There's a lot of discussion on the PH forums and in the comments about cars that are up for sale with very low mileage. General consensus is: "why buy a beautiful car only for it to sit in the garage!?" And a few more similes about bedroom activity that we won't broadcast.
Typically that means a couple of hundred miles and the lightest of cheek-marks in the leather seats. But this Land Rover Defender Works Special 70th Edition has just 65 miles. That's less than some of our commutes to PH HQ. In fact, aside from what ever distance it accrued before its top-to-bottom transformation, the car has never been officially driven, and has been dry stored since a covered-trailer delivery in December 2019.
It was ordered in the non-standard and entirely lovely shade of Keswick Green, for £3,000, and JLR Classic has confirmed it's the only one in that paint colour ever built. Inside is Black Windsor hide covering the dash, door and headlining, and Recaro sports seats with Black Taurus leather. It even has a personalised 'V8 HBR' numberplate, included in the sale.
Certainly its box-fresh condition does make you wonder about the point of purchasing it in the first place. Sure, investing in goods for the future retirement fund is nice, but we agree with most of you out there in PH land - what's the point in desperately snapping up just one of 150 models for it to be completely unused? It was originally on sale 'from' £150,000, so with the optional extras and a sale price of £174,990, it's not even bringing home the bucks as much as one might hope.
Ultimately though, ours is not to reason why - if you want one, this is surely going to be the most perfect example you can find. Under the bonnet is the 5.0-litre V8 in unsupercharged format, meaning 406hp, 380lb ft of torque and a 0-60mph of 5.6 seconds. So if you're going to put miles on it, you'll do it very quickly.
Of course the reasoning behind the special edition was to pay homage to the earlier engines in the Series III Stage I V8 from 1979 and subsequent models, including the 50th Anniversary edition that came before. But with the eight-speed ZF auto box and vastly more power, the Works Edition car was intentionally a breed apart. The original buyer even forked out the additional £5k needed to add the Dynamic Stability Control system - not something you'd ever concern yourself with on any other variant of Defender.
So don't be mad at Owner Number 1, but be pleased that as Owner Number 2, you've got a (sort of) brand-new car under your feet - just promise us you'll resell it with a few more miles on it...
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