1975 Range Rover - ex-Royal Family

The Heritage Certificate confirms delivery to the Royal Household in 1975 Finished in the best colour for an early Range Rover - Lincoln Green Factory fitted with special order full-length folding roof - a favourite of the Royals Expertly restored by marque specialist Twenty-Ten Engineering of Redditch Restored to factory specification over a period of 1,000+ hours at a cost of over ú60,000 Featured in a well-received video produced by Petrolicious The launch of the Land Rover in 1948 allowed the landed gentry, and none more landed than the Royal Family, easy access to the far-flung parts of their estates and. naturally, Land Rover gained the Royal Warrant from His Majesty King George VI in 1951. Although the Land Rover was more than capable of conveying its driver and passengers through the stickiest of terrain it was a utilitarian vehicle and offered little in the way of luxury. Even the launch of the eye-wateringly expensive and thus short-lived Land Rover Station Wagon by Tickford in 1948 failed to meet the demand for a comfortable four-wheel drive car. The launch of the Spencer King designed Range Rover in 1971 was hailed from town to country with its powerful 3.5-litre petrol V8 capable of conquering virtually all terrain in comfort. The Royal Family were first in the queue and have owned every model since launch to the current, either in standard production form or with bespoke features. Archival photographs through to the present day show The Queen and her family at the wheel or alighting from a Range Rover more so than any other model of car. We, therefore, have the pleasure of offering this very special Range Rover Suffix D from the 1975 model year. The accompanying British Heritage Certificate states that the car was delivered on the 13th August to the Royal Household finished in Lincoln Green. Our vendor believes it was destined for Windsor Castle consistent with archive photographs of the mid to late 1970s showing Lincoln Green Range Rovers with Webasto-style roofs being used by the family. Found by our vendor in a sorry state at a farm in Worcester in 2013, the Range Rover was being loaded onto a transporter when the old owner casually mentioned its Royal provenance. An application to the British Heritage Museum confirmed this and our vendor decided to spend more than budgeted to return the Range Rover to its former glory. The car was then despatched to noted Range Rover restorers, Twenty-Ten Engineering of Redditch, for what turned out to be their most extensive restoration yet taking nearly two years to finish. More than 1,000 hours were dedicated to restoring the car to factory specification which not only included a full nut and bolt, chassis-up rebuild but the sourcing of virtually unobtainable parts. The interior was re-trimmed in the correct Palamino and carpeting shades to match together with full a mechanical restoration. The total bill was some ú60,000 plus VAT. Philip Holland of Twenty-Ten told this consignor that to restore a similar car today would be well over ú100,000. Our vendor was delighted with the result and swiftly embarked on a tour of the Prosecco region in Italy in the Range Rover, remarking that the capacious boot came in handy. The Italian trip and various local trips have added a few thousand miles to the odometer which today stands at some 62,000 miles, largely immaterial in a car this well restored. The car will be presented to auction with a fresh MoT, the aforementioned certificate, and the history file detailing the vast sums spent. In conclusion, therefore, this special Range Rover offers the new buyer the confidence of an expert restoration and the cachet of Royal provenance. The high level of restoration and the intriguing story caught the eye of the leading automotive video producers Petrolicious and the restorer Philip Holland and the car features in a well-received video, the public link for which is below.