Bed Fit For A King

Once upon a time in a land far away a craftsman created a very special bed for a young Land Rover fan…

A South African bespoke furniture company creates a Defender bed that’s almost as good as the real thing

The last two James Bond movies both featured very tasty Defenders. Some Land Rover fans might argue that they played a leading role in those movies. In fact, what would a modern day Bond movie be without Jaguar Land Rover vehicles?

In the dramatic opening scene of Skyfall, a Defender 110 double cab is involved in a rather hairy chase involving a train. Then came the beefed-up Spectre Defender, sliding about in the snow during an exciting mountainside car chase. No wonder so many cinema-going Land Rover fans want a Bond-themed Defender of their own.

While JLR’S own Special Vehicles Operations division created the movie’s Spectre Defender, several independent Land Rover specialists have created their own versions – all with varying degrees of resemblance to the real deal.

The inclination by others to recreate a Spectre Defender has not stopped there. Terry Ryan, an craftsman based in South Africa, has just built an impressive extra-length queensize Spectre Defender bed.

Terry qualified as a joiner 20 years ago and after working in the high-end UK market for several years, decided to return to South Africa. Today Terry and his wife Kristen, a graphic designer, run Artisan Joinery – a bespoke furniture company based in the town of George, which is situated along the touristy coastal Garden Route.

It all began with an approach by a Land Rover-loving customer who wanted a dream Land Rover bed for his four-year-old son. The room already had a strong automotive theme and the bed would just be the icing on the cake. Several options were discussed, including a Defender on the beach and a Heritage version of the recent limited edition Defender models. But after watching the 2015 James Bond film, Spectre, starring a very good-looking Defender, Terry suggested a Spectre Defender bed. The client loved the idea – and told Terry to go for it.

“This was by far our biggest kid’s bed project to date and we hope that it will lead to similar builds,” says Terry. “My dad used to own an old Land Rover, which probably explains my enthusiasm for the project.”

Fortunately, the customer who ordered it lives in a big mansion, so space was not a problem. This meant that Terry could design and build the Defender around an extralength queen-sized bed. Once it was finished it was only 60 cm shorter than full-size Defender 90, while it shared the same width and height.

Not everyone has a massive room to fit a bed of this size, so Terry does have plans to build a more practical smaller version. If you make it half the size then it becomes a single bed. You could literally slice it straight down the centre and end up with a single bed that you could be secured against the wall.

Unlike standard Defenders, this one is not made from aluminium panels held together by rivets. Terry used 16 mm medium density fibreboard (MDF) for his Spectre bed. While a Defender might resemble a brick it does have curves on the bonnet and wings, so Terry and his team did an incredible job to perfectly recreate these.

As this Defender bed is only just smaller than the real-deal Defender 90, Terry was able to use real Defender parts on it. Several were sourced from the LR Centre Ltd in the UK, as it worked out cheaper than buying them in South Africa. These included the wheel arches, indicators, headlights, hinges, badging and headlight surrounds. In fact, they spent a total of £600 on original Defender components.

Terry explains the reasoning behind this decision: “We wanted it to look as real as possible. It had to be perfect. This was our first

“Terry’s friends joked that if it was a true Land Rover replica there’d be oil leaks on the carpet...”

attempt at a Spectre Defender bed and hopefully it would serve as a promotion for our business.”

They say that the devil is in the detail and Kristen went to great lengths to study various images of the Spectre Defender after watching the movie. She then designed stickers as substitutes for the non-standard bits. These included the number plate, wheels (the BF Goodrich tyres are real) and winch (though it does have a genuine 8 mm steel cable).

Terry built the roof rack from scratch, as it was not a standard size, and it usefully doubles up as a top bunk, offering another sleeping option. A single bed mattress fits perfectly into its frame.

Using MDF boards, steel frames and genuine Defender components makes for a very sturdy bed – the only downside being that it weighs 600 kg. So once you have it in place, good luck with moving it.

When the client first saw the finished product he asked Terry to change the colour from gloss black to matt black so that the child’s fingerprints would not show up on it. It was, after all, built for a four-year-old.

Russ remembers when they towed it from the workshop to its new home: “We first had to take it apart just to get it out of the workshop, then we had to rebuild it on the trailer. This was because I did not want to damage or scratch any of the panels.

“Then once at its final resting place it had to be taken apart again so that we it could get into the house. All in all it took a full nine hours.” Definitely not your average IKEA bed build then…

Friends have teased Terry, joking that if it was a true Land Rover replica there would be oil leaks on the fluffy carpet. In fact the engine bay and underside are all hollow, so the buyer asked Russ to build some storage boxes to fit those empty spaces. For safety reasons, all the steelwork has been bolted to the wall so the bed will not move.

Just like real Defenders, the bed has working lights, thanks to a 220-volt wall socket, which powers the headlights, indicators and LEDS on the roof rack.

The Spectre Defender bed is definitely a case of under-promising to the client then over-delivering. The attention to detail, materials used and its size, all add up to make it a rather unique creation. It has already created a social media storm and Artisan Joinery has started to receive enquiries from around the world.

We predict there will soon be more than just one little boy enjoying sweet Defender dreams on his special Spectre Defender bed.