Welcome June 2020 Issue 563
It’s time to celebrate the car that scrambled and heaved its way over every obstacle to eventually change the World
Of all the cars launched 50 years ago, only two model lines survive, the Suzuki Jimny and the Range Rover. I don’t recall the pint-sized Japanese offroader being much talked about back in 1970, but the Range Rover made quite a splash, not least for its hefty £2000 price tag at a time when the average house price was just a vinyl roof option shy of £5000. I even had a Corgi Range Rover of my own in Police ‘Vigilant’ spec and enough traffic cones and signs to cordon off the inevitable accident between my permanently car-chasing Aston DB6 and Jensen FF. I don’t believe a Jimny was even available in the Congleton toy shop. If it was, one never made it into the Bell shoe box known as my garage.
I was too young to appreciate how its commanding presence was backed up by game-changing capabilities, and how accessible they were thanks to brilliantly simple innovations. And I had no idea that this car would be so influential. Sure, the Jeep Wagoneer pioneered the concept, but it was the Range Rover that all of the imitators would want to be. While I’d never describe myself as a fan of the breed we now call SUV – a word that sounds as out of place in the UK as ‘high-school prom’ to describe an end-of-year school disco – the Range Rover is right up there with the Mini as one of the cars that changed the World.
It deserves special recognition, a tribute that captures what it was five decades ago and what it went on to become. It’s a shame that many of the special events planned to mark its big birthday may struggle in these difficult times, if they happen at all. But I hope you’ll enjoy a few hours escape from the lockdown in the pages of this issue, led by our 15-page section on the Range Rover.
And if you’re finding it harder to get out to the stores where you usually buy your copy of Classic Cars, do you know that you can order single print or digital copies, or full subscriptions, from our website?
Whatever you’re doing to get through these difficult times, stay safe.