yellow, Monza Red, Alpine White), soft top configuration, chunky roll cage, BFGoodrich mud-terrain tires and brutish yet handsome stance. The Defender exuded a singular statement, “the way I got here was more exciting than yours”, and in time Defender owners the world over would vaunt the NAS Defender to one of legend.
The icon also helped reestablished Land Rover’s status here in the US and paved the way for mass-market successes like the Range Rover, Discovery and maligned Freelander. To that date and elsewhere in the world, Land Rover had already reached every touchpoint of the British Empire with the Defender. Only the US had been deprived of the utilitarian brick-on-wheels (perhaps the Brits did have the last laugh). Its incremental production numbers for North America — a mere 6, 500 over four years — made the Defender 90 an instant classic and later evolving into a truly rarefied vehicle.
update: 2016-12-19
