A dynamic celebration of the worlds most successful family of off-road vehicles. Follow the history of the first Land Rover, introduced in 1948, through to the sophisticated Ranger Rover of 1999 when the book was published, Discovery and Freelander, together with the rugged workhorse, the Defender.
This information-packed volume examines the Land Rover movement, the Range Rover, the marques domination of the off-road and leisure scene, Land Rovers military role, and Land Rovers involvement with the Camel Trophy.
Martin Hodder was the editor and owner of Land Rover Owner Magazine and is a true Land Rover enthusiast. Plus, given his position he has had ample opportunities to drive and experience a wide range of Land Rover vehicles, rub elbows with L/R engineers and insiders, and work with club members and other enthusiasts, which is immediately evident in the detail and knowledge of his writing.
The book covers Land Rovers beginning with the background and development of the 1970 Range Rover, which is the basic platform for the Defender and Discovery and describes the Freelander. It illustrates some of the more unusual Land Rover variants like certain 6-wheel vehicles and some odd-ball military one-offs. He also dives into the corporate thinking and development stages of the Defender and Discovery vehicles, as well as the Freelander. I don't know if there is a later version, but the book I have goes up to 1998. Therefore it's limited to vintage Land Rovers up until that time.
The book is divided into the following categories: The family of Land Rovers; A legend is born; Land Rovers at play; Let's go off-roading; Ranger Rover - The inside story of a world beater (this is a rather fascinating account by a key Land Rover engineer Geoff Miller, who led the engineering team that created the Range Rover and describes his account of how the Range Rover came to be starting in the mid-60's and other vehicles they looked at during the evaluation phases); Camel Trophy, the ultimate test (how Land Rover became the defacto vehicles used in the Camel Trophy and what it meant to them); The unbeatable Defender (why and how it came to be); The mighty V8 (the how and why Rover picked up the GM aluminum V8 in the 60's); The Dunsfold treasure (Land Rover historical vehicles collection); Land Rovers on parade; Chosing and buying a Land Rover.
