Land Rover is 70 Today

"someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired) 04/30/2018 at 09:26 • Filed to: best 4x4 by far

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70 years ago today, the first Land Rover premiered at the Amsterdam Motor Show. To celebrate, Land Rover is hosting a live event at 3PM Eastern time on their YouTube feed. To tide you over, here’s some vintage ads:

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Ash78, voting early and often > someassemblyrequired 04/30/2018 at 10:03

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And for their 75th, they’re thinking of doing the first ever facelift on the Defender.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Ash78, voting early and often 04/30/2018 at 10:06

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Don’t be silly, they are planning that for their 100th!

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Ash78, voting early and often 04/30/2018 at 10:17

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Alright, let’s not be unrealistic

AuthiCooper1300 > someassemblyrequired 04/30/2018 at 10:35

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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Ash78, voting early and often 04/30/2018 at 10:35

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Considering that literally every time the main line got a facelift was occasioned by something external, this is actually mostly true.

SI-late SI (mid-’50s), change in the radiator support meant a change in the grill, and it turned out headlights behind the grill sucked ass anyway so they fixed it.

SI-SII/IIA early (‘58), minor changes because the radiator got upsized and the mechanical boffins wanted a different chassis.

IIA early to IIA late (‘68), headlights moved to fenders because it was LITERALLY REQUIRED BY LAW

IIA late to III(‘73)... a plastic grill, because higher-ups demanded modernization.

III-Stage 1 V8/Defender(‘83), different grill because the radiator got moved because new engine. That was the last serious appearance change in 30 years. (Hood tweaks, slight light tweaks, other nonsense)

So, in summary, dating all the way back to the ‘40s, no appearance change ever happened except by force, and years apart.

AuthiCooper1300 > someassemblyrequired 04/30/2018 at 10:44

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A couple of years ago I found this very nice page detailing how the “Dambuster” ad came to be:

http://www.anatomised.com/is-this-the-best-ever-demonstration-commercial-for-a-car/

You don’t need a Hollywood-size budget to create something memorable.

someassemblyrequired > AuthiCooper1300 04/30/2018 at 11:37

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I love the inspiration - the farmer who tried to pull down a tree only to come back from lunch and find his Land Rover hanging from the top.