Tomb Raider

History

For the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, Land Rover Special Vehicles converted three Defender 110 High Capacity Pick-Ups into Lara Croft's fantasy expedition vehicle, with an open double-cab layout, a prominent external cage, banks of auxiliary lamps, chequer-plate and expedition equipment over a custom paint finish. The Dunsfold Collection's example, registered W289 LDA (chassis SALLDHH87YA193643), left the line in 2000 as a TD5-badged vehicle but runs a 3.5-litre Rover V8 petrol engine with a four-speed automatic gearbox - a conversion suited to filming work.

Two of the three film vehicles survive: one in the Dunsfold Collection, the charity collection of historic Land Rovers in Surrey, and another displayed at the British Motor Museum (formerly Heritage Motor Centre) at Gaydon, catalogued there as a 2001 110 HCPU. The film's success led Land Rover to capitalise with the Tomb Raider Limited Edition of 2001, offered in 90 and 110 forms and described by Dunsfold as the most popular limited edition Land Rover ever produced.

No factory colours are recorded for this record: the film cars wore a bespoke matte expedition finish rather than a catalogued Land Rover paint.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (Rover Group/BMW era)

Manufactured

2000 donor vehicles; film released 2001

Modifier / coachbuilder

Land Rover Special Vehicles ↗

Engine type

3.5 L Rover V8 petrol with 4-speed automatic (Dunsfold survivor; donor badged TD5)

Production run

3 vehicles (2 survive)

Current owner

The Dunsfold Collection (W289 LDA); British Motor Museum, Gaydon (second survivor) ↗

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

preserved

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Defender

Wheels

4

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Lara Croft Tomb Raider (collection record for W289 LDA) ↗ — The Dunsfold Collection (accessed 2026-09-10)
• File:2001 Land Rover 110HCPU Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon.jpg ('Lara Croft's vehicle from the Tomb Raider movie') ↗ — Wikimedia Commons (accessed 2026-09-10)

Catalogue references

• https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/lara-croft-tomb-raider/ https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/lara-croft-tomb-raider/ ↗

Development reference notes

• Tomb Raider film Defender · HERITAGE-FLEET-REFERENCES.md

  Open double-cab layout; prominent external cage; special lamps and equipment. Reference: https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/lara-croft-tomb-raider/