HERE’S ONE THEY MADE (A LOT) EARLIER
Mark Dixon gets behind the wheel of a 1969 Velar
WHAT’S AN OLD Range Rover worth now? In this particular case, the answer is £132,250. At least, that’s the price this vehicle fetched at auction in 2014, so it’s probably on the low side by now…
That eye-watering price tag is partly down to its chassis number, 33500001A, which marks it out as the very first of the pre-production Range Rovers – disguised at the time as ‘Velars’ – built in 1969, after seven engineering prototypes that had chassis numbers 100/1 to 100/7. But it’s also because this is an outstandingly original example, restored at a time when you could still get the really rare bits, and retaining matching-numbers chassis, engine, transmission and axles, not to mention its original body.
It drives nicely, too – but then, early Range Rovers always do, even the tired ones (which this one emphatically isn’t). That unique combination of lazy, softtune V8, long coil springs and huge, thin-rimmed steering wheel is remarkably relaxing, and the original Rangie’s lighter weight makes it feel much more sprightly than you’d expect of a big 4x4 that has ‘only’ 132bhp on tap. You can surf across a tussocky field in great comfort, with none of the crashiness you’d be suffering in a contemporary leaf-sprung Land Rover – although the long, willowy gear lever is a constant reminder that they are not so distantly related. Unlike a Land Rover, however, the Range Rover has permanent four-wheel drive, so there’s no need to bang down a little yellow knob to select it.
Inside the Spartan but notably airy cabin, it strikes you that the 1969 Velar has at least one thing in common with the 2017 Velar – both vehicles look as though they went straight from styling studio to factory floor, with not much interference in between. Whereas the new Velar’s interior is all concept car glamour, however, the 1969 version appears more like the studio’s initial mock-up; something roughed out in clay using a steel rule as a scraper. As a result, it seems exceptionally pure but also slightly unfinished, with its stick-on instrument pod (intended for easy adoption to left- or right-hand drive), flat, rectangular door cards and razor-edge dashtop.
However, whereas the interior is so very Space 1999 in its futurism that it now looks severely dated, the exterior still appears ageless, its details (those vertical-strip door handles!) a constant source of delight. And with Jaguar Land Rover now offering fully rebuilt 1970s examples from £135,000 and up, that 2014 auction price for the first-of-the-first suddenly looks rather good value.