Land Rover Range Rover Reborn Photos, Price, Stats
Land Rover Range Rover Reborn Photos, Price, Stats
Last Wednesday in Paris, Land Rover unveiled the first of a new series of cars it’s calling Range Rover Reborn: A mustard-yellow 1978 Range Rover reissued and certified perfect by Land Rover Classic, the same division that restored a handful of early Series I Land Rovers last year. The rig will be on display there all weekend.
The original Range Rovers of the era came in six color options: Bahama Gold (shown here), Arctic White, Lincoln Green, Masai Red, Sahara Dust, and Tuscan Blue.
The Coventry, England-based company is reissuing 10 1970s-era Range Rovers to capitalize on the explosion of interest on the vintage market. They fall in the same general affinity categories as Ford’s Bronco, old FJs and G-Wagons, Scrambler trucks, and the famous Defender.
Last year, 13 Range Rovers from the era hit public auctions in the United States, at an average sale price of $20,000; only eight were offered in 2014, according to Hagerty, which calls it notable growth for a niche vintage auto. The average value of these Brit rigs, as quoted on Hagerty.com, was up 11 percent in 2016, over 2015, and up 67 percent over the past five years.
Early engines were 3.5-liter V8s with 132bhp at 5000 rpm and a max torque of 186 pound-feet.
“They’re wise to capitalize on,” Jonathan Klinger, a spokesman for Hagerty, said about the old SUVs. “They’re simple and pure and all mechanical: It’s not a hop-in-and-go-downtown luxury driving experience—but that is what makes them cool.”
The Process
The Range Rover Reborn program works this way: The special division (which also issued the new-old Jaguar XKSS, aka "continuation series" cars) finds rare, well-condition bodies and frames and then does a full factory-spec restoration on that skeleton; it cleans or repairs them, using dead-stock Land Rover parts or making new ones, if needed. That means you get the classic British styling, special Quartz dashboard clock, door-mounted rear view mirrors, and the air conditioning system, all with components in perfect order.
Steve McQueen, circa 1963, unpacking supplies from his Land Rover on a camping trip.
“We rebuild them, absolutely as they should be,” said Tim Hannig, the director of Jaguar Land Rover Classic. “When we find them, they are very much ramshackle. They don’t look nice. But there is very much a lot of good material about them.
Each takes from six months to nearly a year to complete.
“All liquids are drained. Every single part is taken out and inspected,” Hannig explained. “During that process, we look at every single one and decide: Can we use that or do we have to replace it? All the work is done in parallel, to make sure it’s exactly perfect, and then we reassemble the car.”
Land Rover has redone Defenders in its classic reissuing plant in the U.K.
What It Feels Like to Drive
Performance specifications on the Rover Reborn will be the same as the original: It has a 3.5-liter V8 engine that gets 132 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque. The 10-second-plus 0-60 miles per hour sprint time isn’t hugely impressive now, but back then it beat most big rigs on the market. A lockable center differential on the four-speed manual transmission means you can take them up hillsides and down ravines if you get bored showing off in town.
“It’s a very special feeling to drive one of these Rovers,” Hannig said. “When you sit in them, you have an incredible view of space. The pillars are very thin. The roof is very high. You have a feel of incredible freedom, which is just fantastic. It’s not a fast-performance crossover SUV, it’s just a great cruiser with enormous capability to go off road. And it’s still quite luxurious.”
Once workers at the plant identify a good candidate for refurbishing, they take it apart piece by piece, inspect and repair it, and then put it back together.
It’s also still quirky—which is a nice way to say that any design flaws the original Rovers had are still front and center.
“At that time, you didn’t have any air suspension or cruise control, so they will behave and drive like the car did at the time,” Hannig said with a laugh. “We don’t modify anything. For instance, there is a big gap between the door handle and the cover, and the gap will be there again on these new old ones.”
And what of Range Rover’s notoriety when it comes to upkeep?
Many of the components are simply cleaned and repaired, which means they'll hold onto their investment value far more than a rig with new parts added.
Problems with the composition of the chassis, electrical system, and general leaks can create headaches with some Rovers (and Defenders, for that matter). These are more complex machines than their Ford and Toyota contemporaries—the auto equivalent of a handsome, beautiful friend who is a joy to catch up with, but often flakes on dinner dates.
They’re expensive to repair, but “any properly maintained example will be fine,” Klinger said of the vintage models. “There are plenty of people who can afford to buy them, but they can’t afford to do the proper maintenance—which means when they break down, they just sit and decay, which feeds into the reputation that they are not reliable.”
The "new old" offerings come with a plaque stating they are fully restored and certified by Land Rover Classic.
Of the Range Rover Reborn models, despite their being built to original specifications, decades of experience and new parts should help alleviate any of the better-known quirks, and they’re delivered fully certified.
Owners of vintage models can take heart, too: The fact that Land Rover is again making parts for these vintage models means they’ll be easier to get for enthusiasts the world over.
The same designs from the original Rovers, such as long, rectangular tail lights and a short rear door, are carried out fully in the reborn models.
Who Wants Them?
Experts say that the people who buy these classics are young, affluent, and—despite the model’s off-road creds—not exactly rural: In 2016, Hagerty saw a 24 percent increase over 2015 in quotes for 1970s Range Rovers. Over the past five years, the number of quotes has risen 130 percent. Of those queries, Generation Xers made up 53 percent of the interest.
“It echoes a similar demographic to those buying 1966-77 Ford Broncos,” Klinger said. Ford has announced it’ll remake the icon by 2020.
Range Rovers won't set any speed records, but they are loved for their powerful, strong engine and rugged driving style.
For some, it might be worth waiting on the Ford. Even though the Bronco won’t appear for a few years, it’s sure to be cheaper. While you can find untouched Range Rovers online for less than $70,000, the Range Rover Reborn edition vehicles start at £135,000 ($169,000). (In 1978, in the U.K., they cost £9,150; they weren't introduced in the U.S. until 1987.)
Since the Reborn program will reissue models from 1970 to 1979, the earlier years will cost slightly more than the later years. But for the chance to have something everyone idolized but no one else has? It’ll be more than worth it.
According to Land Rover, the first issue of 10 Range Rovers from 1970-1979 will be followed by others, depending on consumer demand.
To contact the author of this story: Hannah Elliott in New York at helliott8@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net.