The Last Defender
Friday 29th January 2016
JLR invited some 700 current and former employees and others associated with the history of the Series vehicles and the Defender to what was a rousing celebration of its 67 year life, although for some there was a palpable sense of sadness in the air. Hosted by Vicki Butler-Henderson and Quentin Willson, the guests were treated to a glorious parade of eleven vehicles, headed by ‘Huey’ and ending with the last-off-line, each driven by current or former employees. In the middle was our very own 1967 Series 11A 88” Buick V8 test-bed, BXC 975G.
We were delighted that the focus was on the people, past and present, who designed, engineered and built these vehicles, and as JLR’s CEO Dr Ralf Speth said, "Today we celebrate what generations of men and women have done since the outline for the Land Rover was originally drawn in the sand. The Series Land Rover, now Defender, is the origin of our legendary capability, a vehicle that makes the world a better place, often in some of the most extreme circumstances. There will always be a special place in our hearts for Defender, among all our employees, but this is not the end. We have a glorious past to champion, and a wonderful future to look forward to."
For many Defender owners the vehicle becomes part of the family and, as Dr Speth pointed out, that same family bond exists on the Solihull production lines. He singled out Tim Bickerton, aged 55, who has 40 years' service with Land Rover having started as an apprentice, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Charlie and father Peter, who clocked up 35 and 30 years respectively working on the same line, both progressing to foreman. Tim was followed by his daughter Jade, aged 25 who worked on logistics and materials for the Defender, before recently moving to another area within JLR. Then last year his 23 year old son Scott became the fifth member of the family to work on the Defender.
David Smith, aged 56, is another 37 year veteran of the current Defender production line who will be moving across to the Jaguar XE production area. A former butcher he joined Land Rover as a 20 year old because it doubled his wages to £80 a week and gave him a job with long term prospects. "The Defender is a special vehicle and very much hand built. You need to get a feel for it; we call it 'the knack' and it takes months to learn the knack. It's about doing the job at speed, it's an intense combination of skills. Working on the Defender is like being part of a big family," he said.
The eleven Land Rovers were then joined by a number of other vehicles from across that huge 67 year production cycle, among them our Forward Control Ambulance, the Lightweight, the MOY Elevator, the Forest Rover and the 1998 'Shiney Ninety', and the whole convoy then drove around the factory site before ending at the Land Rover Experience Centre. The level of interest from JLR’s employees was gratifying to see although, as one journalist said to me, he doubted much work was being done today!
We were honoured to be part of this tremendous event and delighted that JLR wanted to include some of our vehicles in the tribute to The Last Defender, or as JLR called it, ‘The Last of the Current Defender’. I guess we will all be watching with interest to see the first hints of its replacement.
And the highlight for me? As the last-off-line sat in front of the assembled guests and the fireworks sparkled and popped, one particularly loud bang caused an anonymous employee standing behind me to whisper, “That’ll be the gearbox, then!” For those of us within earshot, it brought the house down!
