ECD's Defender Beach Runner restomod is built for the beach

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Jangly guitars. Oodles of ooohs and ahhhs for harmonies. Catchy melodies and simple lyrics. That’s your easy shift pattern for ’60s surf rock, the gnarly genre that caught huge waves of popularity so many decades ago. And of course, cranking it up on your car’s audio system let you share the love with your fellow motorists in surf rock’s native Southern California, particularly while cruising along the famous Pacific Coast Highway.

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My imaginary time machine has me cruisin’ down the street in ’64 with beachgoers winking, waving, and whistlin’ at me as I roll along the Laguna Beach parking lot. Ah, the SoCal life in the ’60s! It’s then I realize the good vibrations aren’t directed at me; it’s for the tricked-out Land Rover I’m driving. Is my ego detuned? Nah; the ride really is the star, here.

The ride in question is called the Beach Runner, and it’s built in Kissimmee, Florida by ECD Automotive. We’ve done a large profile on ECD here before, but the quick summary is these guys build top-level restomods for big price tags. We’ve road-tested the company’s Jaguar E-Type and Land Rover Defender before, but this one is a bit more special. This one is built for the beach.

To test out its beach-bum credentials, I made my way to West Palm Beach, Florida to eat seafood, get sunburned, and spend some time behind the wooden steering wheel of the Beach Runner.

What is an ECD Beach Runner?

The Beach Runner is the latest offering from ECD, and it’s a one-of-a-kind ride for beach days. It was designed and created for drivers to experience the warmth of the open air as they travel to and from the beach with up to seven passengers in a functional, street-legal, and unique-looking machine. It’s an open-air Defender with no roof, retro design elements throughout, and the sort of vibe that will likely see you, and it, end up on someone’s social media feed, just for the sheer “Wow!” factor.

The Beach Runner started life as a regular Land Rover Defender 110, but ECD has remade every single component of the vehicle to craft this sun-ready off-roader. Simply put, it’s a bespoke toy that blends the nostalgia of an old-school Defender with the functionality of a purpose-driven vehicle made for days and nights at the beach.

What makes the ECD Beach Runner unique?

The Land Rover Defender-based Beach Runner is certainly recognizable from its boxy shape. Once you get above the door panels, things open up. There’s no roof — instead, there’s a (safety first!) six-point roll cage; a Wrangler-esque folding windshield; and a spare tire mounted on the hood. It features a swing-out tailgate, rolls on 16-inch body-coloured steel wheels wrapped in BF Goodrich all-terrain tires, and the body colour is an eggshell Porsche Frozen Blue, complete with white striping along the sides.

The customized Yakima hitch-mounted 21-in-one accessory kit lets you bring bikes, coolers, firewood, and much more along for the ride. There’s also a surfboard rack, overhead lighting, a portable sound system, and an air compressor with external line to inflate tires and beach toys.

The interior is full of classy retro touches. You’ll find Recaro seats, vintage-style gauges, a custom-made dashboard, a Momo wood wheel, leather-wrapped centre console with Garrett-Navy-coloured leather, and old-school rocker switches. There’s seating for eight, with two up front, two in the middle, and four inward-facing jump seats in the rear, with the latter getting lap seatbelts only.

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It’s a pretty snazzy-looking set-up once the Beach Runner is loaded up, and while it clearly has a very specific demographic, I can see the strong appeal.

What powers the ECD Beach Runner?

ECD looked to the General for power, and plunked in GM’s LT1 6.2L V8 engine, churning out 460 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic transmission with all-wheel-drive capability. All that torque should help you power through any sand encountered while you roll up to the beach.

Is it overkill? Nope. If you’ve got all eight seats filled, plus gear and goodies, you’ll need every bit of power to get, and keep, yourself in motion.

What’s the ECD Beach Runner like to drive?

The topless Beach Runner gets noisy quickly at speed, but you can drown out the ambient noise with the sweet-sounding custom JL audio system. Driving impressions themselves are, well — let’s start by saying it’s not a typical modern vehicle. The heavy-duty axles and long-travel off-road suspension mean it drives on the heavier side, and is cumbersome at times making turns. The standard Land Rover brakes have a lot of travel before hitting the bite point, and it’s a good thing those Recaro seats are so comfortable.

Yes, it’s running a V8, but acceleration is modest given its size and weight. The all-terrain tires do contribute to a bit of a noisier and rougher ride feel. All of my driving was in urban areas where I didn’t or couldn’t legally exceed 60 km/h (37 mph), which is where most of the Beach Runner’s driving will be done anyway.

In the Beach Runner, there’s no way to minimize road noise, so you can either have a loud conversation with the person next to you or crank up the tunes. With almost all the weight on the lower half of the vehicle (no windows or roof, remember?) the Beach Runner feels surprisingly well-planted for an off-roader. Taking turns a couple of miles-per-hour faster than usual kept that sunshine driven smile on my face.

I had hair to my shoulders in early March and cut it very short just before receiving this assignment. I wish I’d have kept it long, because this is definitely an SUV that can supply that wind-in-your-hair feeling popularized in ’50s and ’60s convertibles.

The ride from home base toward the beach was at a cool and steady 30 to 35 mph (48 to 56 km/h) with the Beach Runner chugging along, reminding me of all the road imperfections as I was slightly but often lightly jostled in my seat. I misjudged my road-test timing and got stuck at a bascule bridge for half an hour as it opened to let a ship through. I would’ve appreciated a retractable cloth top, as being stationary in the sun isn’t great here.

While cruising past mansions I am just sure had addresses listed in the Panama Papers, I opted to keep the windshield up, because side wind is fine, but headwinds are overwhelming. As someone who’s often got something on top of or mounted at the rear of my cars, I can say with most certainty that having a surfboard on top and a bike on the rear of the Beach Runner still gave me plenty of visibility and added to the pizzazz of this made-for-the-beach style ride.

It’s an open-air Defender with no roof, retro design elements throughout, and the sort of vibe that will likely see you, and it, end up on someone’s social media feed, just for the sheer 'Wow!' factor

You’ll need some extra heft when twisting the steering wheel, but it’s manageable, and, as with all new toys, my time with it ended far sooner than I was ready for.

And while it wasn’t Yours Truly that was getting the wide-eyed gazes and stares, I was driving it — so, that’s gotta count for something, right? That’s the thing with these bespoke pieces — you’ve gotta be ready to be gawked at and spoken to, regardless of whether you’re stopped or in motion. If that’s the trade-off for me to be in charge of a 6.2L V8 that’s built for open air, sign me up. Twice.

Can you customize the ECD Beach Runner as much as other ECD vehicles?

Yep, but you should strongly consider going light on the option sheet. Depending on where in the production process it is, you can customize cosmetic pieces in the Beach Runner. Items including colours, fabrics, wood stain, gauges, wheels, and tires would be popular ones to put your stamp on, if you ask early enough. However, if you want to go full custom, that’s also an option, with the trade-off being an increased wait time to receive your vehicle.

The vision behind creating and delivering the Beach Runners is that ECD is building inventory, as opposed to building on demand, so there is zero wait-time if you take it as-is, or a relatively short wait time if you go minimal on customization choices. The company’s opted for a very limited run of only 18 units yearly, creating higher demand thanks to low supply.

How much does an ECD Beach Runner cost?

The base price rings in at US$249,995, which is aligned with ECD’s other Defender 110 and Range Rover Classic offerings, with only its Jaguar E-Type coming in with a higher base price, at US$299,995. Is it expensive? Well, that all depends on how deep your pockets are. ECD caters to those who have the resources to enjoy these lifestyle vehicles, so for their clientele, it’s likely not considered expensive.

With that, I’m off to a Mississauga beach in my 2004 Honda Accord coupe with my kayak safely secured to the roof. It’s not quite a Beach Runner in southern Florida, but then again, nothing is.