On a quiet industrial area, just outside the heart of Amsterdam, craftsmen are busy with their passion: restomodding Land Rover Defenders. Skilled workers concentrate on preserving the souls of 25-year-old Defenders for another lifecycle. They’re busy enabling a new life that’s ready for exciting adventures. This is the place where Land Rover Defenders and their lovers find each other and fall in love with their future in a luxury robust dream on wheels. We’re at The Landrovers. A rough and warm-hearted company that started in 2010 when Daniel van Oort and Peter Zeisser gave their Cape-to-Cape dreams a set of wheels. Inspired by their own refurbishment and modification of a Land Rover Defender 110 into a camper van, they unspoken but unquestionably fulfilled their dream of realizing freedom. These guys are utterly driven by passion.

Little did they know that this Defender Camper Van experience would turn them into the tuner addicts and specialists that they are today. Their dream underlies this gem of a company. Soon enough, their irrational motive of eagerly restoring these 25-year old Defenders turned into an unstoppable addiction, that only true car fanatics can treasure. Giving Defenders which had seen harsh days, a second luxurious life, became their passion.

These days, every Defender that glides out of the stables of The Landrovers, is the apple of the eye, the crown jewel, the newborn of the new owner. The old soul of the Defender is re-born into a purpose-built, muscular Defender. Eager to join forces with their new passionate owners to connect and head for exciting new adventures together. To make those dreams reality, The Landrovers build the best high quality Defenders in the world. Owners order their own model, from simply classic to extraordinary urban, customized with all desirable gadgets, extras, details and in all color combinations possible. If you can dream it, they can build it.

After an adventurous life of 25 years or more, our adopted Land Rovers – each one with its own character and emotional experience – are impatiently waiting to be picked up by an excited Defender enthusiast to give it the guarantee for next journey in life, by enduring a full from head to toe restoration experience.

At The Landrovers we specialize in restoring and modifying Land Rover Defenders. Restomodded beauties are built upon a 25-year-old chassis, with a totally custom-made exterior and interior. How would you like to build your dream Defender?

To keep the vehicle’s genuine fundamental soul, we’ll reuse or refurbish original or reconditioned body parts wherever possible. Only if absolutely necessary we order new body parts, Land Rover original parts.

Adopted Land Rovers are in anticipation of a new, exciting, unique, beautiful and born again life!

This is where the dream starts to take shape. In a creative process, we explore the tastes and desires of the new owner for this ancient soul. As a guardian for one of our Defenders, your journey starts by carefully listening and zooming in on your personal tastes and wishes. Combining all ingredients with feasibilities and years of experience and knowledge, we’ll design your ultimate dream Defender.

The continuous communication between the owner and us over the nine-month period allows us to devote the necessary attention to any newly proposed innovations, ideas and opportunities, ensuring you that your dream-build Defender will turn out exactly as you’ve envisioned it, or even better. Beware that customers have fallen in love with the process itself and ordered a second or even third Defender. This is addictive!

During the whole creative process, the customer slowly but surely realizes what’s conceivable. And guess what: anything goes! As a new owner you’re very likely, if not certain, to fall in love with the creative process and procedure of carving your own dream of a rough, adventurous and very luxurious set of wheels.

Through our social media and website, customers will visually discover our content that includes all stages of the development process of their dream Defender, giving them the reassurance that their dream is right around the corner. We did warn you, this is an addictive process as the customer realizes – anything goes.

At Bridgeland, the donor Defender is completely disassembled till the backbone is visible. Defender is now given a pseudonym, a working name, until its own, unique name is granted by the new owner. The working name might be the surname of the new owner, country or island of destination. When referring to a specific Defender we’ll know who we’re talking about for the next nine months, or at least until Defender has been given its own, unique name.

There’s more to the conception of the newborn than you might think. To assure Defender’s soul is kept alive for its next generation, we retain as many reused original items as possible. All good parts are collected and name-tags are placed on mobile boxes for safe keeping and reusing.

You could compare this to the growth of a child: keeping ancient genetic material from the ancestor as a base for the development of a new character.

The rebirth of a chassis. All our Defenders have been rescued from dry places. This means they’ve suffered minimum rusting during their first life, ensuring the best start of a new life. Applying the latest technologies and adding years of research and experience, we provide our new Defender with a perfect coating. Hence guaranteeing it for safe usage in all weather conditions, and in all terrain, for at least another generation.

We solely work with healthy chassis that contain as little rust as possible. Only then can we vouch for a major and successful restoration. The chassis is bare blasted and provided with a four-layer epoxy coating and wax coated. All reusable parts are placed in mobile crates and cleaned. Internal parts will be treated with rust corrosion stop, and receive a four layer epoxy coating experience to be finished off with industrial black paint and wax treatment. At chassis construction, the making of the new Defender starts to really take off.

Depending on Defender’s future terrain, the right brakes, axles and suspension are chosen and assembled.

Every parent has different dreams for their own Bespoke Defender and we all have wishes for extra features and character traits. At The Landrovers, we recognize that each customer has a unique vision for their dream design and build. Therefore we’ve chosen motors with various capacities, power and sensation to capture the sentiment our customer is looking for. For a graceful introduction into the next stage of its existence, whether it being a brand-new strong Corvette engine, a fully refurbished original Land Rover engine, or a high-performance full-electric drivetrain.

We’ll make the necessary changes whilst preserving as much of the original character as possible. So, installing a 6.2-liter V8 with 450 horsepower involves mechanically strengthening the entire powertrain to cope with the increased load.

The bulkhead serves as a vital link between the driver and the powertrain. To ensure maximum driver comfort and security, the whole car is insulated from heat and cold with NASA approved insulation materials. Needless to say, the overhauled iconic contour of the renewed Defender is preserved and can now beat all weather conditions and all-terrain.

The next step for Defender is to get rid of the side wheels and learn to roll on its own set of wheels. No pushing or assistance is allowed now. It’s time for the first test drive on the industrial estate; Defender will only pass the test when solely driven into its next construction stage.

Every Defender we lay our hands on, provides us with 25 years’ of road testing. This gives us enough information to identify and catch the weak spots and improve them. The majority of Defender’s body parts are constructed of aluminum, which is ideal because it does not corrode. However, if not treated properly or connected to metal parts, galvanic corrosion occurs.

Parts that are damaged beyond repair are replaced with new original Land Rover parts. Last but not least, all metal parts are hot dip galvanized before receiving their color treatment, ensuring that the metals will last in even the harshest conditions.

The custom Defender is thoughtfully yet lovingly crafted. We’re witnessing the incarnation of a new character with an old soul.

Defender’s iconic form has been recreated and is apparent. However, when looking closer, you’ll discover a fresh and distinctive future-proof design. A unique design that captures Defender’s individuality as well as the personality of the new owner – who must now give Defender its official birth name.

Zooming in on the smallest detail, the interior reflects the outside of the vehicle and vice versa. The interior and seats embrace the traveler in a totally pleasing environment. Indeed, the harmony between interior and exterior is enchanting.

For us and for the customer, the nine-month building period is a wonderfully dynamic and spectacular experience. It’s magic! At interior artistry we’re viewing the future look and feel of Defender. Basics such as color and form along with seat layout are chosen. It’s critical to know whether Defender will be your go-to vehicle for transporting your family, new outdoor adventures or business purposes. Based on your choice, we’ll select the most appropriate leather and color and define it with the choice of the color and design of the stitching.

Every Defender’s interior is completely handcrafted. Our upholstery guys carefully and skillfully hand-stitch every leather piece found in the Defender. Not only the seating, but the dashboard, console and customized items, such as suitcases or pouches. The result is a merging of wishes, tastes, experience and possibilities.

Every interior is unique and has its own exclusive personality. At interior artistry your Defender is suited with its hallmark plate with the birth name printed on it.

Passion for details can be found everywhere! In visible places as well as in hidden places. A personal message is left in every Defender, written inside the chassis by our testing team. Although not visible with the naked eye, the love is palpable, like a Sant Christopher for a safe journey.

Built to conquer land, the beauty of every Land Rover was originally found in the absolute lack of luxury, honest and pure and so simple that everybody that got stuck in the bush could fix their own Land Rover Defender. Times have changed. We have now proudly adapted our robust Defender to new demands, adjusted to a more luxurious lifestyle that totally command your wishes.

Remote locks, seat heating, power windows, follow-me home lights, digital instrument clusters, high end audio system, back-up camera systems and parking assist are just some of the features available.Not to mention power steering. Our electric capabilities are virtually limitless. Your request is a challenge for us and we thrive on taking on new tasks in order to make your dreams come true.

Land Rovers were once the luxury successor of the tractor, famous for their character to conquer rough terrain. In line with the new world, our Defenders are adapted to a modern environment with a new purpose being pure luxury, comfort, strength and charisma. The old truck is transformed into a luxury vehicle.

All final elements are linked during final assembly. The whole interior is put together, including custom details, accessories, seating and aluminum details. Defender’s distinct soul is shaped and becoming obvious at this point. The iconic shape has been strengthened and its strong character retained and intensified with comfortable flamboyance.

Meet our main man Frank, founding father of our electric department Panterra. Sustaining the iconic vehicle that Defender is and what we stand for, Frank’s Panterra team is devoted to ensuring that this iconic beauty is future proof.

With Panterra 1.0, our electric test Defender, we test everything: weight distribution of the batteries, the in-wheel electric motors, terrain capacity, road experience, durability, eland security and stability test, emergency brake tests, you name it. Experiences with Panterra 1.0 are all to guarantee that modern safety standards are met and safe for utilization. All tests ensure that Lowlands and Honduras – our hybrid hero’s – and all future electric Defenders , grow into super strong electrical and hybrid platforms to conquer the roads and safely drive their bearers into their adventures.

We started our electric journey in 2018 and will continue to evolve and expand our Defenders so that we can assure that our icon is safe for the coming decades. Looking at the future and taking our responsibilities, we had to make a next step. Our hearts thump for the V8, but we’re taking responsibility to find a good future-proof and sustainable replacement. In time and working with leading solutions we’ve come to realize that the electric and hybrid solutions stole our heart once again. We’re convinced they’ll steal yours too.

Our electric solution equals the best of the iconic Defender; it’s easy to disassemble, the motor (or better: platform) doesn’t wear and tear, no gears and no oil and almost no maintenance. All to ensure that your new electrical or hybrid Defender hardly needs any maintenance and can last another lifetime.

At this point, all of the necessary electrical parts and extras are in place. All components have been handled and passed through the hands of our engineers. Everything’s been thoroughly inspected and double checked for reusability and safety. Ultimately, our new Defender has been meticulously put together and is now ready for a crucial first ride.

After a flawless test drive, Defender is given the ‘all clear’ for the start of a perfect and exciting new life. Finally, chairs are positioned and tray boards are secured. Your dream has materialized. You are now ready to step into your new dream and head for exciting adventures together.

This chapter is equally important to us since it will serve as a future remembrance, both motivating and nostalgic. All new Defenders motivate us to continue developing more astonishing Defenders. At the same time we know we’re getting ready to slowly but surely say goodbye to Defender; who’s become part of our team in the last nine months. A Defender which has once again captured our hearts with its beauty and distinctive appearance and personality.

After nine months of passion, devotion, love and nurture, we’ll be taking Defender for an ultimate ride. Now we want to feel its new character and true potential. During this last trip, we are the spectators of the fusion between the old soul and Defender’s new and ravishing appearance. We’ll always find the right surrounding for our photoshoot matching Defender’s character. The perfect spot for an ultimate setting for Defenders birth card photoshoot. The new owner is virtually part of Defender’s first drive and will be provided with a multitude of pictures and footage for the newborn’s photo album. Defender is ready to be sent and delivered to your doorstep.

Defender is infinitely ready for shipment after one final wash and wipe. A last thorough inspection of all components and a final embrace. Pictures of all our Defenders are granted a place of honor in our Blue Room. For us, this is a place to reflect on those unforgettable nine months.

This is where we get together to recall memories and celebrate new adventures. Defenders’ new owners have become keepers, realizing that their Defender is not just something you own, but something you cherish and take care of for another lifetime. A lifetime that just began. Your Defender is your new companion and carrier for all your journeys and adventures to come.

Defender and its new keeper are sure to have an exciting lifetime together, may it be with a brand new Corvette, a Defender original or a modern electrical platform!

Continue reading: What Does a Custom Defender from Amsterdam Really Cost?