We put the call out on Field Day last month for guest bloggers and, wow, what a response.
Kate Foley, a 22-year-old living on the family farm in Northumberland, had read about Land Rover's plans to release a new version of the Defender in 2015 and wanted to write in praise of the original Defender. Here's what she's got to say:
We're watching the television, watching some outdoorsy bloke drive across some rough fell ground.
"What's that he's driving? What's that?" says my Dad. "Can't be a Defender." A pause, and then "It's not like ours."
But it is a Land Rover Defender; unusual-looking enough to fool a man who has owned one or another of them for 30 years, but perhaps not as unusual as we first thought.
For many people, a Defender is a blank canvas. For some it remains that way through the years, but there are those who view it's solid simplicity as an opportunity.
Few are the days when you do not see a Defender or two on the roads, and no two are ever the same. Lights, canopies, mud guards, wheels, tires, doors, interiors - all are open to updates.
But no updates are actually necessary, and this has undoubtedly helped to make it one of Land Rover's most enduring and recognisable vehicles, and to sell more than two million of them since its release in 1948.
I am sure there are many more noble callings for a Defender than being an all-purpose taxi, battering ram, agricultural pick-up and tup-transporter, as ours is.
They have been used all over the world by people in all walks of life, from exploration to aid missions, and not for nothing: the Defender is viewed as a real off-roader, a hard-wearing and long-lasting vehicle, well able to stand up to some abuse in harsh conditions.
In my experience, the interior trim will last approximately 18 months before bits of it start to come off in your hand, but that couldn't matter less. The thing will run and run. It'll get you out of a tight spot, up a mountain and through drifts of snow without complaint (although by the time you've done all that the heater may be broken, so take some gloves).
All of this makes Land Rover's recent announcement that it will release an all-new version of the Defender in 2015 even more perplexing.
Please don't misunderstand. I am no opponent to change. I may stick post-it notes to my phone rather than learning how to use the reminder function, but in general I am all for moving forward. I hope this new Defender will be everything the old one is, and much more, but I am certainly apprehensive.
Looking at the concept art, the DC100 quite strongly resembles a Range Rover. I have nothing against the Range Rover (each to their own) and I am sure there is a place in the world for something like it. It's just that that place has already been filled... by the Range Rover. Does the world really need another?
Time was it was a Defender or bust, but there is now a huge selection of other more polished and comfortable options, and it may be that the there's just not enough demand for a vehicle so baldy utilitarian. But I hope that there is still a place for the Defender, or something very similar.
It would be difficult to argue that a Defender is cheap. A basic model will set you back more than twenty grand and doesn't even come with electric windows as standard.
The new version will be based on the 'DC100' concept and promises, among other things, 'sonar technology', 'driver-activated tyre spikes' and 'hi-tech materials taken from aerospace industries'. Aerospace? Really? Can this new hi-tech Defender withstand being driven into a stone wall to stop a bullock? Because ours can, and has done on more than one occasion.
Over to you, Land Rover.
* Got opinions on the Defender - either the new one or the old one? Share them - and see what other are saying - on our website forums.
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