No multi-acred country estate is complete without a ‘Landy’, but a new release from the home of robust off-roaders is perhaps less suited to mud and pheasants and more to scenic evening spins.
Land Rover’s Defender Works V8 Islay Edition is a labour of love combining influences from Islay, where one of the founders of the company, Spencer Wilks, spent time road-testing the first prototype Land Rovers.
It was on Wilks’ beloved Laggan Estate on the island that the company name was born, after his gamekeeper Ian Fraser remarked that the modified vehicle Wilks was testing must be a ‘Land Rover’.
The new model, designed to celebrate Land Rover’s 75th year, riffs on Wilks’ personal 1965 series in Heritage Grey, while the new Islay’s interiors are upholstered in tweed from the Islay Woollen Mill.
Even the centre cubby’s removable wooden trays are made using whisky cask barrel oak from Islay’s Kilchoman Distillery, which was founded by Wilks’ granddaughter Kathy.
While it may be inspired by the 1965 model and based on the same technical specification as the Classic Defender Works V8, the Islay Edition is powered by a high-tech 5-litre V8 engine, generating 405 horsepower and driven via an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox.
It goes 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of 106mph.
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Just 30 of the Islay Landies will go into production; 17 in a 90 body design for £230,000, and 13 in the seven-seater 110 Station Wagon version, for £245,000.
Each example is restored and re-engineered by Land Rover’s Classic team and is based on a Defender donor vehicle produced between 2012 and 2016 – the year when production of the original Defender came to an end.
Paul Barritt, director of Land Rover Classic, describes an ‘insatiable appetite’ for the last of the Classic Defenders.
‘Each Works V8 Classic Defender is a restored and modified hand-crafted collectible limited edition engineered and built by the experts at JLR’s Classic Works in Warwickshire,’ he tells Spear’s.
‘These re-engineered versions come complete with high-grade finishes, flagship powertrains, modernisation and enhancements, genuine storytelling, and deliberately curated luxury partnerships which enhance those evocative stories.’
In releasing the new model, Barritt wrote: ‘In 2023, we celebrate 75 years of Land Rover. Spencer Wilks and the Isle of Islay are an important part of our history, and the Classic Defender Works V8 Islay Edition is a fitting way to help us celebrate a landmark anniversary.
‘It references a special vehicle in our collection, Spencer Wilks’ beautiful Series IIa, and is influenced by the special products and incredible nature of Islay itself.’
Barritt said the vehicle’s ‘authenticity, modern engineering, and exquisite execution’ was for ‘discerning clients looking for the ultimate heritage Land Rover’.
Each buyer of the Islay will also be presented with A ‘639’ limited edition whisky that’s being specially produced to ‘enhance their vehicle’s collectability’.
As well as capitalising on Scottish whisky’s explosion in popularity, the anniversary release comes hot off the heels of huge interest in collectable Defenders.
Professional Land Rover modifier Charles Fawcett revealed earlier this year how people were paying him up to £220,000 for the 110 XS model that was removed from sale in 2015.
