When the Land Rover Defender Celebration Series was first announced way back in January 2015, it had the feel of a popstar announcing their farewell tour. This was it, no going back now; if you wanted to experience the hype one last time, this was the only opportunity. To the dedicated, it wouldn't matter the price of admission - for the experience of the finale, no cost could be too high.
As it happened, and somewhat against expectation, the Celebration cars were not extortionately pricey. Well, those cars that weren't the £60k Autobiography, that is. Handily, they were the rarest, with just 80 made. The other 1,000 run-out cars were split between the explorer special Adventure (600 cars, from £43,495) and 400 'Heritage' Defenders.
Unsurprisingly, this was the car that there seemed to be the most clamour for; not only because it evoked (no Land Rover pun intended) the spec of classic Defenders with its Grasmere Green paint and steel wheels, but also because it was cheap. All things being relative. Those who got their name on the list early enough, and plumped for a bare-bones 90, paid £27,800 for their Heritage Defender.
Even in 2015, the writing was on the wall for these cars. It had the sort of investment potential to make a hedge fund manager blush. Bring together the Defender history, this car's effortlessly cool aesthetic, the rarity and the price, and it was as close as guaranteed to appreciate as a new car could ever be. Naturally, some will have purchased Heritage Defenders because they genuinely loved them - and they can now enjoy the car regularly and never foresee having to get rid. Those who bought a Heritage with one eye on resale potential - and, let's be honest, it would be a hard opportunity to turn down given the possibility - might well be looking to move one on now. The new Defender will imminently be on our roads, and no doubt plenty of attention will be drawn back to these last-of-the-line models as a result.
This is one of the time capsules, buried away since 2015 and having covered just 200 miles. Expecting a lot of money? Well, you'd be right to, because this 110 Heritage is for sale at £56,994 - more than £20k in excess of 110 RRP, or a big chunk in percentage terms. And you thought people were just making money out of limited-run supercars...
While, obviously, that's a lot of cash, it reflects the regard in which these final Defenders are held, and isn't unusual. This 90 is the only one currently available at less than £50,000, this Adventure has similar miles to the featured Heritage and is offered at £52,950, while this Autobiography is listed for sale at - drum roll, please - £74,995. That's where the market currently sits on the Celebration Series, and seems unlikely to change much even with a gut-wrenching recession looming.
There is some good news to take from the £50k Defenders, however. Those who want to use their Defender for Land Rover-type activities, rather than simply an investment, are not unduly punished for driving their cars. They're that in demand. See this Adventure, still worth £40k after almost 50,000 miles. This Heritage commands £15k more than list after four years and 15,000 miles - if you can get in, it seems you can't lose.
But would you want to, with that new (and very good) car looming? There was no escaping the fact that, even looking fondly upon the Defender in its final days, the driving experience was distinctly agricultural. In the same way that Death Valley is distinctly warm. A Defender will take some compromise for anyone used to a remotely modern 4x4, and no amount of colour-coded accoutrements will hide that.
There's also no hiding from the fact, though, that any of the Celebration Series Defenders are incredibly safe places to put money, and it would be strange for the new car to significantly affect that. From here, a Heritage looks almost as desirable as it always did, with the caveat of a rather more expensive entry ticket. Whether it'll be one to drive, to cherish for a few years or to keep forever, the Defender is a hard one to argue against from a financial perspective. And the emotional side? Well, you know the answer to that already...
SPECIFICATION - LAND ROVER DEFENDER HERITAGE 110
Engine: 2,198cc, 4-cyl turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed manual with dual-range transfer box, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 122@3,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 266@2,000rpm
First registered: 2015
Recorded mileage: 202
Price new: £34,200
Yours for: £56,994
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