This is my 300tdi Defender 130 I bought it from GS Drake in Wakefield in October 2004 after the unceremonious demise of my old defender 90. When I picked it up it had the large quadtech box body on the back and had been owned by United Utilities just the journey back down the M1 proved how nasty it was to drive with such a big clumsy body on the back. So much so on the way home I popped into my friends he had a 110 hi-capacity tub in his yard that was surplus to his requirements a deal was done and I set off home.

Once home I had a cuppa while getting the spanners out and set to removing that box body and by 11pm on my first day of ownership it was stripped to a chassis cab. The following day I returned to my friend and we bolted on the hi-cap tub, from here on progress became more slow and steady over the following months my friend who is an agricultural engineer made the toolbox to fit between the tub and cab. The super winch husky was removed in favour of a hydraulic mile marker winch, this needed to be run by something so we fitted a Maxi-drive PTO off the back of the transfer box and piped the winch up, we also ran an auxiliary circuit to the rear to power my log splitter.

While all this was being done the array of lights were also being fitted as and when funds allow, the amber warning lights were fitted at the time as the vehicle and I were carrying out a lot of work at the side of roads while I was working for a councils rights of way department, although this is no longer what I do for a living the vehicle has been used for tree surgery work as well as the club's commitments to Cancer Research UK and also escorting cadet parades for our local squadron of the ATC,

 

As the years passed by in ownership of my 130 I had often thought that a flat bed/drop side body for the back would be so much more useful to its every day work, I took me some time to summon up the courage to tackle the job as I had to not only re-jig all those flipping lights but also half the hydraulic system. In February 2010 I was on ebay and spotted an old body off a Transit that I thought could cut down and fit to the 130 so it was a trip north up the M1 to Leeds to pick it up and then the mass project began. It was a tough job removing the old hi-cap body but I soon had the truck back to a chassis cab for the second time in my ownership!

 

A good going over with the steam cleaner revealed a rear cross member replacement would not be a bad idea so we did that before I built the new rear body. The flat bed has proved incredibly useful and no sooner than two weeks after its completion it was used to transport a Sankey trailer back from Gaydon while I towed my own behind the 130!

 

 

 I use the 130 to shift all manner of things and tow anything I get asked to move over the years this has been tractors, lathes, mini diggers, dumpers, camping equipment, even the display trailer of the local branch of the Royal British legion.

 

So what does the future hold for the 130 and myself well who knows really? But I would like to refine the cab and add some sound proofing and tidy a few bits up and possibly add a few more lights?!