Having made the decision to cease production of the “Classic” Defender, JLR proudly announced that the year would be used to celebrate the Land Rover.

This was announced with what has now become an iconic image, the outline of a Defender drawn in the sand at Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey, the largest sand drawer ever produced in the UK. (A fleet of six Land Rovers were used to draw this, each towing a 12 foot harrow, a Series I, a Series II (originally owned by the Wilks family), a Series III, a 90” from the 1980’s, a 90” hardtop and a 110” station wagon).

Above – Three limited edition Defenders were announced at the same time (7 January 2015). As Nick Rogers, Land Rover Vehicle Line Director, explained at the launch;

“We wanted to mark the end of Defender production at Solihull with a special edition but coming up with a single identity was impossible, so we developed three very different interpretations of the Defender to reflect its strength and breadth of character. Whether our customers want to celebrate Land Rover’s unrivalled off‑road heritage, demand the ultimate in terms of design and performance or have a genuine thirst for adventure, there will be a limited-edition Defender that will be fit for purpose.”

These three models were the Heritage edition (limited to 400 cars, starting at £27,800), the Adventure edition (600 cars at £43,495) and the Autobiography edition (100 cars from £61,845).

Above – This car, OY62 HBD is the first prototype Heritage Defender, ordered by JLR Business Protection in April 2012 and supplied 5 months later, began life as a silver 90” hardtop (with side steps as an optional extra) as a replacement for a patrol vehicle already used as a Gaydon site patrol vehicle.

In November 2013 the order was made to provide the Protection Fleet with a replacement 110” as OY62 HBD would be transferred to Heritage Design. (The intention being that, upon completion of the design project, it would be scrapped, having reached the end of its life).

Thus (Land Rover) Life for the vehicle was to dramatically change when, in January 2014, it was transferred from the Business Protection fleet to Engineering / Special Vehicle Operations and work began on designing the new Heritage model.

Above – Whilst the production variants got silver hinges, this prototype had black. Note the clumsy masking around the hinge.

Only two months later the car was presented for the first time to the Land Rover Executive design forum, an exercise that was repeated very quickly after – presumably demonstrating modifications following the initial presentation.

The car is likely to have remained in the design studio for a few months before being sent to suppliers, including Mantec in the autumn of 2014 for tooling works and Polytech in early 2015 for trialling of the fitting of the new grille

Below – Although faded, a sticker remains on the rear of the grille today referring to the tool, trial date and tool trial date of the grille with Polytec. Picture R. Hughes

It’s believed that little more occurred with OY62 HBD after this. Fortunately, she was not scrapped as had been the intention, but was used a as general run around vehicle by Special Vehicle Operations until being “rediscovered” and recognised for what it was 3 years later – in June 2017 – and, under Mike Bishops supervision, moved to Land Rover Classics.