2015 Land Rover Defender 90 County 2.2-Litre #002 GYRO Edition by Wallis Defenders

Wallis & Son have had a long-term love affair with the Land Rover Brand, particularly the Defender. Having bespoke-built a couple of one-off Land Rovers some 15 or so years ago, it slowly turned into a passion and during the 2020 COVID pandemic, Wallis & Son 'pressed the reset button' on a couple of its departments creating Wallis Defenders Sales Department and indeed Built by Wallis Defenders Workshop - successfully building and selling high-quality Defenders under the Wallis name.

The evolution continued into their new prestige, full custom-build division, GYRO, where only the highest level of build is accepted. The brand name GYRO is inspired by Wing Commander Ken Wallis DSO MBE, the decorated engineer/aviator whose creation ‘Little Nellie’ was the famous Autogyro flown in the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice. The Wallis’ family pedigree in engineering has much influenced the high quality, integrity and finish to the Defenders it now produces. GYRO Defenders are lovingly hand-built at their Cambridge workshop and all build projects strive to use British-made and supplied parts throughout the conversion process. Hand-picked Defenders from the Wallis stock are transformed into bespoke one-off machines (with all-known Defender weak spots being covered-off) to bring the vehicle, as much as possible, back to being a new (and improved) machine. Only premium parts are used in these builds and each example is always signed off by Mr Wallis himself when finished.

The vehicle presented here is a 2015 Land Rover Defender 90 County 2.2-litre #002 GYRO Edition by Wallis Defenders. It started life as a low-owner, low-mileage Defender 90 County, before entering the Built by Wallis Defenders Workshop. Here it received a ‘no-expense-spared’ conversion (photos available) with a huge, high-end specification including LOF brake components and clutch kit, an On-Airs fully adjustable air suspension system, a Demand custom exhaust, Optimills billet hinge kits, new 18" wheels (with BF Goodrich tyres), a panoramic roof, panoramic side, rear quarter and rear glass, full sound insulation, a Stage 3 premium audio (including a Pioneer Double Din Apple CarPlay unit with DAB Radio) installation and a reversing camera (full details available on request).

Also benefiting from comprehensive servicing (including differential and C-service), plus the replacement of consumables, this Defender drives as well as it presents.

With 2015 being the Classic Defender's final year of production, the last of the line models (the most evolved) are now quite rightly in demand, with the modern JLR incarnation somewhat lacking the ‘character’ that owners often mention. What an opportunity this is, then, to acquire a ‘real’ Land Rover Defender, the likes of which we may never see again, with both a plethora of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades, a full recommissioning, mileage, condition and a backstory that would be difficult to replicate.