What do you build when you love old Landies and you have a thing for Hot Wheels cars? A Hot Wheels Defender, of course.
In the latest installment of Unsealed 4X4’s Hot or Not? series, we take a look at a Hot Wheels Defender – an awesome old Landy that’s built to look more like a full-scale toy than an off-roader.
Check it out below:
When Brian Reginald decided to build up this old 1985 Land Rover County with his father and his three sons, he turned to his love of Hot Wheels model cars for inspiration, and this is the result: a Hot Wheels Defender.
The original LR County set Brian back just $1000, but two years after the project began the Brian reckons he’s dropped about $30k on it… but he adds that the vehicle is now worth much more than that. In fact, he says, he would never part with it as there are simply too many memories with three generations of his family working on the build.
The body came off and the build started from scratch with the chassis stripped bare and painted, and the driveline completely refreshed. Under that fantastic custom orange and black bodywork the Landy packs a potent V8 (what else would you expect in a Hot Wheels build? #lstheworld) mated to an auto tranny. The old coils were replaced by air springs and the Landy can be slammed on deck thanks to those custom side skirts.
A late-model Defender dash was fitted and the inside of the Landy also scored a total makeover.
Brian says the Landy is fully road legal and that although he hasn’t tested the top speed, he’s had it up to “around 160 or 180” km/h! A bit faster than an old County, that’s for sure.
You can check out more pics of the Hot Wheels Defender here.
