2005 Land Rover Defender 130 County Spec Crew Cab

Built to special order by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle division during the late autumn of 2005, its first owner was Simon Elliot of Elliot Engineering Ltd, an independent Land Rover specialist based in Washington, Sussex. The second and current owner bought the Defender direct from Simon on 16th August 2016. 

The vehicle has been maintained over and beyond Land Rover’s recommendations, and comes with a full service history from Elliott Engineering with many supporting invoices that record the maintenance that has been carried out. Last serviced on the 21st of November 2018, during which a new rear differential was fitted, it is next due for a service later this year.

Waxoyl’d annually and showing no chassis rust whatsoever, this wonderfully solid Land Rover Defender 130 offers a huge amount of metal for your money. With a chassis that is a full 20” longer than the already commodious Defender 110, it makes ideal family transport for anyone whose idea of weekend and holiday relaxation involves mountain bikes, kayaks, camping or other equipment-heavy pursuits. It’ll carry a payload of 1400kgs and tow a trailer or caravan of up to 3500kgs too, so weight shouldn’t be an issue… 

Finished in Alveston Red, it looks the part; the Defender might have its roots in the working community but a modern one, in a bright colour like this and a decent set of alloy wheels, is smart enough to take you seamlessly from the side of a mountain to a restaurant in Chelsea – and you needn’t even bother washing it en route as nothing looks cooler than a mucky Landy.

Oh, and the current road fund licence is a paltry £265 per annum.

The Alveston Red paintwork – complete with a matt black roof - is in fine fettle; an alloy body precludes rust, of course but electrolytical corrosion can be a worry but isn’t a problem in this case; after all, anyone who goes to the trouble and expense of Waxoyling the chassis every year is going to take good care of the bodywork, aren’t they? So, while a Defender carries a patina better than almost anything, this one hasn’t really started to develop. Yes, there’s the odd mark here and there – most notably a touched-in scratch aft of the nearside rear door – but absolutely nothing to detract from the way it presents.

The black Safari snorkel, rock slider side steps and custom alloy wheels harden its off-road credentials, while a huge Truckman load space cover, complete with a locking glass door, provides an element of security and protection from the weather. 

And, should you not like the Truckman cover, you’ll be delighted to discover that the Land Rover will also be supplied with another two pickup bed covers: the original beige fabric cover, and a new black Exmoor canvas cover and sticks.

The pickup bed itself has received a LINE-X coating in April 2019, which will keep it protected from knocks and scratches for, well, forever really. Load securing rails with adjustable tie points enable you to securely stow almost anything, no matter what the shape.

The wheels are custom-fabricated 18” Freestyle Boost alloy wheels designed to look like the factory ones, only bigger. They are fitted with new BF Goodrich All-Terrain tyres – and the meticulous nature of the fabrication work can best be illustrated that even the wheel studs were custom-made from stainless steel. At a cost of £1,000…

Other accessories include a factory installed, heavy duty, height-adjustable towing bracket assembly with twin electrical socket outlets, black chequer-plate wing caps, LED exterior lights, a snow cover to the wing vent, and clear front indicators.

Front and rear heavy duty Anderson power points offer a useful way to either charge the battery or jump-start some other poor soul via the custom-made jump leads.

Work to do includes sorting a split in the nearside front plastic wheel arch extension and painting a small area on the nearside mirror arm where the matt black paint has flaked off. Obsessives (heh, we’re not judging; we’ve got more than one in the office here…) might want to replace the few rusty screws and bolts that spoil the Defender’s finish, but that’s strictly nice-to-do rather than need-to-do.

It really is rather lovely, and best appreciated in person. It’s here at The Market HQ in Abingdon, and we’d love you to pop along to take a look.

The Defender 130 was, unusually for what is ostensibly a working vehicle, ordered with a full County specification, so the five-seater Techino cloth interior isn’t only in a ridiculously good condition, it’s fully loaded, too. 

The equipment briefly comprises factory air-conditioning and heated seats, electric front windows, central locking, a reversing camera in the rear-view mirror, a Parrot Bluetooth hands-free kit, and a cubby box with two cup holders. Plus alloy gear knobs, for extra style points.

A factory alarm is backed up by a Vodafone tracker, which is transferable to the vehicle’s new owner. It has two sets of keys to all locks and the ignition barrel. 

Again, it really does need to be seen in the flesh to fully understand what staggeringly good condition it is in. 

As you might expect of a vehicle that was owned from new by an enthusiast with his own Land Rover engineering and servicing company, the Defender has been very well maintained and judiciously tweaked. 

The work includes a ‘Stage 2’ tuned TD5 engine which was supplied by JE Engineering of Coventry and fitted to the Defender from new. The tuning work included a new chip, a bigger intercooler and a high-ratio transfer box upgrade, which means it will now cruise at 80mph (where permitted) all day long.

Having been maintained and serviced religiously over the years it is being sold with no known faults. Of course, you’ll need to stump up for a service in the autumn but it otherwise shouldn’t trouble you financially for a good while yet - and that is not something that can be said of the only-tarted-up-for-a-quick-profit Defenders you see for sale. This is the Real Deal, and in need of very little.

The online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever and confirms the car’s low mileage, as you can see from the list below:

With a current odometer reading of around 102,000 miles (which may rise slightly as it is still in daily use), its MOT history is as follows:

19/10/2018 99,453 miles

20/10/2017 94,278 miles

11/08/2016 88,396 miles

11/11/2014 78,459 miles

07/11/2013 72,201 miles

19/11/2012 66,387 miles

22/11/2011 56,756 miles

25/11/2010 49,205 miles

24/11/2009 41,833 miles

25/11/2008 31,577 miles

The current MOT certificate expires on the 19th of October 2019.

The car comes with the above expired MOT certificates plus a thick sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it. The paperwork also includes the original owner’s wallet containing a fully stamped service history book and the owner’s handbook along with the other warranty and information booklets. 

There is also an original Land Rover Defender brochure, some expired road tax discs, and a type-written summary of the vehicle’s life.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been modified and maintained to the very highest standard.

The Land Rover Defender has been a stalwart of the off-road scene for decades; it’s tough, hugely capable, and easily repairable, making it the ideal vehicle for folk for whom a weekend isn’t complete without digging their way out of a muddy hole…

The Defender’s rugged good looks and enviable reputation ensured that its appeal would broaden to include rural dwellers for whom all-weather mobility and a mighty 3.5-tonne towing capacity is important. 

And while many owners probably envisaged it as suitable only for emergency transport for bad weather and heavy duty towing, many of them then went on to appreciate that it is more than capable of providing everyday transport too, especially when it has been as carefully fettled as this one; we’d happily jump in this example for an inter-continental blast, especially if we had a classic or modern racing car we needed to haul along with us.

We expect it to sell for between £16,500 and £20,000, and we defy you to find one as clean, well maintained and beautifully modified as this for that sort of money.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen here at The Market HQ in Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive. 

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.