Sabukaru Tokyo Cars - A Series by Sabukaru 008: Yuthanan
#sabucars is a series featuring some of our favorite cars in Tokyo together with their owners. For the 8th edition of Tokyo Cars, we met up with Sillage director, #whatwewear store curator, photographer & friend Yuthanan to talk about his infamous Land Rover Defender.
On an early spring day in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood, we met up with Yuthanan, who pulled up in his boxy 2008 Land Rover Defender 2.4 TDCi, also known as the PUMA. Purchased a bit over a year ago in 2021, Yuthanan's Defender is his first car, and an indestructible beast. While the car is an absolute monster off-road, Yuthanan does most of his driving in the cities of Tokyo. While the car is rather on the large side, he drives the car with no problem in the narrow streets in Japan. It is a challenge, but he has many stories to share with it already. The analog features, having no airbags, no ABS, no electric windows, the pure mechanic character of the car is what makes it so lovable to Yuthanan.
When asked why the Defender, Yuthanan answered saying "It's the same process as buying clothes. I like the story behind brands, crafting techniques, materials. The Land Rover Defender has its own story, rich of events and performance around the world with the Camel Trophy, the James Bond movies, and its worldwide reputation of being the best 4x4 in history. Even above the G-Wagon and Jeep Wrangler [in my opinion]".
While Yuthanan changed the gearbox to automatic, everything else on the car hasn't been touched, paying respect to the original design. All feats of the Defender are attractive to him, but perhaps is favorite is the roar of the engine, unique to classic 4x4 cars.
To Yuthanan, many new cars are similar in design, and older cars, classic cars of every maker have interesting unique design aspects that appeal to him. Yuthanan has plans for his Defender that are still in the works, so stay tuned for a future car project from him.
