Land Rover to restore rediscovered prototype
LAND Rover is restoring an original pre-production car from the 1940s as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations this year.
The carmaker is marking the anniversary with a series of celebrations, beginning with the restoration of the vehicle that started it all. The car is one of the three pre-production Land Rovers shown at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show launch.
For years its whereabouts remained a mystery. It was last seen on the road in the 1960s after which it spent 20 years in a Welsh field before being bought as a restoration project.
However, it then lay languishing, unfinished, in a garden.
Following its surprise discovery just a few miles outside Solihull, where the car was first built, staff at Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in Coventry spent months researching company archives to unravel its ownership history and confirm its origins.
The team behind the Land Rover Series I Reborn programme, which allows customers to own a restored Series I car, will now embark on what the company is calling “their most challenging project yet”. They are aiming to preserve this historically significant prototype and enable it to be driven again.
The car has special features that are unique to the 48 pre-production Land Rovers that were produced prior to the mass production vehicles, such as thicker aluminium alloy body panels, a galvanised chassis and a removable rear tub.
The patina of its components will be preserved, including the original light green paint applied in 1948.
Tim Hannig, director of Jaguar Land Rover Classic, said: “This Land Rover is an irreplaceable piece of world automotive history and is as historically important as ‘Huey’, the first pre-production Land Rover.
“Beginning its sympathetic restoration here at Classic Works, where we can ensure it’s put back together precisely as it’s meant to be, is a fitting way to start Land Rover’s 70th anniversary year. There is something charming about the fact that 70 years ago this vehicle would have been undergoing its final adjustments before being prepared for the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show launch.”
Previous owners of this historic vehicle are being invited to Jaguar Land Rover’s Classic Works facility to share their experiences and to witness its restoration.