New Land Rover Defender now offered as a convertible
Dutch coachbuilder reveals Land Rover Defender 90 Valiance Convertible, but it doesn’t come cheapLike the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco, the previous-generation Land Rover Defender was offered with a removeable canvas roof option – but the latest Defender does not.
Until now.
Dutch car customiser and Defender specialist Heritage Customs has unveiled its latest creation – a bespoke Land Rover Defender 90 drop-top dubbed the Valiance Convertible.
The conversion requires complete disassembly of the donor car – a short-wheelbase Defender 90, preferably the $220,000-plus V8-powered P525 – before the roof is chopped and the rear windows removed.
These are replaced by a hand-stitched cloth roof with power opening/closing mechanism.
The conversion is priced from a whopping €82,000 ($A134,000) and the transformation takes around three months to complete, according to Heritage Customs.
This includes reinforcing the body and adding an FIA-compliant roll cage.
Numerous fabric roof colours are offered, including white to mimic the hard-top off-roader.
Customers can also order bespoke Heritage wheels in 20- or 22-inch sizes, matching AT3 tyres, and major interior renovations such as full leather reupholstering.
The company says the handcrafted cabin features “the highest quality leathers on seats, dashboard, door panels, steering wheel and roll cage”.
A ‘Magic Metal’ finish is also applied to the centre console and door panels.
If you’ve got cash to burn, the interior can be finished in “almost infinite” ways with a little help from the Heritage Customs Carchicture team.
The closest Land Rover builds to a convertible Defender is an optional single-sheet folding roof mechanism.
But is this simply too expensive and too niche to work? Not so, says Heritage Customs co-owner Jan-Pieter Kroezen.
“Based on the sketches, a number of our very loyal customers have immediately purchased their coach-built Valiance,” he said.
He added that the drop-top conversion would only be offered with the Defender 90, as the longer Defender 110 and 130 don’t have the aesthetic appeal to pull off the sophisticated look.
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