Landrover Retrim

One of the most characterful off-roaders is the Landrover Defender, but the standard interior, although very functional, is hardly a design triumph.  Our brief for this vehicle was to inject some real style into the interior and improve comfort at the same time.

To provide more supportive, stylish and comfortable seats, we chose Corbeau sports seats and then gave them a little 'twist'.  For this we took our styling cues from the seats that graced the fabulous racing Ford GT40s of the 1960s.

Then to supplement the less than effective heater in this soft top Landrover, highly efficient carbon element seat heaters were added - capable of packing a real punch, even on the coldest of winter days.

The plastic panels of the dashboard, were retrimmed in leather, with orange accent stitching around the instrument binnacle to add interest.  A classic styled Moto-lita steering wheel provided the finishing touch.

One interesting, but challenging aspect of the project, was to make the central 'cubby box' dual purpose.  When in the 'down' position, it functions as an arm rest, drinks holder and of course has a useful storage compartment.  In the 'up' position, it turns into an occasional extra front seat, complete with lap belt.

Another element of this project was modifying the way in which the header rail for the soft top attaches to the top of the windscreen. There's now a quick release system via 2 external and 2 internal catches on the header rail which means it can be released/attached in seconds, rather than a couple of minutes of fighting with reluctant hood material and a primitive clamping mechanism.

Finishing touches were a new set of wheels, a full machine polish to remove the scars of many off-roading sessions, and a mildly uprated in car entertainment system to provide a far superior sound quality and full compatability with smart phones without breaking the bank.