Land Rover Defender: Three Limited Editions & lines in the sand

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Land Rover has revealed three limited edition Defenders – Heritage, Adventure and Autobiography – as run-out models and created a 1 km long Defender sand drawing.

2015 is the year the iconic Land Rover Defender will finally go out of production (well, in the UK at least) so, as you’d expect, Land Rover are going to try and see the Defender goes out with a bang.

To mark the start of a year-long celebration of all things Defender, Land Rover went off to Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey to create the UK’s largest sand drawing, a 1km wide image of the Defender based on the outline sketched by Land Rover’s Engineering Director in 1947, Maurice Wilks, when he pitched the idea of the Land Rover Defender – on the very same sand at Red Wharf – to his brother, Spencer Wilks, Rover’s then MD.

Rather than the stick in the sand Maurice Wilks used, Land Rover used six Defenders, each towing a 12 foot harrow, to create the drawing, which they managed just in time before the tide took it away.

All this was a way of kicking-off a year-long celebration for the Defender, which will be marked in metal with three Limited Edition defender models – the Heritage, Adventure and Autobiography models – which will be available through 2015.

The Land Rover Defender Autobiography Edition goes on sale in April, costing from a rather eye-watering £61,845.

The Autobiography gets a power boost – to 148bhp – and comes as a 90 Station Wagon only with just 80 being built.

There’s standard 16″ alloys, a two-tone paint job, Privacy glass, side steps, black detailing on the body, full Windsor leather, aluminium trim and carpet mats.

The Land Rover Defender Heritage evokes the original Defender with its Heritage colour scheme – Grasmere Green metallic paintwork, Alaska White roof – as well as a heritage grill, headlight surrounds and steel wheels.

There’s also a silver front bumper with black end caps, body-coloured mud flaps and silver door hinges. HUE 166 graphics (harking back to the original pre-production Defender, ‘Huey’ – with the interior getting leather steering wheel, aluminium trim, cloth seats, rubber floor mats and a cubby box between the front seats.

There will be just 400 Heritage Defenders, available in 90 and 110 bodystyles. It goes on sale in August priced from £27,800.

Finally, the Land Rover Defender Adventure Edition will be a 600 run costing from £43,495 – available in 90 Station Wagon, 110 Station Wagon body styles – and on sale in August 2015.

The Adventure Defender is the most butch of the limited edition offerings, with extra underbody protection for the sills and sump, with Goodyear MT/R tyres fitted as standard for go anywhere abilities.

Colour choices for the Adventure are  Corris Grey, Yulong White and Phoenix Orange with contrasting Santorini Black for stuff like the grill, bonnet and roof, a Defender Expedition roof rack, snorkel and rear access ladder with the 90 Station wagon version getting the same boost to 148bhp as the Autobiography.

There’s also projector headlights so you can see where you’re going in the wilderness, diamond-turned alloys and an interior with Windsor leather with contrast stitching.

It looks like 2015 is going to be a very Land Rover Defender year.