There are several great Range Rover engines in a history that spans over half a century, but the main powerplant for almost the entirety of those years, and the one people want reconditioning most is the legendary Rover V8.

Misunderstood in its native United States, what was originally the Buick 215 became a compact tower of power that created a golden age for the British motor industry, powering not only Land Rover Defenders and Range Rovers but also the Rover SD1, the Triumph TR8 and almost every notable TVR.

However, it was also part of a well-meaning but ultimately doomed plan to use the underpinnings of the V8 engine to create a more economical diesel that would be essentially required during the late 1970s.

The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 were a shock to the system for many car manufacturers in Europe and the United States, who had typically enjoyed making large, powerful sports cars and muscle cars, and preparing for a time when the oil started to run out was no longer a question for the future.

Known as Project Iceberg, the Rover V8 3.5 was used as the base, converted into a diesel engine through switching components due to a need to cut costs as a result of British Leyland’s nationalisation and a general financial malaise.

It was similar to engine projects developed by Oldsmobile and Chevrolet to convert V8 engines to run on diesel fuel. However, both engine projects were ultimately disastrous, fraught with reliability problems and damaging the diesel market in the USA for decades.

British Leyland never managed to reach that point; whilst a few prototypes were made the split of Rover and Land Rover meant that the V8 engine was the responsibility of the latter on the much smaller Solihull factory floor, and it was abandoned entirely in 1983.