Farewell to a Land Rover star
NOT many vehicles can have had as many incarnations as the Land Rover Defender –a vehicle which is as at home in a battlezone as it is selling ice cream.
Land Rover’s legendary off-roader has been put to all manner of uses over the years since the original Series I Land Rover was launched in 1948.
Beloved by farmers, the rich and famous, the police, the military and the country set – the vehicle has also spawned amphibious versions and has starred in several cinematic blockbusters.
In the Land Rover world 2016 will be remembered as the year the car maker said a sad farewell to this automotive icon when the last Defender rolled off the Lode Lane production line.
January truly marked the end of an era when productionclose originallyThe after famous68 simply came years. off-roader,knownto a as been the in Land continuous Rover, pro- had duction at the Coventry car maker’s Solihull factory since 1948.
In all 2,016,933 Series I, II and III Land Rovers and Defenders were built, using a manufacturing process that changed little in almost 70 years.
It is estimated 70 per cent of those two million plus vehicles are still running.
A special celebration to mark the end of production saw a parade of vehicles make its way around the road network at the Lode Lane factory. They ranged from Huey, the first Land Rover ever made, to the specially adapted Defender created for the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider film. As well as being renowned for being the consummate go anywhere off-roader and one of the best recognised vehicles in the world the Defender also lent itself splendidly to modification and adaptation.
Favoured by police forces and the military throughout the world, armoured Defenders were used in everything from riots to frontline action in war zones.
The original Land Rover was the brainchild of Maurice Wilks, Rover’s chief engineer, who famously sketched his original design in the sand on an Anglesey beach for his brother Spencer, who was managing director of the Rover Company.
It was created as part of a drive to get British car manufacturing moving again in the wake of the Second World War.
Launched at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show, the idea was based on the US Army’s Willys Jeep, a multi-purpose vehicle used by the Allies during the war.
The Defender had a raft of famous owners - including the Queen, Sir Winston Churchill and Steve McQueen.