This Spectre-style modified Land Rover Defender looks like the apocalypse – and with its massive Kenwood audio setup, it sounds like it too.
It’s a tough life, being a movie bad guy. Sure, if you’re the big boss you get to orchestrate some cool explosions and generally gambol about the metropolis with carefree abandon, spreading chaos and destruction in your malevolent wake. But what about the poor henchmen? Nobody gives a second thought to their respective back stories, they’re just muscle en masse when required, little more than meat in the room. Behind the scenes it’s a little bit boring for them, having to hang around all day in a souped-up armored car, waiting for the heroic protagonist of the tale to make an appearance, all guns blazing. And then what? The henchmen make chase, get shot at, and more often than not end up in a massive fiery crash. Not much of a career, is it?
With this in mind, the caring sharing types at Kenwood have sought to ease this monotony and potential peril, to soothe the fevered brows of the lower-echelon baddies, by creating a vehicle for them that isn’t just eminently capable of chasing spies and assorted foes, but is also quite entertaining for their extensive downtime. An audio baddie car, so that they can crank up the Powerslave or Death Magnetic while awaiting their time to shine. And here it is before you: the Kenwood Defender with a Spectre twist.
Modified Land Rover Defender styling
If you’re familiar with the movie Spectre, you’ll know what this vibe is all about. If not, in a nutshell it’s a Bond movie in which the baddies skid about on snowy mountains in murdered-out Land Rover Defenders while 007 harasses them with an airplane. The deus ex machina here is that instead of suffering a heinous fate such as careering into a log cabin and exploding, Kenwood’s tribute has rather more of a party outlook. It just wants to hang out, and make the people dance.
The base of the project is a 2014 Defender 110 XS. The long-wheelbase model with the pickup bed, providing ample extra space in which to fit a plethora of speakers, a smorgasbord of sound. The crème de la crème of Kenwood’s contemporary range has been cherry-picked to create the optimal soundscape, all painstakingly crafted into a bespoke setup by BCSS London. But before we get into the specific ins-and-outs of that, let’s take a look at the imposing form it’s all wrapped up inside…
As you can see, this modified Land Rover makes for quite a menacing aesthetic impact. The black-on-black scheme is not so much for stealth as pure unfettered scariness, and its visual drama is amped up exponentially by the addition of broad Spectre-spec arches, a Safety Devices exoskeleton, and a whole world of auxiliary lamps, ropes and winches. It looks positively post-apocalyptic, and those knobbly 36” tires would surely cope admirably with the charred remains of a nuclear wasteland. Just as they would chasing James Bond up a slippery mountain. And if the latter were the case, they could really spook him by blasting out The Ride of the Valkyries from the waterproof marine-grade speakers in that Raptor-coated bed.
Why did Kenwood build the modified Land Rover Defender
The kernel of this project was to create a showcase for Kenwood’s wireless 10.1” screen, and it all grew from there – and grew like crazy. As the beating heart of this impressive system, the DNR992RVS is a wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto multimedia unit with Garmin navigation. Ostensibly designed for motorhomes and campervans, but as you can see it’s just at home in a setup like this. Fitment is standard double-DIN radio size with the screen being a ‘floating’ panel design, which can be set at different heights and the viewing angle adjusted by tilting the screen. Its audio capabilities are mighty, and its got a whole bunch of inputs too. In this instance, it’s running a CMOS740HD high-definition rear view camera along with a DRVN520 integrated dash camera. And, of course, there’s all the speakers.
Audio prowess
This audio arrangement is something of a chameleon, having been designed and engineered to do two distinct things and do each one equally well: its switchable nature means that it can offer extraordinarily detailed sound quality, or simply be earth-shakingly loud. To aid with the latter, there’s a KFCWP1200F 12” carbon subwoofer in a custom sealed enclosure behind the rear seat, plus the clever KSC-PSW7EQ 8” underseat active subwoofer positioned within the center console.
To ensure there’s plenty of beef to keep everything amply powered, the Land Rover is packing an X501-1 Class D mono amp for the 12” sub as well as two X302-4 4-channel Hi-Res audio amplifiers for the door and dash speakers – and it’s here where we find the real fidelity of the system. In the stock speaker positions are mounted oversize 13cm KFCX134 components, joined by a custom-blended KFCXS1704 3-way speaker system in the doors and dash. And yes, there’s the waterproof KFC-1653MRB speakers in the back, to ensure the drama is equally evident outside as inside.
Tying all of this together is a full suite of Stinger hardware, comprising comprehensive sound deadening, speaker cables and power distribution, plus the Enlight10 Performance Lighting.
With all of this quality, proven expertise and aspirational technology, we can see that – finally – it’s not such a bad life being a bad guy after all. Heck, with this sort of Kenwood setup, the good guys might start making enquiries too…
Modified Land Rover Defender Tech Specs:
Engine:
2.2 TDCi Puma; Land Rover snorkel
Transmission:
Stock
Suspension:
Bilstein B6; 2” OME lift
Brakes:
Stock
Wheels:
16” Weller Spectre wheels; 36” Maxxis Trepador tires
Interior:
Recaro SVX CS front seats in Ambla leather; D:Class leather doorcards; Optimill interior trim: pedals; gearknobs; door handles; grabs and surrounds; door pins and surrounds; centre console dress kit and heater controls
Exterior:
Spectre wheelarch kit; 4x Lightforce LED roof lights; Safety Devices rollcage; Safety Devices roof rack; Warn Industries Zeon 10S winch; Urban bumper and black grille pack; Land Rover A-bar; Spectre bonnet tow rope kit; chequer plate kit; Raptor rear deck lining; SVX rear LED lights; rear NAS step with Westafalia NATO hitch; Optimill number plate; mirror arm; door handles and fuel cap; Nolden headlights; Autoshades window tints
Audio:
Kenwood DNR992RVS 10.1” Wireless CarPlay & Android Auto multimedia unit with Garmin navigation; CMOS740HD high-definition rear view camera; DRVN520 integrated dash camera; 4x KFCX134 13cm component speakers in factory locations (oversized); KFCXS1704 high-end 3-way custom speaker system in doors and dash; KFCWP1200F 12” carbon subwoofer in custom sealed enclosure behind rear seat; KSC-PSW7EQ 8” underseat active subwoofer on centre console; 2x X302-4 4-channel Hi-Res audio amplifier for 4x speakers and door/dash setup; X501-1 Class D mono amp for 12” subwoofer with dash control; KFC1653MRB marine waterproof speakers in rear tub; Clifford G850 alarm system; Metatrak tracker; Connects2 Defender double-DIN radio integration kit in Piano Black; Stinger sound deadening; Stinger speaker cable and power distribution; Stinger Enlight10 Performance Lighting; full custom audio system installed by BCSS London
