(By Tom Lohnes) – The Land Rover Defender has a long history. Starting in the early 1950’s, the Defender was essentially an overseas knockoff of the Willys Jeep that carried millions of allied soldiers throughout World War II. Moving through history, it remained extremely popular in the UK, but never really caught on in the states because of the elevated price and questionable reliability on the volume V8 models. Regardless of that, there was always a convertible version somewhere in the lineup until 2018. For the 2020 model year, Land Rover brought back the Defender, but it was drastically different from what it was before. It was based on a Unibody platform, utilized electrification, and did not have a convertible model. Well, the drop top is back, just not from the factory itself.

Coming from Heritage Customs, five Defender convertibles will be made for the 2022 model year. Based on the two-door Defender 90, the convertible version is quite simply a Defender with the roof replaced by a simple, manual canvas top. Sure, there is some extra chassis bracing, but surprisingly not much was needed because of how stiff the standard Defender’s chassis is. You can order the convertible with three engines: A 2.0-liter turbocharged Inline-4 making 296 horsepower, a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 making 396 horsepower, and if you want something really cool, a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 producing 516 horsepower, which would make quite a fun noise with the top down. Inside, the Defender gets a more durable interior, with cool metal trims and high-quality vinyl seats that are meant to feel like real leather. And, even though it has a compact 90-inch wheelbase and only two doors, the Defender has four fully usable seats. Nice.

Of course, these few-off conversions are expensive. With only 5 being produced for each model year, the Defender convertible starts at $91,784 without the Defender included. So obviously, it takes some dough to have a drop top Defender. But, the thought of a supercharged V8-powered Defender with no roof is ridiculously cool. Would you pay for the roof to be chopped off on your Defender if you had the money?