Defender 130 Td5

'The Best in Show' at the 60th Anniversary of Land Rover Convert a 130 to the ultimate 4x4 family touring vehicle - a 130 Station Wagon.

Introduction

In September 2003 we had the oportunity to purchase a very well maintained Defender 130 Dual Cap Ute. We bought this second hand Land Rover (still with 12 months factory warranty) from Garthon Land Rover in Hurstville. The 130 was previously owned by the Red Cross Australia.

Station Wagon After a lot of thinking, information seeking and drawing, I started in February 2004 with the Station Wagon conversion. My first major conversion on my own. While dismantling the written off 110 I learnt a lot how Defenders are built. Out of that 110 I could salvage the rear tub which formed the basis for the rear of the station wagen. The first challenge was to find a company who had the big enough machinery to roll and fold the side panels. After about 2 months I was lucky and found Peter Beachamp Sheet Metal in Kirrawee (ph: +61 2 9521 1031). Peter does excellent work and is always happy to help. Based on the experience from the 110 that the rear cappings always rost I had them made out of stainless steel. Without too much difficulty I did find a 110 roof. It took me however about three months to find a 2nd hand late model rear door. I always wanted to have a 'Golden Yellow' Land Rover - hence there was no question about that when I brought it to the paint shop - Caldwell Auto Body Repairs (ph: +61 2 9773 6566). Frank Caldwell had a lot of trouble to find the paint code, it turned out to be a Ford colour and only South African built Defenders have been painted in this colour. After 18 months, in May 2006 I finished the Station Wagon Conversion.
Interior Aim: Comfortably sleeping four (two adults / two kids), enough storage space to secure our gear and light weight construction. Also I wanted to be able to convert the rear of the car within 1 hour to fit additional seating to carry 9 people in total. I built two fold up beds in the back and the kids sleep on the 'first level' just under the pop top. All storage cabinets (aluminum frame with thin MDF panels) are in the rear and in the lower half of the vehicle. The water tank (bladder type) is under the rear bench and the water outlet fitted in the rear door, which also holds a fold away table. The Coleman stove (still the one we used during our big trip) can be fitted onto the left rear bumper.
Pop Top It took me over two years to find the courage to start this project. Those who knew told me not to do the conversion as the roof would not be strong enough with its 3.5 metres. Of nature I am kind of stubborn and mostly take 'no' as a challenge to find a solution… I built two aluminium frames, one to strengthen the body and the other one to reinforce the roof. The tent is made out of canvas and is fitted to the frames with velcro. Two struds help lifting the roof, hold it open and stabilise it. Our two boys now sleep 'upstairs' and we have full standing hight in the rear of the vehicle. We still sleep on the fold up beds in the rear. The Pop Top conversion took about eight months. I finished just in time for the 60th Anniversary of Land Rover in Cooma. However, without the help of my friends Matthias (also a Landy fanatic) and Simon, I would not have been able to finish it on time.