range rover “road-rover” was the original range rover prototype 1967

the 1st range rover “road-rover” full size clay model that resembles the production series 1 model

wednesday 17th june 1970 range rover was announced to the worlds motoring press

the original range rover was designed to be an upscale land rover purposed for estate drives. in its original inception it was a two wheel drive to shuttle the land-owners and royalty about the estate premises before it became 4 wheel drive terrain vehicle. unfortunately, and as with most cars today, i hate the modern versions of the range rover as it lost all its character and simple utilitarian lines. but what i miss the most about the range rover series 1 is that in the original design the side windows where quite large allowing you to rest your arm out the window sitting high on the platform seats with out raiding your shoulder, and allowing a open cockpit with 360 view of the terrain. the newer models partly due to US safety restrictions, have shortened the windows and raised the door panels lowering the driver. in subsequent models then they went about adding all sorts of “performance” cues/gadgets like fake aggressive air intakes ports and nonsense aerodynamic lines on a car that is simply not intended for speed but rather stability and might. RIP series one range rover the best 4×4 perhaps next to the monteverdi safari. by dd