Ever since he was a boy, Matthew Perlman had a passion for the rugged, all-terrain Land Rover Defender.

“Most kids want a sports car, but I wanted a Defender,” he said. “They were different but also high-quality, well-made cars.”

Now, after buying and restoring two old Defenders for himself, Perlman, 28, is building a business to sell the off-road utility vehicles to fellow enthusiasts. He’s launching a website for his business, West Coast Defenders, this week, with plans to open an L.A. showroom in May.

Perlman plans to source vintage Defenders from around the world and restore the bare-bones trucks to add modern amenities such as power locks, leather seats, sound systems, air conditioning and GPS navigation. Most of the work will be done by U.K. contractors before the trucks are shipped to the United States.

Scott Oldham, editor in chief for automotive website Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, said Defenders didn’t sell well when they first became available in the United States in 1994, but they’ve become increasingly popular in the last decade.

“I tested a manual one back in ’94 and I hated it; it drove like a tractor,” he said. “But now I’m part of the bandwagon. I’d love to have a Defender to cruise up the PCH to Malibu for lunch.”

Perlman plans to sell his updated Defenders, which typically sold for less than $50,000 in the early ’90s, for up to $105,000.

But getting the business rolling won’t be easy for Perlman: not for a lack of eager buyers, but because tightened U.S. vehicle safety regulations enacted in 1997 call for airbags, among other requirements. Faced with tighter rules, the Defender’s British manufacturer opted to stop selling the vehicle in the United States.

Perlman said he plans to get around customs issues by way of an exception to the import rule for classic cars: He will only import Defenders that are at least 25 years old.

“They’re tough to find, but when you do find a good one, they’re really great trucks,” he said.

– Bethany Firnhaber