I live in the US, so Defenders are not easily obtained here. I have found a few shops that custom build them brand new, but I am not keen on spending $180k. I have lots of mechanical experience, so I am considering building one instead of importing. My project goal is to build a Defender 110 with only the front driver and passenger doors and the rear door into a small RV-type vehicle. I only need to have the 2 front seats, then the rest can be blank space to build what I want on the inside. I don't need to have bespoke everything interior, I am truly trying to have a modern bare-bones Defender that has the things I need on it and nothing I don't want. The issue that I am running into for my research is finding companies that list what options they have available and showing examples of previous work. If there are any companies or shops that you know of that would be an asset to my build or that I should check out, let me know!

 

Not sure what you're after here. You say you don't want a $180,000 defender, and you say you don't want to import one, and you're mechanically inclined, but then you ask about shops that do custom overland builds.

So, my take on all lf this is...you're looking for a defender already here in the states, and you're going to build it yourself for overland, and you're looking for ideas (from shops that do this work)?

Location would help, if you're looking for a 110. And just google 110 overland builds...you will find hundreds if ideas, ranging from basic needs to some pretty extreme units.

 

I live in Livingston County in Michigan. I was more looking for shops that would build components for a Defender (front passenger compartment, rear shell, things of that nature), not an entire vehicle. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to build (similar to Dave Harriton's JK Outpost II), I just don"t have nearly as many domestic/accessible by land physical resources as they do in the rest of the world.

 

Do you have a 110 yet? You'll have a difficult time, l assume, finding anyone that does LR interior builds in Michigan. Not saying some sort of cabinetry shop can't handle it, but getting specific about mountings and securing cabinets will be new to them. Plus, building something that is going to go down the road and not shaking apart, differs from home cabinet.

Anyway, hope you find someone.