Faded Glory
Nick Dimbleby visits Bespoke Off Road in the Cotswolds to check out their latest acquisition: an all-original, low-mileage 1978 Range Rover that previously served as a VRW (aka Vorausrüstwagen) for the German emergency services
Check out this all-original 1978 Range Rover that served with the German emergency services
OVER THE past few years a particular type of classic Land Rover has become more and more popular: the well-lived, unpolished and weather-beaten look of patina. In the past, these well-used examples that had survived the test of time would have been stripped down, rebuilt, rebodied and resprayed, ending up as highly-polished examples that would be the envy of many a concours d’elegance enthusiast. That would have been standard ten years ago, but nowadays there’s a new breed of enthusiast that tends to prefer the more lived-in look. These rebuilds get all the mechanical stuff underneath sorted, but leave the body and interior with the wellearned battle scars of the past. Faded paint shows age and every dent tells a story – testament to a life well lived and a unique
record of the vehicle’s many years of service.
In the case of Series Land Rovers and early Ninetys and One Tens, these patinated working Land Rovers are relatively easy to find; particularly in Australia and other warmer countries where the paint is crazed by years of UV exposure and dreaded rust is kept at bay by a lack of salt on the roads and the drier climate (see
A Little Piece of Heaven, LRM, Issue 251, Winter 2019). In Northern Europe, however, it’s rare to come across an alloriginal patinated Land Rover. Although there are quite a few looking tatty in fields or tucked away in barns and lock-ups, these survivors are mostly too far gone to contemplate anything less than a ground-up restoration to replace all the bits that have dissolved after years of exposure to damp, salt and dirt.
That’s why this 1978 Suffix F Range Rover is such a find. It’s an all-original, beautifully-maintained, low-mileage example that is completely unrestored. It’s lovely to drive, has patina in
spades, and, as you can see from these photos, it’s rather eye-catching too.
Chassis number 35849612F (the vehicle is currently unregistered) started life as a white two-door German export model, and upon import into the Federal Republic of Germany – as it was back then – it was sent to the specialist converters Barth of Fellbach, Germany, to have some rather specialist modifications. Barth had the initial contract to convert factory-fresh Range Rovers into Vorausrüstwägen, (literally ‘Forward Emergency Cars’) and approximately 150 to 200 Range Rovers were converted by them and another company, Brinck, between 1974 and 1986.
The origin of these emergency Range Rovers was a need for fast all-terrain vehicles that would be quick to reach the scene of a road traffic accident, delivering efficient first-aid treatment to traumatised victims within the vital first hour. The first of these pioneering response vehicles was delivered in 1974/5, developed and financed by the Björn Steiger Stiftung (Foundation).
Björn Steiger was a child who died tragically in a car accident in the early 1970s, when the regular two-wheeldrive ambulance responding to the emergency took too long to get to the remote scene of the accident. Had help come earlier he might have survived, so the family set up the foundation to fund the development and purchase of a new type of rapid response vehicle: the Vorausrüstwagen or VRW. At the time, the V8-powered and coil-sprung Range Rover was the only vehicle that was suitable for the job, and after the first vehicles had been proven to save lives, the German Feuerwehr ordered them for every fire station near major arterial roads – particularly in the mountainous regions of southern Germany.
The particular vehicle that we see here was one of 17 ordered in 1977 and still proudly bears the coat of arms of the town of Bad Saulgau, situated in southern Germany, just north of the border between Germany, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. Most Range Rover Vorausrüstwägen models had long service lives of up to 30 years, this vehicle went out of service in 2002. It was then loaned to the BW Fire Museum in Stuttgart. The emergency equipment inside was updated and replaced over this period, but as the vehicles mercifully didn’t see a lot of use in anger, there was little need to replace the well-maintained vehicles that were doing the job well already.
After leaving the Feuerwehr, the Range Rover was purchased by a collector in France, who kept it in his collection for ten years, using it only occasionally. At this time, it sat exposed to the sun on one side, which meant that the highly-uv-sensitive bright orange paint started to fade and turn white. This is why this vehicle has somewhat unusual paintwork, but you could argue that this is now part of its patinated history.
It was customary for the Feuerwehr to remove all their specialist equipment upon sale, so the chequerplate-lined boot of this vehicle is empty now, unfortunately. In service, the Vorausrüstwägen would have carried hydraulic cutters, powerful spotlights, extensive first aid kits and all manner of specialist equipment. You can imagine it all sat there waiting to save lives, and it would be amazing if an enthusiast were to re-equip the vehicle with the correct period equipment.
What has survived are the myriad of modifications that Barth made to the Range Rover to turn it into an emergency vehicle. Unsurprisingly there are two blue flashing lights and a serious siren to warn vehicles that the Range Rover was coming, while more interesting modifications include two enormous bonnet-mounted mirrors that replaced the small door-mounted ones that were fitted at the time, as well as two roof-mounted rear indicator lights that have come from the parts catalogue of the late 1970s VW Beetle.
Internally, the vehicle has been more significantly modified, with the most obvious change being a massive electricity generator sitting between the two front seats. This is powered using the PTO output that was available with the LT95 four-speed manual gearbox, with the electrical power outputs exiting at the rear of the vehicle. A hand throttle and rev counter were fitted to control the amount of power being produced, and one can only imagine how this must have sounded with the V8 revving away, the gearbox turning the generator, powering spotlights and other emergency equipment out in the field.
As the Range Rover was stuffed with emergency equipment, the rear seat was removed and replaced with a single Recaro high-back seat with lap belt. Storage bins for equipment were built in to one side, and there was a jerry can strapped into the opposite side of the vehicle, no doubt provided to top up the thirsty V8 if it was left driving the generator for hours at a time.
The front fascia remained pretty much as standard, with a
few small modifications made to fit the switches for the emergency equipment, as well as a cut-out in front of the front seat passenger binnacle to allow for the in-service Feuerwehr VHF radio.
Other interesting items of note are the unique features that were fitted to all German-spec Range Rovers at that time. These are the front and rear bumper overriders in rubber (the rear ones including a reflector), bonnet hinge covers and metal V8 badges within the rear light clusters. These, the German heater controls and the British Leyland UK Ltd weight plaque fitted under the bonnet mark this out as a German export vehicle.
Chassis number 35849612F has done a very modest 35,139 kilometres over its 30-year life, although it’s possible that it has also spent many hours with the engine at 2500 rpm to power the generator. Having said that, the engine sounds super-smooth and the gearbox feels fresh – certainly it’s not a tired example on its last legs; which for a 41-year-old vehicle is quite remarkable. Edward Ross Markham of Bespoke Off Road bought it as part of a French collection a few months ago, and is in two minds what to do with it.
Although the vehicle is for sale, he told me that there’s part of him that would like to keep it and restore it back to its original spec, complete with period equipment and patina. Niggling issues like the sagging headlining would be addressed, but he feels that the faded paint is part of its charm. Such marks are a sign of a life lived fully, although you could argue that the German Feuerwehr would have never let it get so faded had it still been in service.
Another option – which would be a shame - would be to strip out all the emergency equipment and convert it back to being a rather nice, standard low-mileage 1978 Suffix F Range Rover. To do so, of course, would lose all of its history and its unique charm, but you could argue that it’d be a much more usable classic that way. I suspect that this is what has already happened to the majority of other Vorausrüstwägen models that have been sold over the years.
It will be the decision of whoever ends up with this little piece of Range Rover and German Feuerwehr history. I look forward to hearing about where it ends up.
“Converting it back to a nice, standard low-mileage Suffix F would lose its history and unique charm”