Latest news with #HelderburgDefenders
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Restomods From Helderburg Defenders in Photos
More from Robb Report This 1969 Mustang Restomod Has One of Mario Andretti's Old Engines. Now It Could Fetch $1 Million. Mansory Gave the Tesla Cybertruck a Garish Makeover, and That's the Point First Drive: This Restomod Is a Loud and Challenging Racer That Would Make Steve McQueen Smile Best of Robb Report The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht Click here to read the full article. These ultra-luxe restomods, from Helderburg Defenders, had no problem roaring through the powder covering the ground during our test drives. A Defender 90 reenvisioned by Helderburg. Helderburg will tune and tweak the original 2.5-liter turbo-diesel engine to deliver a maximum of 220 hp and 440 ft lbs of torque. The dashboard shape and control locations are unchanged, but there's plenty new, including an Alpine touchscreen display. The differential engagement is a bit reluctant, as is the shifter attached to the five-speed transmission, giving the driving experience a decidedly traditional feel. The door handles may look like the same flat-black plastic units that came from the factory, but they're actually made of black anodized aluminum. The Alpine touchscreen display is 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. Since 2019, Helderburg Defenders has been taking a more traditional tack with its top-shelf, fully custom builds.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
First Drive: These Restomod Defenders Pack More Punch, but Remain Charmingly Quirky
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. More from Robb Report This 1969 Mustang Restomod Has One of Mario Andretti's Old Engines. Now It Could Fetch $1 Million. Mansory Gave the Tesla Cybertruck a Garish Makeover, and That's the Point First Drive: This Restomod Is a Loud and Challenging Racer That Would Make Steve McQueen Smile 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 of Robb Report The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Keep Warm and Carry On: Helderburg Defender Is the Perfect Winter Ride
The collector-car industry constantly shifts direction based on the winds of global financial markets and the whims of those whose sails swell the biggest. But where some trends are difficult to spot, there's one that's hard to miss: Defenders are hot right now. It's a fire that Land Rover is happy to pour fuel upon, returning the model to its lineup in 2020 and recently giving it a shot of adrenaline to create the monstrous Octa. Yet while the new Defender is easy to respect and even easier to live with, the boxier classic models really tug the heartstrings for many. While the original Land Rover, the Series I, will forever be an icon, it is the Defender models from the mid-Eighties and beyond that have been receiving stratospheric valuations lately. The models were originally called simply the 90, the 110, and the 127 (later the 130)—a nomenclature roughly corresponding to each model's respective wheelbase—Land Rover put them all under the Defender umbrella after the introduction of the Discovery in 1989. These Defenders were never meant to be posh. Though they were far more civilized than the original Land Rover, their suspensions and diesel engines were designed and tuned for simplicity and survival. Here in the U.S., we only got Defenders for a very short while. The so-called North American Spec, or NAS, models were sold between 1994 and 1997. Somewhere short of 8000 were imported over that period, powered by a 182-hp 3.9-liter V-8, a limited run thanks to ever-evolving American crash and emissions regulations. Finding a good original car is, understandably, a challenge—and Defenders tend to make serious money when they come to market. Thankfully, Land Rover made plenty more for the European market, models that are increasingly falling outside our 25-year limit on imports. There is no shortage of companies ready and willing to find and ship you one, and more are offering to elevate your machine to a level of fit and finish far beyond anything that rolled out of Land Rover's factory in England when new. Helderburg Defenders wants to be at the top of that list of prestigious builders. The company is based in Sharon Springs, New York, a small, agrarian village that, despite its proximity and similar-sounding name to Saratoga Springs, offers few of the chic trappings of that town to the east. Few, that is, until you step into Paul Potratz's garage, which not only contains a half-dozen Defenders but is also riddled with numerous posh adventure trappings, including shotguns, Wellington boots, and vintage motorcycles, many British. Potratz founded Helderburg in 2019 with William Lines, who lives in the U.K. and oversees the company's British operations. It is situated just down the road from the Defender's original manufacturing location in Solihull near Birmingham. That's not a coincidence. "We're able to hire people that worked for Land Rover," Potratz said, meaning many of the people who restore these Defenders built them in the first place. Using the original workers is just part of Helderburg's efforts to keep things original. The company sources left-hand-drive Defenders from throughout Europe, tears them down to a bare frame, and then rebuilds them to better-than-new specification, all while preserving the details that made them unique, both large and small. On the small side, we have things like the aluminum body panels, which are spot-welded in place, preserving the subtle divots along the rear fenders that punctuate the originals. On the far bigger side, we have the engine. Many Defender builders eagerly evict the original inline-four 300tdi diesel engines from the noses of their machines, often swapping in a GM-sourced V-8 or the like. For Helderburg's Potratz, that's nothing short of sacrilege. "We're not going to do that. And it just kind of takes away from the heritage," he says. "If you want the GM, go buy a GM." Helderburg Defenders are numbers-matching machines, which Potratz says will only help their values in the long run. But while the blocks remain, everything else is subject to replacement. Helderburg offers a variety of packages to elevate the humble 300tdi, everything from minor tweaks and retunes to bored-out cylinders with upgraded internals and turbos to match. The ever-evolving top-shelf model makes about 220 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque, roughly double the 300tdi's original output. Power level is just one of a series of decisions buyers must make when configuring their Defender. Custom paints, beefy winches, roll cages, uprated differentials, and plenty more are all on offer. On the inside, Helderburg fits bespoke leather interiors and replaces much of the original plastic switchgear with finer stuff. So, yes, the windows still roll down with a crank, but that crank is made of billet aluminum. This, in many ways, perfectly represents what the Helderburg experience is all about. But before all those details are set, the buyer has a bigger decision to make: What size Defender? Helderburg will gladly build you a 90, a 110, or a 130, but if you want that longest option, you'd better hurry. Potratz says 130s are becoming increasingly rare: "They use these for railroad trucks, logging trucks, so there's just not many in existence." I got to sample all three versions over the better part of a snowy day at Helderburg's headquarters, a horse farm with plenty of open pasture and private land to enable the sorts of pursuits frequented by the landed gentry who can afford these machines. I, however, was just there to drive. Despite eye-watering prices, upwards of $450,000 for a well-outfitted 130, each was entirely approachable on the road. Despite rolling on all-terrain 35-inch tires chosen for their knobby style rather than cold-weather performance, these machines were a simple joy on the road. It took a strong kick on the throttle and a little patience to induce wheelspin. The relaxed power delivery of the 300tdi, even the tuned editions, means that such histrionics only happened on demand and were easily quelled. It is best not to indulge too much, though, as the steering on the original Defender is slow and vague. The shifter, too, is tall and its throws long, but I was never left searching for the next gear. Locking the differentials is a bit of a process, requiring you to swing the short lever connected to the transfer case through left and back, then hold it there as you creep forward to get everything properly engaged. The feel of the controls, then, is thoroughly vintage. The extra cladding added in the new body panels helps to keep the worst of the powertrain's harshness from the cabin, but the Fox suspension clearly prioritizes off-road performance over on-road manners. That's especially true in the 90. Its reduced dimensions made it feel far more lively on the road but also substantially more nervous. Yet when I powered through a snowbank, heading for ungraded and unplowed terrain, everything clicked right into place. Here, bounding through deep snow and flying across an open pasture, each of the Helderburg Defenders felt happy, stopping and going without issue despite the improper tires. The heavy snow cover meant no low-speed rock-crawling on that day, the sorts of terrain where these machines excel, but with Cooper Discoverer STT Pro tires underneath and Red winches up front, I can't imagine the car wanting on the trails. Whether this is the ultimate roadgoing Defender, though, I'm not so sure. That 300tdi engine is certainly part of the experience, but I can't say I found any of the diesels I sampled particularly charming. Tuning them to such extreme heights surely won't do anything to help their legendary reliability, either. Additionally, I found the liberal application of the Helderburg logo on virtually every surface to be a bit much. And, again, there's the cost. If you want a basic machine, a simple 90 with minimal add-ons, you'll spend around $250,000 to start. Add about another $100,000 for a 110; a 130 with everything will set you back nearly half a million dollars. That's far too rich for my blood, but thankfully, there are other, cheaper options out there. Defenders are relatively common in the European market, so importing one could be far more economical, but that's changing. "I used to be able to buy a Defender for about £4000, £5000 [roughly $5000–$6300], and now I can't even touch one for £25,000 [about $31,500]," Portraz says. There are other options on the bespoke side, too. E.C.D. Automotive Design in Florida is one of the biggest, building Defenders that trade some tradition for a lower cost. John Price, director of vehicle design at E.C.D., told me that the tried and true LS swap is a popular option. "Most clients prefer the power and reliability of a GM drivetrain. For those who want a diesel option, we offer the Cummins R2.8, which is more powerful and dependable than the original 300tdi factory options." E.C.D. will even build you a Defender with a Tesla-sourced EV powertrain if you really want to be a rolling affront to Land Rover purists. And there are plenty of other builders out there too. Land Rover itself is in the restomod Defender game with its Works Bespoke division. Which is the best path? Well, where do you want to draw the line on authenticity, and how much are you willing to spend? The goal of any good restomod should be to enhance the original while preserving its character, to iron out the crow's feet but keep the laugh lines. The team at Helderburg clearly has great respect for that character and for doing things right. That requires patience, though. Potratz told me that the company builds about 30 or 40 cars per year and that orders placed today will not be filled for at least another 18 months. That's a long time to wait for a toy as fun as this. But as Defenders have always been famed for unstoppability rather than outright speed, perhaps the delayed gratification is entirely in keeping with the tradition. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
