First Drive: These Restomod Defenders Pack More Punch, but Remain Charmingly Quirky

Yahoo

12-03-2025

If you're looking for a rugged off-roader with aggressive looks on the outside and premium fittings on the inside, you have an increasingly dizzy array of options at your disposal. With valuations soaring and a faultless pedigree, Land Rover Defenders are a popular choice for restoration. And it's easier than ever to find restoration houses offering all manner of engines and drivetrains to try and improve on the original Defender formula.
Since 2019, Helderburg Defenders has been taking a more traditional tack with its top-shelf, fully custom builds. You start by choosing between the shorter Defender 90, mid-sized 110, or lengthier 130. From there, the sky's the limit when it comes to customizing everything from the paint on the meticulously hand-shaped body panels to the locking differentials slung between the wheels.
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There is one requested modification, though, that's not up for debate: swapping out the Defender's original 2.5-liter turbo-diesel engine. Yes, Helderburg will tune and tweak the original 300 TDi engine to the extreme, up to a maximum of 220 hp and 440 ft lbs of torque—about twice the output of the original. However, a replacement with something more pedestrian like a GM V-8 or the like is simply not on the table. If you don't like the smell of diesel in the morning or the hint of a black cloud of smoke following you down the trail, then perhaps a Helderburg isn't the machine for you.
Yet if you don't mind that particular bit of preservation, what you're getting is an impeccably rebuilt example of a Defender that stays true to the original while upgrading nearly everything. Take the door handles. They look like the same flat-black plastic units that came from the factory. Reach for one, though, and you'll realize that it's actually made of black anodized aluminum.
Climb on in (and it does require climbing, thanks to the lifted Fox suspension and 35-inch tires fitted on most of these machines), and you'll see an interior that will be both familiar and perplexing to drivers of one of these Defenders in their original state. The dashboard shape and control locations are unchanged, including the curious positioning of the HVAC knobs around the gauge cluster. But there's plenty new, including an Alpine touchscreen display that, to my eye, looks a bit garish hanging off that dash, but it's connected to a sublime Focal sound system.
The seats and many of the surfaces are wrapped in upholstery that comes in your choice of hides and hues. It's quite a package, each one built to customer demands at Helderburg's U.K.-based facility, situated not far from where these machines were originally assembled in Solihull. There, Helderburg has assembled a team of workers to handle the complete rebuild that each of these road-legal rides goes through, before shipping them stateside.
We sampled three of Helderburg's offerings in Sharon Springs, N.Y., where the company's facility is a lovely farm that's perfectly positioned just the right distance away from everything. That means there's plenty of room for play. On the snow-covered fields and pastures surrounding the farm, the Defenders were a real joy. Despite running on dirt-minded tires that are hopeless on snow and ice, these ultra-luxe restomods had no problem roaring through the powder covering the ground.
The differential engagement is a bit slow and reluctant, as is the tall shifter attached to the five-speed transmission. That gives the driving experience a decidedly traditional feel, and the engines were very much in keeping with that theme, too. Despite each Defender I drove offering successively more power, none delivered eye-opening acceleration or world-class throttle response. For purists, though, that's part of the charm. The steering, too, is slow. The wide, wooden Moto-Lita steering wheel offers a classic look, but you'll be too busy swinging it this way and that to admire it while in motion.
On the road, the Helderburg Defenders are reasonably tractable. The seats are comfortable, the power band wide enough to ensure you won't have to reach for that shift lever too often, and the rebuilt body stout enough to provide some isolation from the worst of the diesel clatter. That said, these classics don't hold a candle to the calm and composed road-going manners of the new Defender, which returned to the U.S. market in 2020 after a nearly 30-year absence.
But as great and capable as that new car is, it'll never get your juices flowing like the box-sided original Defender from the before times. There are plenty of sources for high-end, ultra-restored models these days, including Land Rover's own Works Bespoke division. However, if you want one that pushes the envelope into extreme territory while still maintaining the original, numbers-matching charm and quirks, Helderburg is the one to call.Best of Robb Report
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