The Enthusiast
“Whether you like the styling or not, Gerry Mcgovern is designing cars the wider market want to buy”
Many of you will have visited Goodwood for one or other of its major motoring events, the Festival of Speed and the Revival. I have been a regular at the Revival since its early years, although I have to say that I prefer the less well-known third event, the spring Members’ Meeting, now in its fourth year. It reminds me of the early days of the Revival: accessible, affordable, and not too crowded. And the racing is just as good.
It is remarkable how many early Land Rovers you see at the Revival nowadays. It wasn’t that long ago when the only ones you’d spot were in the tow lane behind the paddock, or dragging broken down cars off the circuit. True, there’d be a few in the classic car park, but that would be it. I remember the first time I went in my early Range Rover, only a few years back. Mine was the only one there. For the past two years, though, the Revival has boasted a vast area dedicated to visitors’ pre-1976 Land Rovers, complete with an impressive stand sponsored by JLR. And you would have seen considerably more than one early Range Rover.
If you were there in 2015 you would have witnessed something that I never thought I’d see at a Revival meeting: over 50 pre-1966 Land Rovers parading round the hallowed tarmac, as part of JLR’S year of events to mark the passing of Defender.
This spring, I went as usual to the Members’ Meeting and I took the Suffix A, just as I did at the first Meeting in 2014. Why? Because I like to park on the Lavant Bank where, unlike all the other old cars, I park facing away from the circuit so that I can make good use of the tailgate, settle down with a DIY picnic, and watch some racing.
The thing that was noticeably different this year was how much attention the car got, and how many people seemed to know the significance of an H-plate on a two- door Range Rover. But what I found really interesting, and quite thought-provoking, was a conversation with several classic car owners who were parked alongside. Somebody asked me what I thought of the latest vehicles to carry the Range Rover brand, the Evoque and the new Velar.
Based on how the conversation had been going up to that point, it was obvious that my new friends were expecting me to be negative, if not derogatory, or even downright rude, but I tried to explain that I see these cars from two distinct perspectives.
As a life-long Range Rover fanatic, my personal passion extends to every iteration of the first-generation classic, and up to and including the second-generation P38A. Beyond that, at the moment I am not particularly enthused about owning a third- or fourth-generation Range Rover, or a Sport in either of its guises, although I have driven them and been impressed by what they can do. And I certainly have no interest personally in owning an Evoque or a mark two Velar. So I am probably a bit of a dinosaur.
But that does not stop me being amazed by the technology, delighted by the sales success, and proud that these vehicles (and the Discovery family and, hopefully, the new Defender) are designed and built in this country, at least for now. JLR is a manufacturer of international standing that can hold its head high, and that has got to be a good thing. When a car maker starts to show serious interest in its heritage, as JLR is doing now, we can take confidence that their willingness to support the cars they made years ago is genuine. At least that is my hope!
My new friends were not going to let me off the hook that easily, though, and demanded to know what I thought about what they described as the ‘ house style’, which they thought had led to all the vehicles looking the same. One bloke went so far as to suggest that he couldn’t tell them apart unless he could read the badging on the back, which I confess I have heard just a few times before! But I conceded that the point was well-made, and that for me the styling is one of the reasons I am not going out of my way to own a modern vehicle. But clearly the cars are selling, and selling well. So whether you or I like the styling or not, Gerry Mcgovern is designing cars that the wider market wants to buy. Globally. As the little group started to break up to watch the next race, one chap lingered. He thought I had a point. He had two old cars, he said, one a Vauxhall from the mid-1920s, and the other a Frazer Nash from the 1930s. He said he felt absolutely no connection whatsoever with the Vauxhall company of today or its products, which did not embody any of the values that underpinned his pre-war model. And since Frazer Nash stopped making cars in the 1950s, he continued, to all intents and purposes that brand was dead.
Owners of old Land Rovers, he said, should be chuffed that the company is not only still around, but also making cars that have a connection with where it all started in 1948. Food for thought.