Heritage Customs Valiance Convertible 2023 Review | First Drive

Bespoke Land Rover Defenders are not a new thing. Kahn Design has been knocking out aggressive body kits for years, Twisted handles the road-going performance market, and if you are having a bash at the Dakar Rally, knock on Bowler’s door. But what if you want a Land Rover Defender that offers high-end luxury and is one of only a handful? That’s where this Heritage Customs Valiance Convertible comes in – the world’s only L663 drop-top.

While this might be the first time you’ve heard of Heritage Customs – it was only founded by Land Rover specialist Jan-Pieter Kroezen and automotive designer Niels van Roij in early 2020 – you will likely be aware of van Roij's past creations. With an attention to detail that borders on the fanatical, he is the coachbuilder responsible for the Ferrari 550-based Breadvan Hommage, the Model SB (a Tesla Model S-based shooting brake) and the Rolls-Royce Wraith-converted Silver Specter Shooting Brake.

Heritage Customs began life as a producer of high-end alloy wheels – the sets sell for around £6,000 a pop – but soon expanded to beautiful exterior and interior finishes. The Valiance Convertible represents the next big step for the company, and, like some of the best ideas in life, its birth was almost accidental. The company rendered how a Defender convertible could look, and the reception was so strong it decided it had to make it.

To build it, Heritage Customs cuts the roof of a Defender 90, fits an electrically folding fabric top and reinforces the space with an FIA-approved roll cage. Heritage Customs will happily chop the roof off any Defender 90, either a brand-new car or one you already own.

One of the major attractions of the Valiance Convertible is that you can have it almost any way you want it, and the attention to detail is second to none.

There’s a variety of wheel options – from steely-aping 20-inch forged alloys to 22-inch multi-spoke and diamond cut designs – and in road-biased tyres or fittingly chunky off-road rubber. From there, you can specify exterior Magic Metal packs that cover areas like the grille strip, protective bonnet plates, wing gills and rear-end plates. Materials include Rust, Bronze and GunMetal; the handmade process means all cars are unique.

Naturally, the vast fabric convertible top is the highlight of the exterior. Heritage Customs removes the roof and all the windows from the B pillar. Sure, the plastic windows wouldn’t look right on a Mercedes SL, but they suit the Defender’s rugged charm here.

Perceiving the Heritage Customs Valiance has been thoroughly engineered only takes a few seconds behind the wheel. The FIA-approved roll cage is critical. It’s hand-stitched in thick leather and hard-bolted to the chassis at 16 points. As a result, the Valence Convertible feels even more solid than the standard 90 – a car that already exudes tank-like robustness.

The single-skin roof, meanwhile, could be an OEM design from a generation or two ago. Roof up, you’ll hear a little wind flutter, but nothing else separates it from a standard 90 hardtop, even at motorway speeds.

Dropping the electrically operated roof is a quick job – five seconds, by our count. The manually released clips at the top of the windscreen could feel chunkier, but the rest of the mechanism has a depth of engineering Isambard Kingdom Brunel would be proud of.

Roof down, the Valiance Convertible feels unlike anything else on the road. With the sun beating down and the birds singing in your ears, it has a closer-to-nature feel, fitting for a car that can take you anywhere the natural world offers. More importantly, the burley nature of the Defender base car remains intact. There’s no flexing or creaks and none of the buffeting that’s a symptom of poor design.

Going roof down suits the Defender perfectly. Encouraging you to take a leisurely pace as you take in the Landy’s surroundings from its famously commanding driving position. Our car rode on Heritage Custom’s delicious 20-inch Rock Dust wheels and Land Rover coil springs that hit a good compromise between comfort and control.

Power, meanwhile, comes from Land Rover’s P400, 400PS (294kW) in-line six-cylinder petrol engine, which provides lusty performance (0-62mph in 6.0 seconds) and emits a characterful exhaust burble with the roof down. While Heritage Customs hasn’t weighed the Valiance Convertible, we would struggle to tell the difference in a car that already weighs nearly 2.5 tonnes.

Inside, Heritage Customs offers a similar range of customisation to the outside. You can choose from various leather upholstery options, stitching designs and metal trim pieces – the result is a car that boasts a Bentley-like level of attention to detail.

Wavey leather stitching (a Land Rover speciality) is notable by its absence – just as well because almost every surface in the cabin – from the dashboard to the door caps and armrests to the centre console and seats decked out in thick saddle hide.

The seats themselves are lovely. You can choose from Nappa leather or Alcantara with diamond, brogue and classic stitch designs and colours such as tan, beige, blue and brown. The only limiting factor is how much you’re willing to pay.

Complementing the quality of the leather are the firm’s thick metallic trim pieces. They’re available in everything from gunmetal to bronze and brass, but our car had a copper finish that – like a church’s roof – ages with time. It covers the centre console and steering wheel and makes a feature of the exposed structural end caps on either side of the dashboard.

Up front, the Valiance Convertible is as roomy as any other Defender 90 – tall adults will have no issues getting comfortable – however, the roof mechanism eats into elbow room in the back seats, and the boot also loses a few litres.

You can have your Valiance Convertible with all the kit available on a standard Land Rover Defender 90. It comes with a large, crisp infotainment screen fitted with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and comes in tandem with a digital instrument binnacle.

The Defender’s USP is its Terrain Response system which makes it easy to set the car up for a variety of different terrains, including mud, ruts and sand – it makes off-roading an Ineos Grenadier seem about as simple as flying an Airbus A380 – blind.

Along with off-roading stalwarts like four-wheel drive, low-range gears and locking differentials, the Defender has hill descent control, a wade-depth gauge and air suspension. The trick interior mirror doubles as a rearview camera with the roof folded.

The Valiance Convertible has a depth of engineering your average fettled Chelsea Tractor can’t compete with. Its folding roof could easily be OEM, while Heritage Custom’s range of exterior and interior upgrades is better than anything you’ll get direct from Coventry.

Admittedly, the price will be a blocker for many – the conversion costs around £76,000 – but it includes the roof and roll cage, wheels and tyres, metal exterior and interior trims, plus the company’s leather upholstery. From there, you need a donor car, either your current Defender or a new one, starting from around £62,000. Okay, so it’s a lot, but you’ll not find another car like the Valiance Convertible, and when a new Range Rover SV costs nearly £150,000 – it’s not a price Heritage Customs’ target market is likely to bulk at.

Proof, if needed, comes with news that Heritage Customs has already sold five cars with more orders on the way. The company’s online configurator is due any day now, and with the company already planning new body shapes – a 130 pick-up is in the pipeline – it points to business we’ll be hearing a lot more about in the future.