Welcome to NZ4WD magazine’s latest new feature, ‘Locals Only’ in which we check out the sort of cool 4x4s that see us swiveling our heads and thinking, ‘damn that’s nice!’ We kick ofF what we hope we can build into a regular column with Cantabrian Mike Drew’s V8-powered Land Rover Defender 110.
 

I first met Mike Drew, the owner of our first feature ‘truck,’ a stunning Land Rover Defender 110, a couple of years ago in Central Otago. 

Mike was on a tag-along tour run by Mark Wilson and I was travelling with my good friend Aaron Rich. It was a cloudy day and we were all heading to Potters Hut for lunch. The convoys merged and I fell in behind Mike. The burble that his Land Rover was making was awesome and enough for me to follow him to the Hut with the windows down simply enjoying the sound.

Since moving south I’ve regularly run into Mike and his truck at Opposite Lock, where we both have work done. And when Ross, the Editor, asked me one day, if I could do a piece on an exceptional truck build, I knew straight away whom I was going to call.

First steps

Mike started his love affair with Land Rovers in 2005 by buying a 2000 110 Defender station wagon, which he used for work and taking the family out at weekends to some of the great spots around Christchurch.

In 2016, having enjoyed the freedom that a 4WD offered, Mike decided to get seriously into Overlanding, buying a good condition, low mileage 110 Defender Double Cab and taking it to Scott at Opposite Lock to turn his dream into reality. 

The Defender already had a roll cage, bash plates, diff protectors and mag wheels, but there was so much more that Mike wanted done.

The “to do” list must have been huge! Mike’s budget was probably a big bigger than most, but he went into it with his eyes open eager to create his dream vehicle.

Front and rear bars were added and customized to fit the front bar mounted light bar. Then came a 50mm (two-inch) lift, 12,000lb Warn (Zeon Platinum) winch (the reason for which will become apparent later) and a Factor 55 Ultra winch hook, a major improvement on the standard fitting.

The tyres were changed to Maxxis Bighorns and front and rear diff E-lockers were also added.

Sound thinking

The exhaust was changed to a 76.2mm (three-in.) stainless steel system, hence the incredible sound, and the exhaust was modified to exit out of the offside rear quarter complete with checker plate detailing. This looks great!

Inside, Mike had a centre roof consul fitted, which houses all his switches and UHF radio. He also added a second crank battery with Intervolt Electronic Battery isolater by Amelec and a Redarc battery management system. 

A Viair 100 percent duty cycle compressor with 3.78L (one gallon) air tank makes airing up easy and there is valve at the rear of the truck to plug the hose into.

Now, for the main course!

Despite all of this being extensive, it’s all reasonably common and most of us will have many, if not all, of these modifications on our Overlanding vehicles.

This is where the real fun started!

A fastback custom canopy was made to fit over the roll bar at the back. It looks fantastic and gives the impression that the Defender is shorter than it really is. In fact, the first time that I saw it, I thought that it was a short wheelbase model.

Both Mike and I are fans of the Land Rover G4 Challenge and the Tangieres Orange livery all the Challenge vehicles are finished in. And there’s a tribute of sorts to those vehicles in the aftermarket light set up on Mike’s Defender.

Let there be…

With advice from Scott, on the front bar, mounted on a custom A-frame, is an Ultra Vision LED light bar. Mounted on the Rhino-Rack Tradie roof platform are four  Ultra Vision Nitro LED spotlights. And there are work lights (Ultra Vision Atom LEDs) on either side plus an additional LED bar at the rear. 

All the lights are framed in G4 Orange, which really sets it off. I’ve never driven with Mike at night but it must be an impressive sight when it’s all lit up!

Now, saving the best till last, is a design feature that I never seen before and is simply brilliant. It doesn’t add anything to the performance of the vehicle and is purely excellent self-indulgence!

Scott found someone who could do laser etching and created a cover for the four inch stainless steel snorkel, much like you might find on a motorbike exhaust, acting as a heat shield. 

Etched into the cover is “DEFENDER 110”

The cover is black and the snorkel beneath was painted orange. The effect is brilliant!

To protect the bodywork, on his now very valuable asset, the body was clear wrapped. Hardly noticeable until you touch it and will make post trip cleaning much easier.

But wait, there’s more

I mentioned earlier, the 12,000lb winch... Well, keen to get his better half out Overlanding with him, Mike added a Patriot Camper trailer to complete the full “Glamping” Experience. 

The Camper could itself be the subject of a separate article but suffice is to say it has hot and cold running everything, a kitchen, and tent with full Queen size bed. 

I didn’t notice a TV, but I’m sure there’s one in there somewhere! All of this is run by Redarc electronic BMS –“Battery Monitoring System” together with other Redarc components including the Redarc Tow Pro system.

Outstanding!

A truly outstanding build! If you see Mike out on the trails, stop and have a chat with him and I’m sure he would to be happy to show you around and tell you about his most recent mods and anything that I’ve forgotten to explain here.