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Meet the incredible Icon Defender

Published: 28 Apr 2014

Icon, the LA-based resto-tuner, has an uncanny knack for expanding our dream garage. Look at the Bronco, and the Derelicts, have a little lie down, and then look at this - the Icon Land Rover Defender.

Built on commission for what we can safely assume is a well-heeled client (the Bronco starts at a huge £114,000), it follows the brand's gently hallucinatory aesthetic - original, but a bit different.

The headlights have been replaced with smaller LED lamps, the infamously wobbly panels pulled smooth and painted in Bentley black, the agricultural hinges replaced with crisp CNC parts, and the bumpers chucked away and replaced with tightly tailored bespoke bits.

The original Rover V8 didn't stand a chance. Icon's D90 (D for Defender, 90 for wheelbase length in inches) has The General's 430bhp 6.2-litre E-Rod LS3 V8, running through a four-speed automatic gearbox, Atlas II transfer case, and custom Dynatrack axles. Slowing it down are some face-modifying six-piston front discs and four-piston rears, which bear onto huge 355x32mm front and 328x28mm rear rotors.

There's more bespokery inside. Icon binned the original plastic dashboard and built its own using hand-formed stainless steel, which hides a modern air conditioning unit controlled by aircraft switchgear. The seats are finished in marine-rated vinyl, and all the passengers get their own three-point seatbelts. And every removable thing has been removed and powdercoated.

Now look at the pics, then tell us what car you'd give Icon to tune for you...

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