A Dutch tuner has built a convertible Land Rover Defender 90

There’s another gem that needs adding to the list of ‘single sentence horror stories’: “a tuner has revealed a modified version of the new Land Rover Defender”. Chilling stuff.

Except Neils van Roij – the designer behind a lovely two-door Rangie, a sub-zero Rolls Shooting Brake and a bellissimo Ferrari breadvan – is no bard of the macabre. His latest, via Heritage Customs, has been breathlessly described as a “more heroic version of the Defender”.

It’s been named the ‘Valiance Convertible’, built to each customer’s exacting requirements and a car that undergoes a thorough conversion process. There’s a three-stage workflow that involves an initial digital sketch mapping out the desired specifications, followed by the difficult bit of completely disassembling the donor car, cutting and then reinforcing everything.

To this skinned and chopped Defender comes the new roof and its corresponding mechanism, followed by a full repaint and reupholster, and then a ‘testing and test mileage’ sign-off. This first car pairs perhaps one of the finest colour combinations possible for such a car: green outside, tan (ish) inside, steel wheels.

No great horror story at all, though the price might scare some: Heritage Customs said the conversion itself – not including the donor car of course – will cost upwards of €85k (minus VAT).

So let's tweak another gem in the list of 'single sentence horror stories': "the last man on Earth with an unmodified Land Rover Defender 90 sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door..."

Photography: Neils van Roij Design

STORY Vijay Pattni