Joey Smallwood and his Land Rover Defender
We get all kinds of reaction to vehicle articles and photos in The Telegram Drive section. And lots of feedback from readers with old photos for this column. For example, when Clayton Hann saw the article in Drive on Saturday, February 7th. all about the Land Rover Defender going out of production and an exhibition being set up in England, he sent us the following little memory piece, along with a photo of his artwork:
“Hello Paul, I read The Telegram article Feb. 7, 2015, ‘Land Rover opens
attraction honouring the Defender’.
Joey Smallwood had a 1958 Land Rover Defender which, as I understand it, was the first vehicle to drive across Newfoundland in 1958. In 1966 (Come Home Year) one evening I watched as a light blue Land Rover drove past our house in Port aux Basques. It was Joey Smallwood who just repeated his feat from 1958 but this time on the newly-paved Trans Canada Highway. He was in town to officially open the original Bruce Arena.
As a hobby I do watercolour paintings, especially of Newfoundland historic subject matter. I’m enclosing one I did of the opening of the T.C.H. through Newfoundland in 1965 with Joey and his Land Rover. The history behind this interesting vehicle is well presented in this link:
http://www.nlclassics.com/ node/1
- Regards, Clayton Hann, Gander
- Thanks Clayton!
- Paul Sparkes psparkes@thetelegram.com
While the Defender has not been officially on sale in Canada for quite some time, it is currently still in production – though not for long. This year, Land Rover will cease making this iconic SUV after a 67-year run. That makes it the longest-run production model in the company's history. To celebrate the end, Land Rover has propped up a display, replicating the original production line for the Defender Series 1 from 1948. This exhibit will allow visitors to see how this 4x4 was made soon after the end of the Second World War. About 20,000 visitors are expected to attend this exhibit in Solihull, England this year.