Classic Land Rover Ninety, One Ten Defender (90,110)

Land Rover 90, 110 and Defender

What is your favourite Land Rover model?

This is one of many illustrated classic car guides I've created for the community. I hope you enjoy it. If you wish to find out more about the classic Land Rover art featured in this guide please click here.

This guide details the coil-sprung Land Rover, covering the 90, 110 and Defender models produced in 1983.

Ninety Land-Rover (Pick-up with canvass tilt)

The Land-Rover Ninety and One-Ten were phased in over 1983-1984 to replace the long serving Series III models. They represented a huge advance over the Series III because they had coil sprung suspension instead of leaf-springs, which improved the ride, and disc front brakes, which improved their stopping ability. The long-wheelbase One Ten model arrived first, replacing the Series III 109 in 1983. The Ninety arrived just over a year later to replace the Series III 88-inch. Its wheelbase was actually 92.9- inches between axle centres, rather than the 90 inches its name suggested.

Ninety (County Station Wagon)

The short-wheelbase companion to the One Ten was announced in June 1984 as the Ninety, and like the One Ten the model made its mark straight away. By comparison to the 88" Series 3, the coil-sprung Ninety offered a much improved ride together with better carrying capacity. Four different bodies were available: soft-top, hard-top, pickup and seven-seater Station Wagon, with a choice of either a 2.3-litre petrol or 2.5-litre diesel engine. V8 power for the Ninety models was made available from May 1985.

Ninety (British Army Hardtop)

It has been estimated that as many as 40% of all Land Rovers built have entered service with military or parliamentary organisations, a figure that proved a major influence on the choice of the Defender name for the coil-sprung Land Rovers of the Nineties. Short-wheelbase coil-sprung Land Rovers are far less common in military service than long-wheelbase versions, mainly due to their relatively restricted carrying capacity. They are often specified for communications and liaison duties rather than as cargo or personnel carriers.

Defender 110 (County Station Wagon)

In 1990, the Ninety and the One Ten were replaced by the Defender 90 and 110, which were simply evolutionary models wearing new badging. The key change that came with the Defenders was that the old turbo-diesel engine was replaced by a de-tuned version of the 200 Tdi turbo-diesel from the Discovery. The V8 remained available, and until 1994 so did the four-cylinder petrol. From 1995. however, all Defenders for the British market had Tdi engines unless to special order.

Defender 90 (County Station Wagon)

During the first few years of Defender production the vehicles specification changed only in small details. Most notable was the improved LT77S gearbox for the 1992 models and the June 1993 introduction of rear discs, replacing drums that had been used for all previous coil-sprung Land Rovers. At the same time the front discs on One Tens, and Nineties with the High Load Suspension option became ventilated. From March 1994, the 200Tdi engine was replaced by the quieter 300Tdi type, now coming in full 111bhp Discovery tune.

Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you found it interesting!