While there are many exhibits at Al Ain Classic Car Museum, there’s one that is very special – replica of Shaikh Zayed’s 1976 Range Rover.
After years of research and weeks of hard work, the team at Al Ain Classic Car Museum restores a 1976 Range Rover to be the exact copy of Shaikh Zayed’s car. Silvia Radan highlights their labour of love in the Year of Zayed
Captain Rashid Al Tamimi admits it was one of his most special projects; something he was looking to do for years. He walks slowly to the royal classic cars section and points proudly to one 4x4 vehicle. ‘This is [UAE’s founding father] Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s Range Rover. Of course, the real one no longer exists, but this is the same model car, with the exact modifications, exact colour, exact interior. It’s the perfect replica,’ says the captain. For Rashid Al Tamimi, chairman of Al Ain Classic Car Museum, recreating Shaikh Zayed’s car was more than just a labour of love. It was a dream to recreate Shaikh Zayed’s offroad and hunting vehicle – a 1976 Range Rover.
The going, of course, was not easy. The biggest problem was that the particular model that the late Ruler had used had disappeared long ago from the market. Until one day, in 2016, Rashid happened to come across a 1976 Range Rover.
He couldn’t believe his luck. He made an offer, bought the vehicle and brought it to the museum’s workshop in Al Ain.
‘We don’t just exhibit classic cars, we also restore, preserve, repair and store them for our members. We also rent them out to those who enjoy driving such vehicles,’ points out Captain Rashid.
Since this particular project was a special one, he didn’t want just anyone to “fix” the car. It was a matter of national pride, so he got 11 Emiratis to work on all aspects of the restoration, from mechanical repairs and technical modifications to doing the paint job and the upholstery. With the mechanics working not less than 10 hours every day, it took nearly three weeks for the Shaikh Zayed Range Rover to be recreated.
‘You know, in the past there were other attempts to restore this vehicle, but the problem was, nobody knew exactly how the car looked or the exact modifications that had been made to it. Even the archive photographs depicting Shaikh Zayed with his Range Rover were in black and white, and people were speculating about the colour.’
Most of the people thought the original car was grey in colour, ‘but we discovered that it was actually green,’ says Captain Rashid.
A classic love story
Captain Rashid’s love for cars, particularly classic ones, has grown into the biggest passion of his life. He established the Al Ain Classic Car Museum nine years ago, inaugurating it on the 38th UAE National Day, December 2, 2009.
In its early days, the classic car collection was sheltered under a traditional khaima (tent) which later morphed into a 2,000 square metre air-conditioned building that stood near the Al Ain Sportplex. Four years later, in November 2013, with his collection growing, Rashid decided to move it to the Ain Al Fida Complex, close to the former residence of Shaikh Zayed.
Along with classic cars, Captain Rashid also collects books about cars, particularly ones related to the technical aspects of vehicles.
‘Every time I travel overseas, I seek out and buy books about cars. One of the last ones I bought was in Lithuanian. Even if it’s in another language, I still understand the technical specifications mentioned in the book,’ he says.
He talks about the time he once came across a book published by the Rover company about their company history and their major projects. ‘Before we started working on Shaikh Zayed’s car, I’d got in touch with them. They keep all records about all their car projects, so they still had the records of the information exchange that went on between Shaikh Zayed and Range Rover in UK, and all the requests Shaikh Zayed made about his vehicle. They shared all this with me,’ he says, proudly.
Using this information, Captain Rashid was able to restore and re-model the 1976 Range Rover he found on the market into the exact replica of Shaikh Zayed’s car.
Even in those early days of 4x4 vehicles, the Range Rover came with coil suspensions and differential locks (extremely useful for driving in sand or other difficult off-road terrain). It’s interesting that the British introduced these specs in the vehicles as early as 1960, he says.
‘That’s the reason Shaikh Zayed opted for Range Rover instead of Land Rover; he wanted the coil suspensions and diff locks. However, the Land Rover had a V8 engine, much more powerful than the Range Rover that only had four cylinders in the 1970s. So Shaikh Zayed asked to have a Land Rover engine
Eleven Emiratis worked on all aspects of the restoration, from mechanical repairs to technical modifications
The sand born Rover
The Rover company exported its four-wheel vehicles to the Arab Gulf as early as 1940s. The first to be seen in what was then the Trucial States were in 1948 at Sharjah Airport, a RAF base at that time, where Land Rovers were used to “taxi” people around. In fact, it was that same year that Land Rover launched its first model, the Series I.
Only a year earlier, in 1947, engineer and chief designer of the Rover company, Maurice Wilks, came up with the Land Rover idea, born out of sand.
To start with, the Land Rover Series I was only available in army green colour, equipped with a 1.6 litre, four cylinders engine. It was launched first as a pick-up, then as a station-wagon and sold as a commercial vehicle to avoid UK’s purchase tax. That meant that the maximum speed limit could not exceed 48 kilometres per hour on roads.
Following the discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi, those early vehicles became very popular, being used to explore new oil deposits in remote desert areas that were not easily accessible.
With oil came wealth, and with wealth came new development, particularly the ability to invest in roads and infrastructure. It was an important time for Abu Dhabi, but also an important time for the Rover company, which had a new vehicle being planned: the Range Rover, officially launched in 1970.
The first model prototype was built in 1967 and only finalised in 1969.
Following its official launch in 1970, the Range Rover was exhibited at the Louvre art museum in Paris, as an “exemplary work of industrial design”. Being considered one of the most luxurious and most capable 4x4 vehicle of its time, it didn’t take long to captivate the Arab world.
‘Shaikh Zayed didn’t just change the engine. He had the roof removed, so the vehicle could be used for hunting. He also requested for the windscreen to be collapsible for the same purpose. The Leader also had a radio fitted in the back seat area. This was a large military radio, the only one available for long distance communication back then. We managed to find one and fitted in the restored vehicle,’ explains Captain Rashid.
“The seats too were changed. Shaikh Zayed loved tiger or leopard designs, so he had special order of tiger print leather upholstery that we also managed to fit in the restored Range Rover.’
Finally, the vehicle was fitted with “balloon” tyres, thought to perform better in sandy terrain. It is not known how many years Shaikh Zayed kept his first Range Rover or what happened to the car, but he did use it not only for hunting and off-roading, but also to inspect the desert oil fields in the western areas of Abu Dhabi.
The restored 1976 Shaikh Zayed Range Rover by Al Ain Classic Cars is now exhibited right next to UAE President His Highess Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s 1988 Range Rover, a red-and-white vehicle that he also used for hunting trips in the UAE, Morocco and Pakistan during 1988 and 1995.
Both Range Rovers are also presented now at heritage related festivals in the country, particularly since the UAE celebrates this year as the Year of Zayed.