Landy Life
Land Rovers were built for winter: make the most of your pride and joy whatever the weather throws at you
IN A MOVE that has taken the Land Rover world by surprise, the first production 80” to come off the line in July 1948 has been sold in a private sealed-bid auction. The whole process is shrouded in secrecy, and even now no official statements have been made by either the vendors, the person that ran the auction on their behalf, or the new owner. Rumours abound, with some sources suggesting that the successful bidder offered a six-figure sum. Whether JLR themselves were a bidder is unknown, but it is reasonable to think that they would have been invited to bid on such an important vehicle.
The vehicle concerned, which carries the chassis number R860001 and the registration number JUE 477, was retained by the company and not registered until February 1950, when it was seemingly sold to Professor Mcewen of Newcastle University. It has been known about for a number of years, having been discovered in derelict condition in 1995 by a small group of dedicated Series I enthusiasts, reportedly on an open hillside near Allendale in Northumberland.
It was shown in public for the first time at the Land Rover 50th Anniversary event at Shugborough Hall in 1998, which was organised by the Land Rover Series One Club, and many who saw it there were amazed at the poor condition of the vehicle, which appeared to have broken its back. Its original engine was removed years ago, although engine number one is reputed to be in the safe hands of a collector in the UK. Whether engine number one was actually installed in chassis number one also appears to be open to question, but the probability is that it was.
Nevertheless, there were many who were interested in acquiring it, but at that time the owner, David Fairless, was quoted as saying that he did not wish to sell the vehicle and was planning to restore it in due course. The extent of the restoration work required would have been a formidable task even then, and still will be for the new owner, and we have to wonder just how much of the original vehicle could be incorporated into any restoration, and whether the final result would be more ‘replica’ than ‘restoration’.
At the time of its public appearance, some commentators said that it deserved to be preserved in ‘as-found’ condition, and that any attempt at restoration would simply destroy what little was left of the original. Others reckoned that a vehicle of such historic importance deserved to be rebuilt to usable condition.
A number of collectors are known to have followed up their interest in acquiring the vehicle by maintaining individual contact with Mr Fairless in the years following the Shugborough show, hoping to secure the car, but David Fairless passed away in June this year.
Whether he had sold the car before his death or whether it remained with his family is not clear, but whoever owned the car decided to sell it via a sealed-bid auction, and appointed someone who had experience of such sales to conduct it on their behalf. Whether a public auction might have realised an even higher price being paid we will never know.
Exactly how potential buyers were selected is known only to the vendor and the auctioneer, but we can speculate that those who participated are collectors or businesses with very deep pockets!
It will be interesting to discover in due course who the successful buyer was, and whether the vehicle will remain in the UK or go abroad, like Sir Winston Churchill’s 1954 Series I, which was sold at auction in 2012 for £129,000 – more than twice its estimate. In considerably better condition than number one, it has now been completely restored and is on display at the Emil Frey Classic Car Museum at Safenwil in Switzerland.
We will all be waiting to see whether chassis number one is also restored, or whether its new owner decides to leave it exactly as it is. Either way, we should be pleased that it is hopefully in safe hands and going to be preserved for posterity, in some form or other.
It is reasonable to think that JLR would have been invited to bid on such an important vehicle.