It was 70 years ago today, on April 30 1948, that Land Rover was truly born.
One year earlier, at Easter in 1947, Maurice Wilks drew a shape in the sand at Red Wharf Bay, in Anglesey, Wales. It was his proposal to his brother Spencer for an off-road “light tractor” that Spencer’s company, Rover, could build.
That vehicle became the Land Rover, which Rover unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show on this day in 1948.
To celebrate that moment, Land Rover will broadcast a special program worldwide. Starting at 1900UTC, the online program pays tribute to the vehicle that started it all.
The event includes a remarkable array of Land Rover models sharing the stage at the Land Rover Classic Works center in Coventry. This includes that very first Amsterdam show prototype, often called “HUE” after the letters on its license plate, as well as other significant models from the brand’s history. Land Rover Classic will also present one of the last-of-the-line Defender models, the Defender Works V8 it revealed earlier in the year.
This is just one of a dazzling array of events Land Rover has planned for its platinum anniversary. Earlier this year artist Simon Beck recreated the original Wilks line-drawing in the sand, in a slightly more challenging location: 9,000ft up, at La Plagne in the French Alps.
Beck drove a Defender up to the location of the artwork and then walked another 10 miles to create it. He created the 800-feet wide image entirely with his own two feet, covering 20,894 steps in the process.
Professor Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, commented:
Land Rover was born with the launch of a single vehicle. Today our family of SUVs is testament to the pioneering spirit of innovation that has characterised Land Rover for seven decades. Our family of Defender, Discovery and Range Rover models provides unrivalled capability, versatility and luxury, giving us the perfect foundation for another 70 years of success.
You can watch the broadcast in full, from 1900UTC, at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/user/landrover
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