Land Rover DC100

Land Rover DC100

Whatever you think of the Land Rover DC100 (and we know that readers of The Daily Telegraph have some strong opinions), there's no denying that this drop head "Sport" version looks the part on Santa Monica beach in California. It was probably a lot grittier and colder 63 years ago in Anglesey, Wales when Maurice Wilkes sketched out the first example of a Land Rover in the sand.

Since then, the Defender has pushed and clambered, traversed and forded its way into our hearts. From its cabin smelling of wet dog and baler twine, and rear deck that can hold an anti-tank missile, a sheep or a defibrillator, to roasting your passenger's knees with its all-or-nothing heater, jamming your fingers in its impossibly stiff door catches and breaking down at the worst possible moment, the Defender couldn't be invented today. Replacing it is one of the toughest jobs in the motor industry.

 

 Yet whatever you think of this new concept, it at least shows Land Rover is serious about replacing the Defender. I like it, especially the thought that's gone in, like the symmetrical wing vents and door handles, which don't affect the basic utility one jot, but are simply easier on the eye.
Land Rover stresses that this is just a vision of how things could be, although between ourselves, the mood music out of Solihull is that the finished article won't look dramatically different. What will change are the doors, which will curl under the sills on the finished example so you won't be cleaning the thing with the back of your trousers when you alight. Climbing in isn't much of a stretch and once behind the wheel, there is space enough in the footwell to drive it in wellies should you be of that persuasion.