News : Land Rover Classic launches ‘Reborn’ Series I

Reborn Series I (2)

Land Rover Classic has launched its ‘Reborn’ initiative for the Series I at Techno-Classica in Essen, 
Germany.
 The new programme, which showcases the products and services offered by the newly-formed division of Jaguar Land Rover, will see 25 prospective customers given the opportunity to buy an original Land Rover Series I directly from Land Rover Classic, restored to as-new standard.

Land Rover Classic’s team has drawn on decades of experience to hand-pick 25 
Series I chassis from around the world. Each model will undergo a complete 
restoration according to the brand’s original 1948 factory specification and using Land Rover 
Classic Parts to preserve authenticity, and will be hand-built at the Solihull factory recently vacated by Land Rover Defender.

The ‘new’ Series Is will be offered in the choice of five original colours – Light Green, Bronze Green, RAF Blue, Dove Grey and Poppy Red.
 Customers will be able to select their preferred base vehicle with the help and guidance of 
Land Rover Classic’s restoration team and they will be able to follow the 
restoration of their cherished Series I from start to finish at Land Rover’s new Classic 
workshop at Solihull.

Tim Hannig, Director, Jaguar Land Rover Classic, said: ‘The launch of the Reborn initiative 
represents a fantastic opportunity for customers to own a valuable and collectable 
automotive icon. Reborn showcases Land Rover Classic’s expertise in restoring and 
maintaining our loyal customers’ prized Land Rovers. It also demonstrates the business’ 
commitment to supporting customers with original and genuine parts for Land Rover models 
that have been out for production for longer than 10 years.’

Reborn Series I (3)

Gallery

Keith Adams

11 Comments

  1. Fantastic, just fantastic. They kill the latest model because of pollution issues (for no really good reason, how hard would it really have been to manufacture new engine mounts and fittings rather than ole yeller it?) and then rebuild a bunch with possibly the most polluting engine on the planet (bar possibly a 200,000 mile wartburg 2 stroke). What could possibly go wrong?
    I will bet that this won’t be the last time they’ll do something like this with landrovers and won’t it be nice, in 30 years when we’re all driving Teslas to pitch up behind the (barely) mobile smokescreen that is a high mileage IOE landy.. And yes, I was being sarcastic.
    I am all for keeping classics going but with the aid of technology in a sensible manner. Humber Sceptre I/II with a shot engine? How about a nice 1300 Hyundai Alpha engine? Almost exactly the same power & torque and (if you use the Hyundai’s ignition switch a free immobiliser too). Cleaner, more efficient and you might even be able to fit the starter handle dog onto the end of the crank… (and if the engine is hot a handle would start it, I speak from experience). Or maybe a 1 litre ecoboom hi-po with 123hp.. 40 more horsepowers and hopefully a free magnifying glass to find it..

  2. I was wondering about that too, until i saw in the last photo of the restored example that there is indeed THE plate left of the instrument binacle.

    They did the decent thing. 🙂

  3. @ Big John, why wouldn’t they since they’re restoring it to factory condition and spec?
    Do I remember rightly that you could get a PTO option on Landrovers? Or am I confusing with Dodge Power Wagon?

    • There was a power take-off option.

      There has been a massive trend within Land Rover to acknowledge the people who designed and built their earlier cars, but not the company of Rover itself, the brand of which still remains unfortunately tainted within the UK. Various things state “when Land Rover designed this” etc but there was no Land Rover Ltd until 1978. Before that it was part of the Rover bit of BL or the Rover Company before that.

  4. Jemma,

    It’s long since passed the point where new engine mounts and a new engine would have kept the Defender in production. The lack of the ability to fit an airbag, no ABS, hideous CO2 figures, non existent pedestrian safety (amongst many other things), along with very low sales numbers ought to have killed it several years ago! Speaking as a LR enthusiast, I feel it’s a miracle that it’s stayed in production for as long as it has!

  5. Good to see they are still recognising their roots but it will be interesting to see where they get the “original and genuine” replacement bits from given that the tooling/suppliers/factories disappeared years ago… Back in the 1980’s Unipart (as was) made virtually zero effort to maintain old Landie parts availability which left the market to nongenuine copies of varying quality. Some bits are easy to remake but imagine the cost of retooling something like a speedometer at these low volumes.

  6. Great! Let’s hope they do the same for the 1980s RR Vogue, I’ll have one of those, please!

    And then a 1977 XJS …

  7. Jemma – The round hole in the rear of the LR was for the PTO, I think there was an issue with the rpm that meant it could only run certain farm equipment. I believe the wheels had the same stud pattern as a Massey Ferguson tractor to allow farmers some flexibility…
    Always wanted to own one, until spending time at work driving around the site in a station wagon and pick up version, killed my back as the seats were so poor. Would I have one if offered? Of course I would, despite the pain there is something about the simple no frills ruggedness that keeps a smile on your face every time you get behind the wheel!

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