The Land Rover was for the common people. But because in England the nobility was also driven by the lust for the country, half a century ago the British put a fine brother to the workhorse.
Solihull (dpa / tmn) - climate protection and urban planners may curse that day sometime in the mid-1960s when Charles Spencer King's stories about the Jeep Wagoneer or the Ford Bronco became too much.
But thousands of mothers from better circles and host of adventurers in suit are indebted to the British forever - and the Queen should have knighted Mr. King.
After all, he built her absolute favorite car, with which she still starts the weekend today and actually occasionally sits behind the wheel.
Because King was head of development at Rover, had a lot of Land Rover in his blood from his uncles Spencer and Maurice Wilks as the forefathers of the Defender and therefore the idea of an off-road vehicle that is not only suitable for the Highlands but also for high society.
This was the initial spark for the development of the Range Rover, which, as the mother of all luxurious all-wheel drive vehicles, prepared the ground for cars such as the Porsche Cayenne, the BMW X5, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan or, soon, even a Ferrari suitable for field roads.
The inventors of the SUV segment
Vintage car specialist Frank Wilke from Classic Car Analytics in Bochum sees the first Range Rover as a pioneering achievement: "With the idea of making a real off-road vehicle more comfortable and faster for the road, not a station wagon, the British unintentionally have the vehicle segment of the Invented SUV. "
You can still tell today how big a step the British have taken with the Range Rover and how far ahead of their time with it: when you roll through your natural habitat in the Scottish Highlands with a classic from the early years.
You are enthroned above things, the V8 engine floods the interior with cozy warmth like a crackling fire. The passenger sits half a meter further over, with a center console of sheer epic width in between. And once you have folded through the large, but initially only front doors onto the back seat, things are extremely spacious there too. Not to mention the trunk with the flap for the picnic in the parking lot in the green, which was already horizontally divided at the time.
The firstling comes spartan
The Range Rover boasts the mother of all luxury off-road vehicles and, with its starting price of 23,500 marks, is as expensive as a Porsche 911 when it debuted in Germany in 1972 - but compared to current models, the first version is still relatively spartan.
The dashboard is not made of burl wood, carbon or brushed aluminum, but of nasty plastic. There are beige knitted fabrics on the floors and the seats are covered with a fabric that you wouldn't even accept in a retro hotel today.
Under the hood is an eight-cylinder engine purchased from US manufacturer Buick with a displacement of 3.5 liters and 99 kW / 135 hp. Despite its indestructible aluminum body, the Range Rover weighs around two tons, is as streamlined as Buckingham Palace and feels like a turning circle like a London double-decker bus. He sways in tight curves like the Queen Mary in heavy seas - hurry is out of place.
Thirsty at the gas pump
At the petrol station, the old Range Rover and the new SUV do not give much: They can take a good sip and are therefore often at the petrol pump. The abbreviation SUV, the sport utility vehicle, has never been known to anyone when the Range Rover premiered 50 years ago.
The car was almost unrivaled until the mid-1980s, says classic car analyst Wilke. "Only then did companies like Jeep with the Cherokee and Mercedes with the beefed up G-Class follow suit."
According to Wilke, customers demanded more and more luxury and performance, the four-wheel drive became more of an add-on and use in tough terrain was an exception: It is no wonder that Rolls-Royce, Bentley and even Lamborghini now build off-road vehicles.
The heart of the genus
As much as the luxury SUV segment has continued to develop, the Range Rover still hits the heart of the genre as a classic car: "It is a timeless classic with style and great comfort and performance for family, travel, adventure and fun" says Oliver Schepp-Danne from the Land Rover Classic Center in Essen.
According to classic car analyst Wilke, all the very early, Spartan Range Rover models that still have a "suffix A" in the chassis number are in demand, as are the very late models with large engines and full equipment.
But just like its modern descendants, a classic Range Rover is an expensive pleasure: Schepp-Danne estimates decent cars from the early years to be between 30,000 and 40,000 euros, and well-preserved vehicles rarely cost less than 50,000 euros. For fully restored vehicles you have to calculate with more than 80,000 euros.
Pay attention to critical points
The expert advises prospective buyers to take a few critical looks at critical points: So you should always check the inside of the frame for corrosion, since it is usually only cleaned and painted over black. In the case of the body, which is largely made of aluminum, one should pay attention not only to corrosion, but also to the leveled surfaces and to the completeness and integrity of the interior. Spare parts, especially plastic parts for the cockpit, are difficult to obtain.
If this is too delicate, Land Rover offers a comparatively expensive but safe alternative: the car manufacturer's Special Vehicle Operations department worldwide buys hand-picked classics, restores them in the factory and sells them as "reborn" models.
Then not only the condition of a new car corresponds, but also the price. Because at least 157,000 euros, the brand new Range Rover Series 1 costs significantly more than the current one.