“I was delighted to see the P38A”
Gallery five leads you to the big developments in the Range Rover story, starting with the In Vogue models that appeared in 1980. The first of these limited editions, a two-door, was launched in collaboration with Vogue magazine and the car appeared alongside the Jaeger spring clothing collection. It was intended to test the market’s appetite for a more luxurious Range Rover, and deliberately associated the car with style and fashion. It’s probably fair to say that the Jaeger spring fashion collection has been consigned to history, while the Vogue name lives on even today in the Range Rover. Of course, the term luxurious has to be seen in the context of what had gone before, which was more agricultural than luxurious. But needless to say the market responded positively, really with a kind of ‘we have been waiting for this for years’ sigh, and the first In Vogue was followed by two more, this time four-doors, the version of which the company had at last decided to develop. It struck me that an example of one of these important vehicles could usefully be added to the display. In fact, a couple of additional vehicles on display would not go amiss, in my view.
The display cabinets in gallery five are well worth an extended browse as well, because there is some wonderful stuff there for students of Land Rover’s commitment and journey to make the Range Rover a style icon. Picnic hampers, clothing, brochures, Gerry Mcgovern’s limited edition Range Rover El Primero watch… it’s all there. It was also nice to hear the tour guide pay tribute to the help provided by Philip Bashall of The Dunsfold Collection in helping to track down rare items for the display.
Gallery six showcases the arrival of the second generation P38A and, as a fan, I was delighted to see this car recognised by its maker at long last. I think the P38A has been at best ignored by the company, at worst airbrushed out of history, for far too long. But that’s just my opinion. As well as the P38A, the third and fourth generations are introduced here, together with the Sport variant and the one we all love to hate, the Evoque. The gallery also introduces the theme of personalisation introduced with the Autobiography programme as long ago as 1993, which has in recent years become an extraordinarily important element at the premium end of the company’s markets. There’s also a rather nice display of 1/43 scale Range Rover models, which I confess I am always a sucker for.
The final gallery on our tour was obscured behind closed doors, and when they were opened with a flourish the Range Rover Story was brought bang up to date, for there before us was a really quite stunning pre-production Range Rover Velar in a matt silver finish. The more I look at this car the more impressed I am by its design and styling – there, I’ve said it. But what I would really love to know is what David Bache would make of it.