This Rediscovered 1948 Land Rover Was One Of The First 3 Made
JLR Classic will restore the former auto show Land Rover that spent decades in hiding.
Long-lost classics, especially if they are among the first cars off the assembly line, tend to hide half a world away. But one of the very first Land Rovers ever made -- the one that was displayed at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show during the marque's launch -- has been found just a few miles outside of Solihull, Land Rover's historical home. We're talking about one of three preproduction Series I Land Rovers that the newly established marque took on a publicity tour in the late 1940s.
How did it manage to stay out of sight all this time? After appearing at several events to launch the line of all-new 4x4s, this example was sold to a private owner and is known to have been in use in the 1960s, but then it was retired to a Welsh field. At some point, it was purchased as a restoration project, but the restoration didn't get very far, and it ended up sitting in a garden for a few more years. That's where it was found in 2016, a few miles outside the plant where it was built.
As you can see from the photos, this rare, preproduction Land Rover is intact and mostly complete, which will help the team at Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works preserve it rather than restore it completely.
"This Land Rover is an irreplaceable piece of world automotive history and is as historically important as ‘Huey,’ the first preproduction Land Rover," said Tim Hannig, Jaguar Land Rover Classic director. "Beginning its sympathetic restoration here at Classic Works, where we can ensure it’s put back together precisely as it’s meant to be, is a fitting way to start Land Rover’s 70th anniversary year.
"There is something charming about the fact that exactly 70 years ago this vehicle would have been undergoing its final adjustments before being prepared for the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show launch -- where the world first saw the shape that’s now immediately recognized as a Land Rover," Hannig added.
The restoration experts plan to preserve the patina of this Land Rover's components, including the light green paint applied all the way back in 1948. But when it comes to spare parts, this is no ordinary Land Rover from the debut series -- these preproduction vehicles used thicker aluminum alloy body panels than regular production Land Rovers and had a removable rear tub and galvanized chassis.
Restoring this particular Land Rover will be a window into the original build process, and it will indeed overlap with Land Rover's 70th anniversary. The celebrations themselves will be topped by the debut of the successor to the original, as Land Rover takes the covers off the all-new Defender at the end of the year. The new Defender will go on sale in early 2019, but we'll see it in production form this year, and we're betting this 1948 preproduction Land Rover will be there to meet its great-great-great-great grandson.
SOURCE: AUTOWEEK
AUTHOR: Jay Ramey