East Coast Defender, a Florida company that stuffs V8s and lots of leather into old British trucks, has just set a new record for most-square-inches-of-sunroof on a car. I mean, it has to have, right? Look at all that glass!
Between the standard-style sunroof above the driver’s area, the two alpine windows, and then those two huge expanses of clearness over the passenger and cargo area I think it’s safe to say the cab of this thing will be drenched in sunshine all day. Want a convertible but hate wind? Have we got the rig for you!
I couldn’t find the dimensions of the old Defender’s roof in a few seconds of searching, but we know these trucks are about 1.7 metres wide and 4.5 metres long. That would make the “top-view area” about 7.9 square metres… the glass is, what, about half that? So 3.8 square metres of glass, probably?
I really want to ride in the back of this thing through a jungle! If you could convince the driver to be gentle with the gas pedal, it would be excellent for animal observation. Or if you took it out to Africa, threw a big piece of steak up there, and waited for a lion to sit on the roof? That’d rule.
I haven’t seen any of East Coast Defender’s builds up close since I drove an early one a few years ago, but I don’t mind saying the whole “put racing seats, suede, and a Chevy V8 in an old British truck” is not my thing. Just get a new Mercedes G63 if you insist on having an overpowered semi-archaic luxury vehicle and leave the old Land Rovers for those of us who appreciate their inherently unrefined nature.
That said, I do appreciate automotive novelties and the sunroof situation on this truck, which East Coast Defender calls “Project Windswept” (somewhat ironically, since like I said, this is really for people who are pro-sun but anti-wind), is certainly unique.
