The original Defender was not trying to look like a previous model (as it didn’t exist yet) or was trying to be like something else, and that is the main reason it became a visual icon.
By "original Defender," do you mean a Series I Land Rover, or do you meant the "Defender" that was imported into the U.S. in 94, 95, and 97?
If it's the latter, that Defender was an evolution of the Series III, which was an evolution of the Series II, which was an evolution of the Series I. They weren't ever called the "Defender" until the most recent iteration.
History lesson: once upon a time, it was just "Land Rover." When the Range Rover came out in the early 70's, it was Land Rover and Range Rover. It wasn't until the Discovery came out in the late 80's that Land Rover decided to name the evolution of the original concept the "Defender."