Car of the Month: DEFENDER NINETY

Today I saw a tan Defender 90 on the street. It had no roof, padded rollbars, and four dudes living their lives riding in it. I was very jealous, and thus this month's Car of the Month is the Land Rover Defender 90. Pictured above is one of the same color of my VW Bus.

I've been spending a lot of time lately riding around in a Chevy Silverado, which just makes me love trucks. Of course, most my main ride is a 1971 VW Bus, which I consider more of a truck itself. I love the big roof rack I recently acquired for my VW Bus, and roof racks are a standard Land Rover tradition. I am a sucker for long lived industrial designs, and the Land Rover Defender (as it was finally named in the 1990s) is mostly the same as the original Land Rover designed in 1948.

I would love to drive one sometime. I love that they're all boxy. I love that all the lights are round. I love that they were designed to be completely disassembled and put together using only hand tools. I love the vents that open under the windshield and that the door hinges are on the outside.

The Defender 90 was imported in small batches to the United States in 1994 and 1995. They still sell for well over $20,000 on the used market, unlike its sibling the Land Rover Discovery, which can be had for less than a nice Vespa. There are a few of them here in Portland and I upon seeing one I always shout "THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE LAND ROVER EMPIRE!"