Bringing Classic Defenders Back to Life
– Salisbury, England + Minnesota, USA –
About Bishop+Rook
We are team of Land Rover enthusiasts divided by geography, but united by our love and passion for giving new life to these unique and timeless classics.
Free Consultation
If you’re considering adopting or building a vintage Land Rover, we would love to spend a little time with you answering questions and helping you go down the right path. There’s no obligation, just a friendly phone call with folks that want to help.
Education + Resources
There’s a lot of information we wish we knew when we got our first Defender. We dedicate a lot of time to helping others like you work through the process.
Who We Are
The Bishop+Rook Team
We are group of Defender enthusiasts that have dedicated our careers to preserving and building vintage Land Rover Defenders. We have three fully operational workshops located in Minneapolis/Renville, Minnesota and Salisbury, England where we source, refresh, restore, and build some of the most timeless vehicles on the planet.
What We Believe
A Defender for Everyone
We believe in providing high-quality, reasonably-priced, Land Rover Defenders that can go anywhere and do everything. Whether you’re looking for a unique low-mileage Defender survivor or a complete nut-and-bolt bespoke restoration, we want to be the team that provides you with your dream vehicle.
Why It Matters
Sharing Our Experience
We believe not only in transparency in pricing, but also the restoration and build process. We provide a unique” behind the scenes” look into the methods, time, and process it takes to build a truly remarkable Defender – showing both the good and the bad. We’re also eager to share helpful advice and tips for those just beginning the research process.
Who Builds Your Defender Should Matter
There are a lot of dressed up budget Defenders on the market for those looking to get a good deal and also a lot of dressed up Defenders that are simply overpriced. Our Midwest values and English sensibilities refuse to let us put anything on the market we’re not 100% proud to say we built it ourselves at a price we feel is fair.
Our Dedication to Our Craft
You have a lot of choices when it comes to buying or building a custom Land Rover Defender. Several custom and bespoke Defender builders are simply middle men brokers, passing off the completed projects as their own work, even when the vehicle was completely built by someone else, somewhere else. We think this is wrong.
We build our own Defenders (and just Defenders) – from start to finish. We work in messy workshops with real tools, not in tweed jackets on polished concrete. We’re here to build honest daily driving Defenders that will last forever.
Building a Custom Land Rover Defender
We are a custom Land Rover Defender builder. We supply full-service sourcing and restoration services for those looking to acquire a vintage Land Rover Defender. We offer everything from driving restorations to complete nut-and-bolt builds.
The process is fairly straightforward. We start with a simple conversation about what you’re ultimately looking for – Defender 90, 110, 130, or something else. From there we discuss options for right-hand drive or left-hand drive, hard-top or soft-top, engine package, and finishing touches.
We’re always eager to share our knowledge and help folks get the Defender they’ve always dreamed. of.
Built Not Bought: Getting The Ultimate Land Rover Defender
We don’t sell used Defenders. We build Defenders. Explaining the difference between building a custom Defender and buying one that’s already complete is a struggle for us sometimes.
Let Us Guide You Through The Process
You have a lot of choices when it comes to acquiring and owning a vintage Land Rover Defender. Who you trust to source, build, or refresh your Defender matters. We, of course, hope you chose Bishop+Rook.
+01 612.424.1642 (Mobile/Text) / +01 612.424.1642 (WhatsApp) / +44 7868 791544 – Salisbury, UK
Overview
We’ve never really liked the idea of “Buying a Defender,” which is why we refer to it as an adoption process. Becoming a caretaker of one of these unique vehicles means accepting responsibility for their maintenance, use, and general well being. We feel there is a general duty to preserve the history and story of each of the vehicles we build. When you adopt a Defender from Bishop+Rook you become part of a larger community of aficionados and adventurers.
Don’t settle for a Defender that lacks a personality and history.
The Bishop+Rook Offering
Bishop+Rook started out of a passion for giving new life to vintage Land Rovers. Today, we build unique and custom Defenders for those who appreciate having a relationship with their vehicle and want to invest in the accompanying lifestyle.
Timeless Defender Builds
The core of our business is designing and building custom Land Rover Defenders. We source donor vehicles from around the world – United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and other far reaches along the dusty trails of the wild. These vehicles become the base for everything from a sympathetic driving preservation to complete nut-and-bolt restoration.
Sourcing + Importing
Not all of our projects are complete builds. When we find a unique Defender that has a good story, character, and patina, we set them aside for someone to welcome into their life of adventure. Not all Defenders require full restoration – sometimes the best thing to do is leave them as they are – giving them some mechanical maintenance and love to ensure another life of adventure ahead.
Service + Maintenance
When you adopt a Bishop+Rook Defender you become part of a family of aficionados who aim to keep these classic vehicles on the road as long as possible. We will always be around – locally or remotely – to service and maintain your Defender – no matter where your adventure may take you in the world.
Even the deer are coming out of the wilderness to check out the Defender.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
The complete package. Not overdone. Not over built.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
From the archives: This impromptu photos session was taken one day when we drove Sopris from our Minneapolis workshop to our Renville workshop (about 100 miles away) to deliver parts.
About 45 miles down the road, we started smelling overheating and burning.
She wasn`t driving as smoothly as she had the first part of the trip. We pulled over to investigate, but there were no apparent signs - just a feeling of something wrong.
We should note that this is our workshop truck, and we only sometimes look after them as we should. Seems like she had a transfer case leak, and nobody noticed, as we had only ever taken her on short trips for parts, lunch, or a random trip around the nearby lake for some fresh air.
On this day, the extra heat from the long trip caused the dry transfer case to fight with one of the bearings.
A testament to their durability, we were able to limp her back to the workshop via backroads (stopping every so often to let it cool down and take photos).
We made it all the way back to the workshop before the transfer case finally gave out. When we opened it up, a pile of shiny bearing parts fell onto the ground.
Two lessons here:
1. Perform essential maintenance on your Defenders
2. Even when broken, they won`t leave you stranded
#defender #landrover #landroverdefender #defender90 #defenderrestoration #defenderlife #defenderlifestyle
Michael brought Fergus by to visit today. It’s fun when we get to see all the evolving changes and customizations come together over time - even after they leave the workshop. We still have a few more surprises to come on this one.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
Our Defender sourcing approach introduces us to a variety of amazing people where we get to share in the history of their adventures with the Land Rover.
We prefer to source directly from the owners rather than through brokers, dealers, or other trade professionals. Not only does it eliminate unnecessary markup and incentives to hide things on the Defender, but it also gives us the chance to meet the people who took care of these vehicles before entrusting us with the preservation of its legacy.
Here are a few photos from our recent Land Rover Defender 110 2.8i (Petrol) we took in for preservation.
If you’re not familiar with this engine package in a Landy, you might be surprised. When BMW owned the company they discovered that their online 6-cylinder petrol engine fit nicely inside the engine bay. The result was a very smooth running, fuel efficient Defender am that performed just as well on the highways as it did in the bush.
She’s undergoing a much-needed refurbishment, but is currently available for sale/adoption for someone looking for a great Defender.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
Working out the kinks in an automatic conversion. It’s never easy. That’s the thing about hand building cars - sometimes things go perfectly. Most times they don’t. But we stick with it to make sure it’s properly done.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
The team has been putting in a lot of extra hours and days to get these builds out the door to enjoy the summer weather. Project Bertha took her first extended test drive from our Renville workshop to the finishing and QA center in Minneapolis. 120 miles so far. Minor tweaks and a few more to go before we put the final interior in and release her into the wild.
Special thanks to the team for working through the weekend.
#defender #landroverdefender #landrover #defender90 #defender110 #defender130 #bishoprook #lifeofadventure #4x4 #defenderrestoration #overland #boxycar #landroverseries #classiccar
We don`t often get around to posting some of our interiors - because we don`t often get a chance to photograph them. Once we get the projects finished up, we try to get them to the customers as fast as possible.
Interior trimming is an art form and there are few folks that can do it right. We happen to work with some incredibly talented people that can create just the right balance of heritage style, with a bit of personal touch.
Too much leather seems over-the-top for us in a Defender. But just the right amount, in the right places, and oh-la-la, does it look nice.
Combine that trimming with a custom automatic conversion, electric windows, air conditioning, and a touch screen stereo with front and rear cameras, and you have something that rivals some of the best cars off the production line.
We hand-build cars. It takes a lot of time, but it`s worth the wait.
#defender #defender110 #landrover #landroverdefender #onelifeliveit #defender90
