GARY PUSEY

IN an exclusive discussion with LRM, Philip Bashall revealed more about his exciting vision for the Dunsfold DLR building in Surrey, and what he’s planning to do with one of the world’s largest Land Rover parts stockholdings. On Bonfire Night last year, a press release went out announcing that Land Rover parts and servicing business Dunsfold DLR Ltd would be closing with immediate effect. The news sent shock waves through the Land Rover community, especially among those of us running older vehicles who had relied on DLR’S vast stash of spares and the team’s many years of accumulated knowledge.

DLR had, after all, been around since Brian Bashall founded it as Common House Garage in 1968, when he acquired a redundant Second World War searchlight station on the periphery of the airfield that used to be RAF Dunsfold. In fact, you could argue that the business goes back even further, because Brian had been working on military vehicles and Land Rovers at the family home in Thames Ditton, and later at Farley Green in the Surrey Hills, since the late 1950s.

In his press statement regarding the closure of DLR, managing director Philip Bashall announced that he would be retiring and said, “for many years my ambition has been to commit more of my time to the Dunsfold Collection, which is a registered charity that operates completely independently of DLR. I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time on Collection activities. Deciding to close DLR was a very difficult decision to make, and I’d like to thank everyone for their custom and support over the years. I would also like to thank my staff for their contribution and loyalty over many years”.

It felt very much like the end of an era, and many Land Rover enthusiasts wondered what would happen to DLR’S vast parts stock. Well, over the past week or so things have become much clearer. Philip has been very busy since the announcement, working his way through the cavernous parts store and making up stillages of parts, which he is offering for sale.

“All the stock needs to go and obviously I’m keen that other parts specialists have the opportunity to bid for the lots,” he told us. “I felt the fairest way to make the parts available was on a sealed bid basis, so I’ve created a sealed bid auction facility on the DLR website. My plan is to allocate all of my stock into model-related lots and offer the lots for sale over a ten-day bidding period. I’d be happy for individual enthusiasts or groups of enthusiasts, or any of the Land Rover clubs to bid, but they need to register with me first. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to sell individual parts to private owners. If I did that, I’d be selling stuff forever!”

As I write this, the first 15 lots have already appeared on the website, and bidding is underway. A quick look revealed that Lot 1 comprises 180 electrical and mechanical part numbers for P38A, while Lot 2 is a P38A automatic gearbox. Lots 4, 5 and 8 contain nearly 300 Freelander 1 part numbers, while Lots 11 to 14 contain over 250 101 Forward Control part numbers. In some cases, there are multiple examples of individual part numbers. Having had a chance to examine the entire parts inventory, it’s clear that pretty much every single model of Land Rover will be catered for in future lots.

It’s a huge job, but Philip is a man on a mission. “I own the site and the building, and once I’ve disposed of the parts stock my plan is to gut the building, renovate it, and lease it to the Dunsfold Collection for a peppercorn rent.

“My vision for the Collection has always been that we would have the means to display the vehicles and allow enthusiasts to visit to see them. I’d also like to make the archive available for researchers and put the huge collection of Land Rover models on view. Although the building is nowhere near big enough to display the 150-odd vehicles that we have, it will allow us to display 25 to 30, and that means we will be able to rotate the display several times a year, having perhaps a Defender theme for a few months, and then rotating to Range Rover, and so on. It means there will always be something new to see, and the individual clubs will be able to visit or hold club meetings here, when vehicles of particular interest to them are on display.

“The plan will also allow me to create a dedicated archive area with enough space to allow us to start to catalogue everything, although that is going to be a huge job! We’ll also be able to show items from the archive. Just imagine a display of every single Land Rover owner’s handbook, or a full set of Range Rover brochures!

“I’d like to be able to set aside an area where visitors can sit and relax, and maybe enjoy a cup of tea and a bun. I’m also clearing the years of accumulated material outside the building and this will create space for visitors to park. If things go well, I’m hoping that everything will be ready by next year.”

It is a remarkably generous gesture, and one we should all be prepared to support.

“My vision for the Collection has always been that we would have the means to display the vehicles, space to catalogue everything and create an area visitors can sit and relax"

nAward-winning journalist Gary Pusey is co-author of Range Rover The First Fifty, trustee of The Dunsfold Collection and a lifelong Land Rover enthusiast. What this man doesn’t know, isn’t worth knowing!