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Collaborations can be troublesome. Each entity may be brilliant, but that does not mean their visions align well. David Bowie and Queen gave us “Under Pressure.” David Bowie and Mick Jagger produced a cringe-worthy “Dancing in the Street.” The Australian motorcycle brand Deus Ex Machina teamed up with Portuguese Land Rover restorers Coolnvintage on a resto-mod. They ended up at the “Under Pressure” end of the spectrum — it’s magnificent.
The Land Rover is named the “Yellow Land Marine Nr86.” (It’s the 86th Coolnvintage rebuild). It’s a 1966 Land Rover Series II-A, a long-wheelbase (LWB) version to accommodate motorcycle transport. It has a Land Rover 2.25-liter gas engine and a Series III four-speed manual. The original truck, a fire engine that had been out of commission for decades, received a meticulous, 1,000-hour, ground-up reconstruction.
Both companies added some characteristic artistic touches. Deus hand-painted the art graphic chassis. Coolnvintage finished the body in familiar AA Yellow paint, a nod to the U.S. spec Land Rover Defenders from the mid-1990s.
Deus Ex Machina has taken the Yellow Land Marine on a European summer tour, as one undoubtedly should upon receipt of a custom Land Rover resto-mod. The truck has delighted folks at Deus stores in Biarritz, Ibiza and Milan thus far.
