In 1948 the Series 1 Land Rover was first displayed at the Amsterdam motor show. It was a utilitarian 4 wheel drive with power take-offs driving various implements to rebuild post-war home and export markets. Designed in an era of optimism and austerity, development costs were kept low by sourcing drivetrain components from the Rover company's passenger car lineup. In addition, aluminum was specified for body panels to limit the demand for steel which was in short supply in the post-war years. Despite these engineering dictates, the Land Rover emerged with a purity of purpose in its design and engineering that defined its own form of beauty – a rare accomplishment in industrial design. The exploits of the Land Rover in the years that followed inspired the imagination of owners who have kept 70% of total production on the road.
My own interest in Land Rovers began in late 1980′s Africa. My first exposure to an African game reserve was as a passenger in a Series III 109 Station Wagon driving savanna tracks in the shadow of Mount Kenya. Free from the confines of the swarming Toyota mini-buses, the perceived wandering isolation of our two vehicle group made me feel like a participant in the landscape rather than an observer passing through it. I identified this freedom with the charismatic Land Rovers we were riding in, and the experience opened my mind to a style of travel that I would never forget. I was resolved to return home, earn my drivers licence, find a Land Rover, and rediscover the curiosity and sense of discovery I loved as a kid exploring the woods near our family farm.
