A grand day out
The Concours of Elegance threw a few surprises
THERE was a time not long ago when you wouldn’t see anything as lowly as a Land Rover at a swanky classic car event like the Concours of Elegance. I always found this irritating, for the simple reason that Land Rovers have made a far more significant contribution to humankind than many of the high-profile, luxury marques that are usually seen at such events. But I’m pleased to see that things are changing, and the Land Rover is starting to hold its head up with the best of them.
The Concours of Elegance is held in the sumptuous grounds of Hampton Court Palace, and last year as far as I know it became the first of the leading concours events to list a Land Rover among the entrants. This was when Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s JUE 477, Land Rover 80in number one, made its first public appearance after the completion of Julian Shoolheifer’s amazing renovation. As a bonus, it also won the top award in the 1940s category.
This year, the organisers planned a line-up of 95 vehicles to celebrate HM The Queen’s 95th birthday, one for each year from 1926 to 2021, which would be displayed alongside the concours entrants at the event. I was sent a copy of their wish list and was delighted to see that Land Rovers appeared in a number of milestone years for the marque.
What really drew my attention was the vehicle the organisers wanted for 1970. Not surprisingly, it was a two-door Range Rover. As regular readers of our Classics section will know, for almost ten years I’ve been fortunate enough to be the custodian of chassis 100/6, the penultimate Engineering Prototype and now the oldest Range Rover in the world. It was a bit of a shed when I acquired it, to be honest, and after a couple of modest and downright dangerous drives in it, I realised it would need a complete renovation.
It was hired by JLR for several press events associated with the launch of the fourth-generation Range Rover, the proceeds of which were donated to the Dunsfold Collection, and it was trailered to a few shows and events, but it would be another five years before I had the resources to begin the work. The more-or-less completed vehicle was introduced to LRM readers in the December 2020 issue, despite the fact that it had a temporary steel bonnet fitted, before being returned to Mitchell Motors for eight months while work was done to restore the aluminium bonnet, which was damaged almost beyond repair.
Hampton Court seemed like a suitable occasion to give 100/6 its first public outing, so I offered it to the organisers. Needless to say, they bit my hand off, and so it was that AOY 289H would represent 1970, the year that the pioneering and revolutionary Range Rover was launched to the world. I decided to keep quiet about the fact that AOY was actually built in July and August 1969!
Reporting instructions and tickets were eventually received, and a favourable weather forecast meant a hat and sunscreen were hastily added to the umbrella on the back seat. Our orders were to arrive at a remote part of Hampton Court Park by 9.30 am from where we would drive in convoy to take our place in date order among all the other vehicles.
Just after ten, the convoy set off to park on the gravel driveway alongside the Palace, and I have to say the gleaming Masai Red Velar looked perfectly at home! After answering a few questions from interested onlookers, we set off to see how many more Land Rovers we could spot, in addition to the other four in the 95th birthday line-up.
We were pleased to see that Jaguar Land Rover Classic were exhibiting at the event, and in fact this was the first public airing for their latest Jaguar continuation, the famous C-type. Classic’s Mike Bishop and Nick Stephens were on duty, so it was an excellent opportunity to catch up with the gossip. They had an immaculate Series I on display, which turned out to be Land Rover Reborn Car Number 12, which could be yours for a gnat’s whisker under £125,000.
JLR also had an example of the 2021 Range Rover SV Autobiography Ultimate Edition and, given the word ‘ultimate’ in its name, it probably represents the last knockings of the current full-fat Range Rover, with its fifth-generation successor expected to be announced later this year. I have to confess that these Special Vehicle Operations limited editions do nothing for me: too much bling is not a good thing! But there seems to be no shortage of very well-heeled customers who want them.
One Land Rover that really did do something for me, though, was the shortwheelbase Series IIA soft-top that was parked innocuously outside the members’ enclosure. It was immaculately restored and very pretty but the thing that stopped me dead in my tracks as I walked up behind it was the charging socket where the fuel filler cap should be. A look under the bonnet showed a large, shiny metal box and not much else.
The information board alongside revealed that it has a galvanised chassis and bulkhead, electrically heated seats upholstered in Bridge of Weir leather, and can hit 60 mph in 13 seconds. The magic box under the bonnet delivers 150 bhp, 221 lb-ft of torque, and has a range of 125 miles. A standard IIA 88in 2¼ petrol would typically excite you with around 77 bhp and 125 lb-ft of torque and hurtle you to 50 mph in 21 seconds. 60 would come up considerably later, just before the puff ran out at 67 mph.
The label said it was made by Everrati, and I wondered whether I’d just glimpsed the zero-emissions future of the old Land Rover. I made a note to give them a call.