Range Rover Classic

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Long before the advent of modern computers which can do millions of complex calculations in the time it takes to make a cup of tea, there was a saying amongst aeronautical engineers: ‘If it looks right, it is right’.

Just one quick glance at the original Range Rover proves the saying in spades. Has there ever been a more functional and authentic car design than this? Utterly devoid of any unnecessary fripperies, it was designed purely to do a job of work: to carry up to five people more or less anywhere they wanted to go, on or off road, in conditions of tolerable comfort.

Like an aircraft propeller or the hull of a Viking longship, the fact that it also looked beautiful was a result of the happy accident that occurs when form so closely follows function. No wonder it was put on display at the Louvre in Paris as an ‘exemplary work of industrial design’.

Launched in 1970 and only available as a two-door until 1981, it also had only one choice of engine, the Buick-derived all-alloy 3.5-litre V8 from the Rover P5B saloon. Detuned slightly for better off-road tractability and mated to the mandatory 4-speed manual gearbox, it produced 135bhp and could propel the 1,830kg 4x4 to 60mph in 15 seconds on its way to a top speed of 96mph. Performance that was at least on a par with most family cars of the era. Options like leather seating, an automatic gearbox and a diesel engine did not make an appearance until the mid-1980s.

This Masai Red Range Rover was bought new by a Shropshire village publican in September 1983 who was to keep it right up until his death in 2009. It then passed to the owner of the local garage who had looked after it for most of its life and in whose name it remains to this day. Although there is no service history with the car, we are assured that it has always been well maintained, being repainted to a high standard about 20 years ago and receiving a new headlining and a new clutch much more recently.

The c.95,000 miles on the clock is said to be genuine and is backed up by 16 old MOTs back to 45,000 miles in 1989. It also comes with a V5C, an original owner’s handbook and a Haynes workshop manual. Last MOTd and on the road in 2010, it has been in storage for the last 5 years but has recently been unearthed and got running and driving again to ready it for sale. No doubt it will benefit from a more thorough check-over and a full service before being put back into use.

Early Range Rovers tended to lead hard lives in often inhospitable terrain and it is rare to find one so nicely preserved as this. The model has enjoyed a surge in interest of late (the editor of Octane magazine being an enthusiastic owner and devotee) and values have risen accordingly, the earliest two-door models already fetching frankly eye-watering amounts that render the modest guide price suggested here loose change by comparison.