about us

We are Canadians who moved to Europe in 2010, and soon after bought our first Land Rover Defender. We founded ImportLandRoverDefender.ca to assist Canadians get their own Defender and started getting more and more requests to restore and build bespoke Defenders. In 2019 we made the decision to focus only on building custom Defenders, leaving the Defender Import business in the capable hands of Brad Anderson. Thus Original Defenders was born, the same year that it was announced that new Defender would be sold in Canada. As nice as it might be, it won’t beat the Original! And we make them even better!

  • We scour the European markets to find Defenders in good mechanical and structural condition.
  • We extensively evaluate the mechanical, body and interior to find good basis for your build.
  • We draw up a spec sheet for your build based on your preferences and our experience with the Defender parts market in order to plan a bespoke Defender just for you.
  • We then manage the build, keeping you informed via regular picture and video streaming inspections.
  • Upon build completion and final sign off via video conference inspection, we export, ship, and import and registration process into Canada on your behalf.
  • We Safety and are on hand to assist with registering your Defender, preparing all the needed documents and assisting with insurance, if needed.

Our small, but dedicated team includes:

  • Project Manager/Sales/Marketing/Purchasing/Finishing: Chris founded ImportLandRoverDefender.ca after successfully importing his own Defender into Canada. After importing many Defenders and learning how to build Defenders and setting up a supplier network, he branched out to building bespoke Defenders. With a background in marketing, a passion for mechanical things, an accute attention to detail, strong problem solving abilities and a dash of creativity, restoring and customizing Defenders epitomizes his dream job.
  • Logistic and accounting: Lisa cut her teeth in logistics organizing international freight and later accounting for a large Canadian printing company.  She now spends her time figuring out which European countries she’d like to drive through in a Defender on our way to Port and what we spent all our money on. Her risk adversness helps ensure that all our contingency plans are in place to deliver your Defender on time and in perfect condition.
  • Canada Support: A former mechanic and DriveClean technician, Brad’s day job is teaching at Centennial College in Toronto. In his spare time, he is an avid off-roader tuner and driver. Having recently being bitten by the Defender bug, he assists us with importing our Defenders into Canada, driving from port to client, and assisting with safety and document registration while working on his own Defenders.

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OriginalDefender.com is an independent website and service and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Jaguar Land Rover Ltd., Jaguar Land Rover Canada ULC or Tata Motors. We are not an authorized Land Rover dealer or affiliated in any way with Land Rover. We are an Independent Automotive Restorer & Importation Service Provider.