Whitley, West Midlands - Land Rover will launch its new Heritage division at the Techno Classica show in Essen, Germany on Wednesday, offering original parts for a variety of enduring favourites that have been out of production for longer than a decade.
Sister company Jaguar already has a Heritage division that not only supplies parts for classic models but is also building six complete lightweight E-Type race cars to complete a planned production run of 18 in the middle 1960s that was canned after only 12 had been made.
Already available from the new Land Rover Heritage workshop are body, trim and service parts for the 1970s Range Rover Classic, as well as service parts and some salvage parts for the Range Rover P38 and Discovery 1 and 2.
There's even a limited range of spares for Land Rover Series I, II and III, and the Heritage anoraks are planning to re-introduce more original parts, each carrying a factory warranty and made using the original tooling methods wherever possible. Given that an estimated 70 percent of all Land Rovers made since 1948 are still running, there's a big market out there.
1970s CLASSIC
The centrepiece of the Land Rover display at Techno Classica is a first-generation Range Rover Classic that's been restored with heritage parts made using original Land Rover tooling.
With production of the Defender now in its run-out phase, Land Rover has committed to supplying spares for this automotive icon for 15 years - and after that, Defender owners will be able to order heritage parts through Land Rover dealers worldwide.
So-called heritage parts are becoming big business as the classic car market expands; component company British Motor Heritage has been making replacement bodyshells and panelwork for classic British cars - including the MGB, MG Midget, Austin-Healey Sprite, Triumph TR6 and the original Mini - since 1975, while Pennsylvania-based Dynacom is producing complete original Ford Mustang bodyshells - and you can get just about anything else to restore your Pony Car (or even create a brand-new 1964½ original - it's been done!) from Ford's Restoration Parts division.