With Overland Expo East 2024 just a few days behind us, we are still basking in the afterglow of a long weekend spent with new and old friends, world-class education, the latest adventure gear, and hundreds of awe-inspiring rigs.
We spent a good part of our time at Overland Expo East this year scouring the vendor, camping, and parking areas for standout overland rigs of all shapes and sizes. From the recently released INEOS Grenadier to a couple of truly classic builds, here are the rigs that we wish were in our driveways.
Land Legends 1997 Defender 110
Restored in Madrid, Spain, the Land Legends 1997 Defender 110 attracted a lot of attention from admiring passersby over the course of the weekend. The team completely disassembled the vehicle and meticulously restored it to mostly original condition. At first glance, you’d swear this nearly thirty-year-old vehicle just rolled off the showroom floor. Under the hood is one of the cleanest 300 TDIs you are likely to see.
As you look closer, you see a host of subtle touches that bring a modern flair, a subtle touch of luxury, and a couple of fun design twists. We appreciated the tweaks to the grill, which hint at a little something beyond your ordinary Defender. The custom leather interior is an impressive blend of luxury and utility that brings a little high-end Range Rover feel to a classic expedition rig. The Marshall speaker in the center console adds a fun, additional British nod to the custom Land Rover.
The Land Legends team has a portfolio of other custom Land Rover restorations on their website if you are curious to see what else they’ve done.
INEOS Grenadier Standout
One of the big takeaways from the East show is how popular the Grenadier has gotten in such a short time. There were dozens to be seen and vendors were not shy about showing their love for the new platform. With all the impressively built examples in the show, our favorite was to be found in the camping area. If you are looking for a build blueprint, this might be it.
The build begins with a pair of X Spec brackets mounted to either side of the vehicle. On the driver side, there’s a X Spec storage box for easy access to essentials and on the passenger side, there’s a 30-liter fuel can conveniently mounted just above the gas fill port. Jim, the owner of this beauty, has a small lithium-power pump that can transfer gas straight out of the jerry can into the vehicle.
The roof rack sports a Clever Shade 270 ultralight awning that lives up to its namesake. The entire awning can be demounted from the in about 20 seconds. Protecting the rocker panels are White Knuckle Off Road’s new Grenadier sliders. Just below the awing, Jim has a set of Narva lights and brackets that add a little Australian panache to the build. Around the front, the new LFD Off-Road winch mount with a Warn XD12s winch is doing recovery duty. To top off the build, there’s a Toyota Supra shifter installed that we all agreed was a nice upgrade over the stock shifter.
Lust Worthy Jeep Gladiator Mojave
Parked next door to the Grenadier was another of our favorite builds, a 2021 Hydro blue Gladiator Mojave. This is the Gladiator build that Jeeper’s dreams are made of. The build features a 3.5″ 4-link, long arm Metalcloak suspension kit augmented by Clayton springs that allow the vehicle to clear 40-inch Yokohama tires wrapped around Method Wheels. Despite the massive tires, drivability is maintained with a Yeti steering component upgrade. To handle the extra forces on the drivetrain, the owner has replaced the stock axles with chromoly and plans to truss the rear axle soon.
An Alucab Canopy Camper fills the bed where the owner has fit it with custom cabinetry he built, as well as bench cushion covers repurposed from the original Alucab mattress that came with the camper. Throughout the interior, one finds a host of Blueridge Overland bags and a few Front Runner cases, which store all the offroad and camping necessities. All the build details could fill a book, but check out the photos to get a better sense of the many mods the owner has done. This is a Gladiator we’d like to see a lot more of.
NASA Moonlander Colorado
With all the action inside the event, it’s easy to miss all the interesting rigs in the parking lot. While hunting down our favorite vehicles, we spotted a Chevy Colorado sporting a Ravica Moonlander camper. We are big fans of the Moonlander’s innovative approach to a camper that puts the sleeping position side to side over the truck bed. The white, modern aesthetic of the camper blended brilliantly with the white Gen 2 Colorado, and we appreciated the owner’s fun nod to NASA with the astronaut peering out of the rear window and the flag on the tailgate. We look forward to seeing more of the Moonlanders, especially their new Moonlander X, and we expect to see more of soon.
1989 Land Rover Defender 110 World Traveler
This Land Rover spent its early years crossing Africa and Europe before being imported to the US by its current owners who have continued it’s travel adventures stateside. Since 2015, they’ve put nearly 60,000 miles on the venerable rig, exploring nearly all of the national parks, in addition to being a frequent visitor to Overland Expo.
The 3.5L V8-powered rig has had a number of upgrades since coming to the US. Most prominent is the Tepui rooftop tent that is mounted over the front of the cab and deploys over the hood, leaving quite a bit of real estate on the safari rack for storage and as a rooftop platform. The passenger side has a 270-degree Safari Equip awning that provides an impressive shade footprint. Around the back is a set of impressively made DIY drawers with a high-vision orange interior that we are surprised more people haven’t adopted. With an extended-range fuel tank, the right-hand drive Defender is an impressive adventure rig we look forward to seeing again at next year’s events.
1990 Nissan Patrol Rarity
Sadly, too few Nissan Patrols have made it to the United States. We were delighted to see one in the camping area and get to talk to the owner, Vince, about the build. He bought the 1990 GQY60 Nissan Patrol while living in Guatemala back in 2014 and brought it back with him when he returned to the US. The Japanese standout rig is powered by a 4.2-liter diesel engine and sits on 35-inch tires. The vehicle has a 4″ Dobinson lift with Superior Engineering shocks in the front and Fox shocks in the back. The black beauty is outfitted with a bevy of ARB upgrades featuring their bumpers, snorkel, roof rack, and awning. Hopefully, more people will take cues from this build and import their own.
2002 Ford F250 Work and Adventure Truck
This Ford F250 might just be the rig to have for an end-of-the-world scenario. The mostly stock 2002 houses the infamous 7.3L PowerStroke diesel engine that puts power to a Dana 60 in the front and a Sterling 10.5 in the rear. Around the front, the owner adapted an M1085 steel bumper that we are pretty sure could plow through just about anything.
The rear of the truck is a highly customized Reading electrician’s box that features interior and exterior camp kitchens, multiple water systems, solar, a wood-burning stove, and room to sleep two in a tiered bunk format. Provide a massive bit of weather protection is a Bundutech 360 awning and a shower enclosure that hangs off the back of the box. It’s clear that a lot of design time has gone into its many features. We were most impressed with the custom-fabricated helical ladder the owner built to access the roof without sacrificing clearance at the box. It’s a work of art. Sadly, we didn’t get a good picture of it to show off his welding chops.
1996 F150 Nostalgia Build
It’s hard to believe this beauty is 28 years old. Where has the time gone? One might argue that the 1992-1996 generation of the Ford F150 is its most iconic version. Though, in our opinion, it’s a little too soon to use the term “classic”, they are already getting that title and are beginning to catch the attention of collectors. Seeing this build in the camping area, it’s not hard to understand why they are making a resurgence in popularity.
This particular build focused on era-appropriate mods that transport us back to the halcyon days of the mid-nineties. The thoroughly rebuilt suspension features a 4″ Rough Country lift with 6″ Superlift coils in the front to even out the stance from its heavy steel front bumper and 12,000 lb. winch. The period-correct Hella lights are a nice touch where modern LEDs would have ruined the vibe of the build. The owner is planning on tackling a renovation of the camper next, and we are looking forward to seeing it completed at a future Overland Expo.
Sprekko Dream Van
We got the chance to spend some time with the first Ekko that came off the assembly line earlier this year. The build out was done by FreedomVanGo and the build sheet reads like a laundry list of some of the best components available. The modifications begin with the super single tire rear conversion that brings the platform down to four tires that are lifted with a Van Compass 2-inch lift that clears 33-inch tires. Protecting the underbody is a full set of skidplates protecting everything from the engine to the rear diff. Terrawagon fender flares and mudguards keep the sides of the van safe and clean.
Just about every system on the van has been upgraded. The propane heater has upgraded to run off diesel, electrical has been built around a Lithionics powerup package and it has an upgraded alternator that can charge the entire system in about 2 hours. If you need power in camp, there’s a large GPS guided solar array on the roof that will keep the electrons flowing. For sunny days, the typical awning has been replaced with a massive 14-foot affair big enough for you and a dozen or so fellow campers to comfortably seek shelter under.
The list of upgrades goes on and on. If you want to see the entire list, head over to the FreedomVanGo website.
If you love checking out rigs like these, be sure to join us at one of the five Overland Expo events for 2025. Locations and dates will be announced soon. Keep an eye on the Overland Expo website for more details.