Land Rover Creates One-Off to Celebrate 2 Millionth Defender

Although we’re not hot on the rules of cricket, that most English of games, we’re pretty sure that 2000000 Not Out would be considered a good score. And now Land Rover is celebrating that benchmark for the Defender with a special edition model that is set to be auctioned for charity.

Of course, the U.S. has been denied the Defender for the better part of 20 years, but in the rest of the world it is still on sale as its replacement is readied for a debut next year. There haven’t been 2 million Defenders—that name was only applied after the switch to coil springs in 1983—earlier leaf-sprung “Series” Landies comprised a substantial percentage of that total as well. But it’s still an impressive number, even if it has taken 68 years to reach it.

The 2000000th Defender was built in May, with the participation of various well-known Land Rover fans including kid-friendly adventurer Bear Grylls. Mechanically, it uses the same Ford-sourced four-cylinder engine as every other recent Defender, but gets unique details including a map of Red Wharf Bay in Wales—where the design for the original Landie was first sketched in the sand—engraved on its aluminum fender. The motif is repeated on the leather seats, and there’s also an aluminum plaque that has been signed by everybody who worked on the car.