The Land Rover Defender is beautiful in its own agricultural stock glory. I've been perilously close to buying some heavily rusted "restorable" examples myself. But taking a deep dive with Jon Ward of Icon 4x4 shows how much prettier the truck can be when someone really sweats the details.
After wrestling with dissimilar metal corrosion and the fact that Land Rovers aren't exactly put together "straight," Ward and his team created a beautiful bespoke vehicle with the essence of an iconic off-roader well intact.
Sometimes I convince myself I could take an old Wrangler or Scout and do my own Icon-style custom interior, but then I remember it'd end up coming out like the bicycles my friends and I used to hack-up and repaint. There's no way I could execute this level of ultra-refinement with at my skill level and tool collection.
Ward's truck is also "stupid fast" with an LS3 V8 and still plenty off-road capable on custom axles and big ol' BF Goodrich rubber. But could you really bear to see those CNC machined door hinges get scratched?