As we find ourselves in the midst of auto show season, it’s easy to get caught up in the future of Land Rover automobiles rather than basking in seven decades’ worth of success in automotive production. In fact, 2018 does mark the 70th anniversary of the first production model from Land Rover, and to celebrate, the automaker recently announced that they would restore a beat-up old Series I vehicle that made its own rounds on the auto show circuit starting at the Amsterdam Motor Show all the way back in 1948.
The thing is an absolute heap now, which isn’t surprising considering that it stopped circulating at exhibitions back in the 1960s, only to end up in a Welsh field, exposed to the harsh elements despite its historical significance. At that point, a farmer bought it hoping to restore it himself, but he never did, which meant more decades of exposure to the erosion of years, this time in a garden only a few miles away from where it was originally built in Solihull, England.
Now, Massachusetts Land Rover fans may be excited to know that engineers are working on the Land Rover Series I Reborn program, which aims to restore the model to its original glory. The team is pouring over archived blueprints and design plans to make sure everything is as historically accurate as possible.
When it’s done, we fully expect it to make its way back out onto the auto show circuit, though a lot has changed since the late 1940s. Here at Land Rover Peabody, we are thrilled to see this slice of history treated like the valuable relic it is. The brand has this model to thank for everything, so the least they can do is restore it to glory!
