1997 Land Defender "NAS 130" Station Wagon

The Overview The Last Of The American Defenders By now, the story of the North American Defender is the stuff of legend. Land Rover brought its working icon to the United States almost as an afterthought: 500 Defender 110s in 1993, followed by the short-wheelbase Defender 90 from 1994. American buyers, it turned out, wanted the farm truck of the Empire as a lifestyle machine, and the NAS Defender became a cult object virtually on arrival. The 1997 model year was both the high point and the end. For its final season, the NAS Defender 90 received the 4.0-liter version of the Rover V8 with GEMS distributorless electronic fuel injection, producing approximately 182 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque, paired for the first time in any Defender with an automatic transmission, the durable ZF four-speed. Only 2,799 were built for 1997, roughly 1,300 of them the coveted Station Wagon hardtop, before incoming federal airbag and side-impact requirements ended official imports. No Defender would be sold new in America again for more than two decades, and values of the survivors have reflected that scarcity ever since. The 130, meanwhile, was the Defender America never got at all. Stretched to a 127-inch wheelbase, it served Solihull’s most demanding customers as a crew cab and chassis cab for utility fleets, expedition outfitters, and the military. A factory 130 Station Wagon was never catalogued by Solihull, which is precisely what makes the vehicle presented here so compelling. NAS Defender # VA121225 Chassis #VA121225 was delivered new to Encinitas, California, in August 1997, one of those 2,799 final-year trucks. Its Carfax report traces two decades of regular, documented use: California through 2002, then North Carolina and a long tenure in West Virginia, where it was serviced repeatedly at the same dealership, with a single road accident reported in 2007. By 2016 it had passed to Ohio, and in April 2018 came the event that would define it: a house fire claimed the Defender, the insurer declared it a total loss, and its title was retired. Where most would have seen an ending, the current owner, its fifth, saw a foundation. Acquired in the autumn of 2018 and entrusted to an enthusiast workshop, #VA121225 was rebuilt over the following year not as the D90 it had been but as something the factory never built: a seven-seat Defender 130 Station Wagon. The transformation was executed around a new galvanized chassis and rear body supplied by Foley Specialist Vehicles, the family-run Essex Land Rover specialists who have been supporting the marque since 1966 and whose galvanized-chassis rebuilds are a fixture of the UK Defender world. Genuine Land Rover components were used throughout, and the truck’s original, correct drivetrain was preserved: the 4.0-liter GEMS V8 and ZF four-speed automatic offered in America only in the 1997 NAS cars. Completed in 2019, the result is finished in Corris Grey beneath a contrasting black roof, the very livery of the final-year Defender Adventure Edition sold to world markets but never to America, over a black leather interior trimmed in the style of the late-production “Puma” Defenders, seating seven via side-folding jump seats in the cargo area. A black NAS-style external roll cage nods to its American origins, while upgraded heavy-duty suspension and 35-inch Goodyear DuraTrac tires give it the stance and capability its silhouette promises. It has covered 16,900 miles since completion; total mileage is unverified, and the truck carries a Massachusetts rebuilt title reflecting the 2018 fire, all of it transparently documented in the accompanying Carfax report. The NAS Defender market is rich in restored D90s. It holds, as far as we know, exactly one V8-automatic 130 Station Wagon born of a final-year NAS truck and a galvanized Foley chassis. For the collector who values a Defender that can carry seven people anywhere on earth and a story no other example can tell, #VA121225 stands alone. Technical Specifications 3,946 CC OHV V8 Engine GEMS Distributorless Electronic Fuel Injection Approximately 182 BHP ZF 4-Speed Automatic Transmission Permanent Four-Wheel Drive with Two-Speed Transfer Case Live-Axle, Coil-Spring Suspension with Heavy-Duty Upgrades Four-Wheel Disc Brakes Provenance Delivered New to Encinitas, California, in August 1997; Eighteen Years with Its First Custodian, from the Pacific Coast to West Virginia Two Subsequent Enthusiast Owners Through the Close of Its First Life Acquired in Late 2018 by Its Fifth and Current Owner, Who Commissioned Its Transformation Rebuilt Through 2019 as a 130 Station Wagon on a New Galvanized Foley Specialist Vehicles Chassis, Original V8 and Gearbox Preserved Cherished and Regularly Exercised in the Commissioning Owner’s Care Ever Since