1993 Land Rover Defender 110 NAS

Coolnvintage Edition

Some things never leave you.

For me, it was a white Defender NAS 110, the one from the 1993 ad. I was fourteen. That image of a single Alpine White 110, with its cage and roof rack, never left the wall of my room or the back of my mind. It was the one that made me fall in love with the idea of a vehicle built for purpose, not show. Honest, rare, and somehow more human than the rest.

Only 500 (534 but that’s a longer story) of these were ever made. Hand built for the American market. All identical. All Alpine White. Each with a 3.9 litre V8, roll cage, roof rack, side steps, brush bar, rear benches, and air conditioning, every option, already chosen. The first Defender that felt like an object of desire.

This particular car was one of the few that escaped the U.S. It was imported new to Germany in 1993, lived its life entirely on European roads, and later passed into the hands of a collector who began restoring it with an obsession for originality. He gathered new old stock parts for years. We finished what he started, carefully, quietly, respectfully.

We preserved what made it special. The Alpine White body remains untouched, with all its purity and presence. Mechanically, every system, drivetrain, suspension, cooling, ignition, brakes —was rebuilt to perfection. Invisible upgrades only where reliability demanded them. It feels factory-tight, but better.

Inside, we allowed ourselves one liberty — a CNV light touch. Blue leather and blue Alcantara, executed with the same precision as our bespoke builds, but designed as an ode to the plush interiors of American icons. Park Avenue Electra-grade plush, recast for a Defender. A nod to the soft, dignified luxury of late-’80s Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac. Because while this Land Rover was born a tool, there’s no rule that says utility can’t also feel exquisite.

Everything else remains true. Every bolt, bracket, and seal restored or replaced with NOS hardware. Every system tested, every trace of compromise erased. The result isn’t a reinvention — it’s a continuation. A moment in Land Rover history, finished exactly as it should have been.

Fewer than 534 of these survive. And among them, this may be the only one delivered new into Europe — a NAS 110 that never saw American soil.

For me, it’s more than a car. It’s the realization of a boyhood dream, the poster made real. It’s proof that some obsessions age well — that patience, respect, and affection still have a place in how we build.

This Defender carries all of that. The history. The restraint. The affection of those who touched it.

And when you drive it, I hope you feel what I felt the first time I saw that ad —

that rare combination of strength and serenity,

of machine and meaning,

of time, unhurried.

— Ricardo Pessoa

Lisbon, 2025