The end – and a beginning
On the same day that the very last Defender rolls off the line, Land Rover announces it will be restoring Series Is for sale
AT 9.22 in The morning of Friday 29 January, the last Land Rover Defender left the production line at the Solihull factory where every traditional Land Rover has been made since 1948.
A huge crowd of employees and invited guests thronged the assembly area as the final batch of Defenders were bolted together, and for once Health and Safety considerations were put aside while memories were captured on every kind of recording device, from mobile phones to TV outside broadcast units. Far from it being a sombre occasion, there was something of a party feel – not least because no-one has been made redundant, and line workers will be deployed elsewhere in the factory.
The very last Defender, chassis 490328, is a soft-top 90 in Keswick Green, and it will remain as part of Jaguar Land Rover’s own heritage fleet. In a nod to the first-ever Land Rover, a 1948 Series I known as ‘Huey’ after its 166 HUE registration, this Defender has been registered as H166 HUE – the initial ‘H’ plausibly standing for ‘Heritage’. Land Rover can thank its long-serving ambassador Roger Crathorne for that: the man known as ‘Mr Land Rover’ for his 52 years as an engineer, instructor and spokesman snapped up the ’plate many years ago, thinking it would come in useful one day.
‘It’s been a morning of mixed feelings,’ Roger told Octane, ‘though I’m probably more emotional for the workforce than the vehicle. Their spirit is unique and I can’t imagine this kind of event happening at any other car plant. It will be interesting to see how they take this team spirit to the other parts of the factory in which they’ll now be working. We don’t want to lose any of these people; they make Land Rover what it is.
‘I’m fortunate in that I’ve ordered one of the very last Defenders, also a soft-top 90 in Keswick Green. It will be my everyday car, and whenever I climb into it I’ll be thinking of the men and women who built it.’
There was a moment of unintentional comedy when, as the automated line inexorably pulled the near-complete vehicles towards the end of the assembly hall, it was realised that a roof-rackequipped 110 wasn’t going to clear a metal bar carrying cables over the line – apparently, the roof racks were normally fitted after production. A fitter with an air-wrench worked frantically to dismantle the bar as the 110 loomed ever closer, cheered along with ribald comments from his workmates, which only added to the good-humoured atmosphere. Thankfully, he achieved his goal.