Jeffrey AronsonA serial entrepreneur, a banker, a carpenter and a cabinetmaker walk into a bar – well, not really, but that unlikely meet-up did produce an exciting new drivetrain option for the Defender L316.
Kraig Mackett, Perrysburg, OH, has owned “lots of Land Rovers” since his first purchase in 2003. Reflecting upon his latest endeavor, he noted that “The most amazing things in life are so coincidental. Our greatest experiences are milliseconds away from never happening.” Fortunately for Land Rover enthusiasts, the right experiences happened at the right time.
Kraig met Anderson Brooks, a commercial banker, hailing from Milwaukee, WI when they both participated in the 2017 Vermont Bird Watching Safari. Anderson recollected, “I traveled 1,400 miles to drive 20 miles off-road, but that’s when I fell in love with Land Rovers again.” When the two met, naturally, the conversation turned to Land Rovers. Back in 2013, Anderson had built his first Defender, “the entirety of which passed through our kitchen on its way to the paint shop.” Now, he wanted to build another, and Kraig helped him find a LHD Puma body. The entrepreneur and the banker spent a lot of time discussing the processes essential to building up a Land Rover Defender correctly and expeditiously — while maintaining “super attention” to detail. Soon afterward, a company designed to do just that was born: Wolf Classics, named for Anderson’s favorite dog, “Wolfie.”
During the Covid pandemic, Anderson and his wife, Renee, took time to assess their lives. Having made many trips east to Land Rover events, they decided to relocate; they found their perfect home in Kingfield, ME. Automotive anoraks know that the famous Stanley Steamer’s founders lived in Kingfield, and sure enough, the Stanley brothers opened their first showroom for the Stanley Steamer in what is now the Brooks’ carriage house.
As Anderson and Kraig drew up their plans for their new Defender business, Anderson reached out to his new neighbor, Alex Dunham, to craft the perfect space for the new venture. The Kingfield native worked as a carpenter and wind tower technician while serving in the Army National Guard but spent his leisure time off-roading. Anderson wanted him to build a shop to house the nascent company, but given his workload, Alex felt reluctant to begin such a major project. As luck would have it, he knew of a former school building in nearby New Portland where his uncle stored cars and boats. When Anderson saw the building, he knew it would be a perfect home for Wolf Classics. Steve Smith, a “military transplant” who lives in nearby Strong, ME, works as a cabinet maker and licensed Maine Guide, when he’s not tending wild blueberries on his farm. Adding his skillset to the mix, the three enthusiasts now keep Wolf Classics humming with restorations and custom-build Defenders.
Kraig fell in love with the Defender L316 (“my drug of choice”). In 1995, he purchased a ‘91 LHD D90 to build for the mountains of Vermont. He swapped out the stock 200 Tdi for a Cummins 2.8 diesel (then a prototype engine) “that I secured through a contact and made
it fit into my Defender 90. The Cummins is great, but I wanted a petrol for a daily driver.” Intent on helping Wolf Classics develop a driveline to create “the finest L316 Defender Classic for North American driving,” the serial entrepreneur set out on a quest for a solution — by bringing together “the right people with the right knowledge.”
Back in 2014, Kraig had connected with fellow enthusiast Fred Calero, who lived nearby in southern Michigan, via the Defender Source Forum. Five years later, Fred founded GT1, which purchased all the remaining 2005–2006 Ford GT monocoques from Ford Performance to transform them — successfully — into 1,400 hp track monsters. (Speaking of the “right experiences,” Fred’s grandfather once owned a Land Rover dealership in the Philippines in the 1970s.)
In a conversation at the M1 Concourse, a private racetrack/event space near Detroit’s famed Woodward Avenue, a discussion of engine options focused on daily driving a Defender. Kraig wanted a gasoline engine that would “run and function as if Land Rover had created it.” Thanks to Fred’s expertise, the answer lay in the Ford 2.3L EcoBoost, ironically the basis for the Puma 2.2L diesel engine. As Kraig noted, “If Land Rover had a market for a petrol version of the 2.2L, the EcoBoost would have been it.”
In the Spring of 2022, Kraig arranged for the purchase of an EcoBoost crate engine from Ford Performance Parts. With 310 hp, 340 ft-lbs torque and a high-pressure fuel delivery system, it had the right specifications for all uses of a Defender. Ford Performance Parts, a division within Ford Performance, had hired Mick Simon as their new Director. An American who grew up in England, Mick has a soft spot for the L316 Defender. When he got wind of the interest spurred on by Kraig and Wolf Classics, he reached out to them. “I’d rather be lucky than good,” Kraig said about his contact with Mick and Ford Performance Parts. Kraig arranged for Wolf Classics to ship out a Defender they had been using as a test mule for 18 months with the EcoBoost drivetrain. Ford Performance Parts commenced a six-week regimen of test-track driving, dynamometer checks and component safety tests to optimize calibration and integration.
Their incredibly positive experience with the 2.3L EcoBoost engine led Anderson and Kraig to form a new business: Rover Repower. The company will collaborate with Rovers North to make the EcoBoost engine and drivetrain kits available to interested enthusiasts looking for a contemporary gasoline option for their Defenders. “This is just too good to only use in Wolf Classic builds. We want to make this available to every enthusiast; that’s why we chose Rovers North,” said Kraig.
“Above all else,” Kraig insisted, “we want to avoid the kit car phenomenon. Buyers won’t have to fabricate anything or take time to source small and/or annoyingly NLA [no longer available] items to make this conversion. With the help of Ford Performance Parts, we’ll make certain that all the components integrate seamlessly. The engine runs normally on 87 octane fuel and can use existing Ford Performance and Land Rover Parts for either manual or automatic transmissions. Our first Defender with the EcoBoost used the Mustang clutch package, which slid right into an R380. And we’re getting help from Ford Performance Parts with adapting their PCM [Performance Control Module] to the driving needs of Defender owners.”
Kraig and Anderson’s pursuit of the best drivetrain engineering and meticulous craftsmanship, coupled with their infectious enthusiasm for the Land Rover marque, promises to enhance daily driving in a Defender L316 or future Land Rover classics. Here’s to wishing
Wolf Classics, Rover Repower and Ford Performance Parts a long and successful relationship.
[For more information, visit www.wolfclassics.com and follow them on @wolf_classics on Instagram -ed.]