First Love
The LRM team reveal their first Land Rover encounter and also their favourite Landy of all time
Thom Westcott
I grew up gazing at a romantic black and white photo of my mother eating an icicle beside my father’s Series IIA, which was sold before I was born.
When I first saw my battered Series III Lightweight 15 years ago it was love at first sight. Design classic. Solihull’s finest moment.
Trevor Cuthbert
I can still remember the old Series IIA hard top on the farm and how much I loved it. I was aged four at the time. It was sold to make way for a Ford lorry, but I never forgot it!
My favourite Land Rover is my 110 V8 – I’ve had it the longest of all, in all three of its incarnations, and I have refused more offers for it than you’d believe. True love never dies!
Patrick Cruywagen
My first Land Rover experience was not pleasant. While deployed in Namibia with my platoon, the Defender I was in ended up under a truck. My head smashed the windscreen.
My favourite Defender is my first one, a South African 2.8i petrol Defender 90 (see pic above). I tried to buy it back recently without success.
Bob Morrison
My first proper Land Rover experience was a visit to Brian Bashall’s in Dunsfold in the early 1980s to research the marque for a scale modelling project.
Although I have never owned one, my favourite Land Rover will always be the Forward Control 101 which was the best military utility 4x4 by far.
Dave Phillips
It was 1961 and I was five. Sometimes I’d get a lift to school in my mate’s dad’s Land Rover. I don’t know whether it was a Series I or II, but it was green, had a canvas roof and it smelled of mud and oil. I loved it.
My favourite is the Discovery 1, because it was groundbreaking, versatile and gave the world the Tdi engine. Oh yes, and it also saved Land Rover from financial ruin.
Jack Dobson
At the age of seven my dad returned home in a shiny red County Series III with a huge bull bar and spotlights. My favourite is ‘Grandma’, my Series IIA V8. I bought her when I was 16. She’s very special because she was my first car. Must get her back on the road this year!
Dave Barker
In 1971 I worked at a garage after school. I got the job of removing the floors of a Series 80in so the gearbox could be replaced. Messy work! My favourite is any Series I – they are all true classics and a vehicle that you really have to drive, both on- and off-road, with no gimmicks or electronics to help.
Alisdair Cusick
I was seven or eight, in a then-new 1987 Range Rover. Sitting high up, looking over hedges, learning the diff-lock lever allowed you to drive though the jungle, I was hooked. My favourite is my beautiful Range Rover Classic. It’s the pinnacle of my favourite era of Solihull and because it has my name on the registration document.
Gary Stretton
My first experience was at the age of 13, almost being bounced out of an open-back Series III 109, driving off-road without brakes or rear seats. Terrifying yet exhilarating.
My favourite was my old 1966 Series IIA. My wife loved it, too.
Richard Hall
It was in Oman, in 1980. Dad borrowed a 109 Station Wagon to go to the beach. He got it stuck. We spent all day digging it out.
My favourite is my Series IIA 109in truck cab diesel in grey; battered and bruised, with a tatty canvas and a terrier on the passenger seat. It has so much character.
Mark Dixon
In 1986 I helped drive an ex-army Series III out to Iraq for an archaeological dig. The Iraq-iran war was still in progress, so the Landy was painted blue to avoid it being targeted by an Iranian fighter jet. My favourite is my 1955 107. Best-looking of the Series Is, best colour – grey – and in the best ondition: nicely patinated without looking dog-rough.
Frank Elson
In the mid1950s one drove up the lane to the farm. It did things a tractor couldn’t and I fell in love.
I’ve never found a model of Land Rover that I didn’t like. My favourite is always the one I’m driving at the time.
Steve Miller
I was nine years old and used to get driven around the woods in a converted Series IIA 109. I used to think I was in the A-team!
Favourite has to be the NAS 90. A timeless classic that is uber-cool, with the sound track of a V8. I’ll have mine in AA yellow, please.
Gary Pusey
My first Land Rover Experience was as a teenager in the early 1970s, seeing the first Range Rovers on the road, and deciding that one day I would own one.
My favourite remains the Classic Range Rover. It pioneered the luxury SUV market and changed the automotive world. Owning them has changed my life in many ways, too!
Ed Evans
My first experience was in 1968, racing along the sands and through the surf on the Cumbrian coast in a Series I with the tilt off.
My favourite is the Discovery 2: the best combination of fun, practicality, looks, loadspace, seating, driveability, handling, off-road ability and DIYfriendliness that there will ever be.