Whitley, West Midlands - Seventy years ago, on 30 April 1948, a short-coupled, pretty basic agricultural workhorse made its debut at the Amsterdam motor show, and a global icon was born.
And last night Jaguar Land Rover celebrated seven decades of the world’s favourite 4 x 4 x far with an online broadcast starring the cars and the people who love them, across 70 years of adventure, soldiering, humanitarian aid and just plain hard work around the world.
The programme shows how the Land Rover was designed - basically as a tractor with a central driving position and a rudimentary aluminium body - and went on to found a dynasty of beetle-crushers, seven million strong and counting.
1956: The Oxford and Cambridge London to Singapore expedition.
It features footage of the people behind the legend and the groundbreaking (sometimes literally!) models of the early years, together with a parade of surviving classic Land Rovers, including HUE 166, the first series production Land Rover, the original two-door Range Rover and the first seven-seater Discovery, as well as some of the ‘expedition’ specials that made the Defender a movie star in the days when tobacco advertising was still legal.
1981: Back in the days when tobacco advertising was still legal.
Also on stage at the Land Rover Classic workshop in Coventry is one very special example: since January 2018 the Classic workshop team has been busy renovating one of the original three unrestored pre-production Amsterdam show cars from 1948.
It makes its first public appearance in many years on this show, alongside its closest current derivative - the 298kW
, of which just 150 will be handbuilt in the Land Rover Classic shop.
LAND ROVER TIMELINE
1948
Land Rover Series I launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show
1953
Long Wheelbase version of the Series I introduced
1956
Oxford and Cambridge teams complete London to Singapore expedition
1958
Land Rover Series II released
1970
Original two-door Range Rover goes on sale
1971
Land Rover Series III launched
1972
Range Rover crosses Darien Gap on 30 000km Trans-America expedition
1976
One millionth Land Rover built
1979
A Range Rover wins the inaugural Paris-Dakar rally (and again in 1981)
1981
Land Rover begins partnership with Camel Trophy
1981
Four-door Range Rover released
1989
Discovery - the third Land Rover model - goes on sale
1990
Original ‘Landie’ relaunched and renamed Defender
1994
Second generation Range Rover launched
1997
Freelander is unveiled with Hill Descent Control
2001
Third-generation Range Rover with all-round independent air suspension revealed
2003
Inaugural G4 challenge sees 16 teams cross the United States, South Africa and Australia