BaT Success Story: To Rebelle or Not to Rebelle

Our latest Success Story comes from BaT member Richard55, whose wife and her teammate recently completed the 2025 Rebelle Rally in the 1993 Land Rover Defender 110 NAS that he won from GTBoy in a September 2024 BaT auction. Richard55 wrote to tell us about it:

I have owned a few Range Rover Classics and was looking for a different experience. I also wanted to teach my son how to drive a manual transmission. We had gotten more into off-roading in recent years. I was looking for a NAS 110, and when this truck came up in my BaT notifications, it was an unrepeatable opportunity. Finding a lifetime California truck in great condition, with low miles, and located close to home—especially with so few of these made—was unlikely to happen again. I met the seller during the auction to look at the truck, expecting to be disappointed once I saw it in person and had a chance to crawl underneath. I called my wife afterward and told her it was in better condition than expected from the listing. No rust to be found. The A/C wasn’t working, and it needed a new headliner—as described. We discussed how much we were willing to spend and which truck we would sell if we won the auction.

The purchase was actually the quick and simple part of the story. The seller was great, and since we were local, it was easy to work together to complete the sale. The auction ended on September 27, and by October 3, we had completed the title transfer at AAA. The adventure was yet to come.

My wife had signed up for the 10th running of the Rebelle Rally with her teammate from 2024. Last year, they ran her teammate’s 2023 Bronco, and it was our turn to provide the vehicle. We discussed the different options. We revisited the idea of using our Rivian, which they almost did in 2024. We already had a spare set of wheels and tires, and the hitch-mounted carrier was equipped for a spare. Unfortunately, there were no other committed EV teams, so there wasn’t a critical mass of support for mobile charging infrastructure. They seriously investigated what it would take to get our L405 Range Rover prepped, including swapping to steel wheels and larger diameter tires and adding recovery points. Since the 10th anniversary running was something special, we kept returning to the idea of driving something more interesting, and the Defender was already pretty close to ready in stock form. They also wanted a challenge and an adventure. Running it created an opportunity to work on the truck together and make some upgrades.

It was a tough decision to use it for such a demanding event, and we took turns worrying about damaging it at different points. But we were there to reassure one another that anything mechanical could be fixed. Land Rover decided to bring the Defender to the US market in 1993, so people could take their trucks to the mall or grocery store. This is what it was intended to do. We just didn’t want to look back someday and realize we never enjoyed the truck because we were saving it for the next owner.

The next few months were a whirlwind of prep work and testing on different kinds of terrain that the truck could encounter in the 1,800-mile event. It was a good shakedown, fixing any weak points like the original alternator, which failed on the way to Sand Mountain near Reno, and the rear portion of the exhaust that finally succumbed to corrosion in Hollister.

It also gave us some great family experiences. Along with a bunch of other Rebelles, my son and I volunteered to set up flags in Ridgecrest, California, at coordinates from a previous rally as a training exercise. He did all of the off-road driving while I did my best to navigate. We both came away with a newfound respect for the competitors, who would be hunting for them with just a map, compass, and odometer. It was a great way to spend time together—100% present in the moment, exploring and getting past some tricky obstacles, and talking before he left for college.

The prep work continued in our weekend spare time, filled with lots of small projects, but nothing unmanageable. Here are some of the items we installed and the work we performed:

New K02 tires
Cleaned up and removed any old, unused wiring
Rock sliders for convenient jacking points
Removed the roof basket to reduce some weight up high
Removed the jump seats for more space in the cargo area and replaced the mounting points with D rings for securing their gear.
Removed the spare tire beauty cover so it wouldn’t get lost or damaged
An air compressor to air up and down the tires on the trail
Removed half of the back seat to make space for a refrigerator and a 1kWh power bank
Mounts for shovels, a fire extinguisher, and recovery boards
Lights in the cargo area for loading and unloading gear on the rally’s early mornings and late-night camps
Replaced the old auxiliary lights with a new LED light bar on the front and a rear light bar for visibility in the silt and dunes
Replaced the headlights with brighter and more efficient LEDs
A dash mount to hold two rally computers
And several visits to my local independent shop, where they overhauled the brakes, replaced the suspension bushings, fixed oil leaks, replaced the front shocks, installed a new water pump, and rebuilt the front swivel seals.

Over a year after buying the Defender, we were at the starting line in Mammoth, California, with six other Land Rovers, including three modern Defenders plus four sort-of relatives from Ineos. We checked out all of the other cool trucks, said our goodbyes, and wished them luck.

Eight days and 1,800 miles later, they crossed the finish line in Needles, California, with huge smiles and great stories of all the adventures they had. Now, if someone at the gas station asks if I have ever taken the Defender off-road, I can tell them they really need to talk to my wife, since she was the brave one.

Thanks for writing to us, Richard55! It looks like they had an absolute blast. We’ve included your photos in the image gallery below for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

If you have a Success Story about a car you’ve bought or sold on BaT, please send a few lines and pictures (or a video) to community.content@bringatrailer.com, and we’ll send you a $50 credit to the BaT Gear Store when your story posts to the site.

We love to hear from satisfied BaT buyers and sellers, and a Success Story feature is a great addition to any car’s history when you’re ready to sell.