4x4, News

Land Rover celebrations at Goodwood Revival

Land Rover's celebration of 67 years of Series Land Rover and Defender production will continue at this year's Goodwood Revival from 11-13 September.

The engineering bloodline that links the original Series One with the latest Defender will be marked in a special presentation and displays capturing the birth of the iconic 4x4 and its progress through the past seven decades.

Faithful to the retro spirit of the meeting, Land Rover will be recreating key elements from the development of the Series I, which made its UK public debut at the 1948 Earls Court Motor Show, including drawing board plans and an early pre-production chassis. A Series I model will be shown tilted at 45 degrees and the team manning the display will be dressed in replica engineering smocks worn by the 1940s production workers.


Land Rover owners will be taking part in a daily parade of more than 50 pre-1966 Series models, including many special conversion body styles such as the bright yellow 1950 Series I Bertam Mills Circus vehicle, custom-built in the late 1950s to give the impression that it was being driven by the circus elephant, named Kam.


In addition, 11 pre-production Land Rovers (descendants of HUE 166) are to participate in what is believed to be the largest number of pre-production vehicles ever seen in motion.


The culmination of the presentation is the latest Defender Autobiography, a model that brings together the robust qualities of the original with bespoke and contemporary design features.

The Bonhams' stand at the revival meeting will be showcasing Defender 2,000,000. This unique vehicle, which was specially built to celebrate its production landmark at Solihull, is set to go under the hammer at a charity auction in London on 16 December.