We are living in an automotive world that the Range Rover forged, and it is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the world’s first successful luxury SUV and the brilliant V8 engine which powered it.
Whilst the Range Rover Classic was not strictly the first luxury SUV, it was by far the best, and it would not be topped for nearly three decades, by which point the second-generation Range Rover was up for the challenge, whilst still using the same engine.
The Car for All Reasons, as it was promoted, changed the automotive world forever, but Rover had actually designed a road-going Land Rover as early as 1949, where the response from the public was as polar opposite as it is possible to be.
Alternatively known as the 80-Inch Station Wagon or the Tickford Model, the roadgoing Land Rover was an example of the right idea gone about in the wrong way at the wrong time.
The Wilks brothers were aware that as the economic miracle began to bloom in Europe following the Second World War, the demand for utilitarian transportation was going to reduce, and there would be greater demand for a more habitable vehicle using a similar platform.
They commissioned coachbuilders Tickford, later known for the Aston Martin Lagonda, to create a high-quality seven-seater station wagon, of which four of the seats could be folded down to improve the space at the back, something that was decades ahead of its time.
Whilst still very much a Land Rover Series I, it was more comfortable to be in, whilst not losing any of its rugged off-road capabilities.
The problem was the price; the UK at the time had a very expensive Purchase Tax on cars, and whilst the original Land Rover had escaped it by being an industrial and agricultural vehicle, the more civilised Tickford Model would end up costing nearly double the price of a regular Land Rover.
Sales were catastrophic, with 600 being exported and less than 50 sold domestically. However, it would inspire Rover to keep trying, and over the next 20 years, the Road Rover concept would finally take shape.