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View Full Version : New Defender 110 in a Crate / Kit Car / Why Not?



DefenderDreams
09-01-2007, 05:55 PM
Okay, very dumb question but why can't you bring in a new Defender 110 in the crate version that they send all over the world to third world countries and build it yourself and register it as a kit car? I know that kit cars do not need to have airbags and just need to pass a state inspection in terms of lights, brakes and emissions? Registering it as a kit removes Land Rover from liability, you can still resell it and you have a brand new ‘07 Defender 110 with the new inline diesel that from all test results posted, rocks! So obviously there is some reason you can’t do this or are we all missing a great way to build our own 110 since this is what everyone does to a Land Rover in the end anyways?

Leslie
09-01-2007, 06:38 PM
I take it you recall the 2003 SEMA 110 CKD?

Anyway, the fact of the matter is, a CKD is not a kit-car. The end-purchaser is not the assembler. CKDs are shipped to a regional assembly point, where they are put together, then sold. A kit-car is designed and built by a company to create a vehicle that usually utilizes components from recent production vehicles, but has either a unique appearance or replicates an older, rare automobile. Since Defenders are actual production vehicles, they can't legitimately be considered a kit car, even if you ordered all of the parts individually and assembled it yourself. With kit-cars, they are usually designed to be somewhat simple to assemble, whereas the Defender isn't designed as such (although a Defender would be simpler to assemble than most other new automobiles).

I've read rumors that the purpose of the 2003 SEMA show 110-CKD was to test the waters about having them be available for purchase as an "advanced kit" as you were originally indicating, but that as it isn't a true kit car, they couldn't get around a lot of the liability issues, and dropped the idea instead of pursuing it further. (Combined with Ford's engine supply issues, it became a non-starter.)

Don't mean to dampen hopes and dreams, but, for now, your best bet is to either locate a '93 NAS 110, have a place like ECR build you what you want, or, get a '83 110 brought over next year and upgrade it.

FWIW...