Range Rover Classic

The Range Rover Classic is a 4x4 luxury SUV series built by British car maker Land Rover from 1970 to 1996. It was the first generation of vehicles produced under the Range Rover name. For most of its history, it was known simply as the "Range Rover"; Land Rover coined the term "Range Rover Classic" for the brief period the model was built alongside its P38A successor, and applied the name retrospectively to all first-generation Range Rovers.

Concept and Design

Although only intended to be a post-war stopgap, the Rover Company's Land Rover 4x4 launched in 1948 proved to a be a worldwide success; within two years it was vastly outselling the company's usual product of semi-luxury cars. The Land Rover had been designed to be cheap and easy to produce and to suit hard work in tough terrain. It was thus a very simple, basic vehicle with a minimum of concessions to comfort- on early vehicles the canvas hood, passenger seats and even doors were optional extras. From the beginning Rover realised that a market existed for a Land Rover that was off-road capable but more comfortable and civilised. In 1949 it released the Land Rover Station Wagon with a coachbuilt wood-framed body by Tickford. Whilst...
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