Loved by the Queen, driven by Winston Churchill and adored by millions loyal drivers including soldiers of the British Army and SAS - it was launched on April 30, 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show
The original Land Rover started life as a squiggle in the sand when, shortly after the Second World War, Rover director Maurice Wilks sketched out in the sand on a beach near his holiday cottage in Anglesey the workhorse vehicle he needed to replace the American army surplus Jeep he was then using.
Tom Barton, part of the team which created the Land Rover in the late 1940's, visiting the Solihull Land Rover factory where he worked on it's design
So in 1948 Britain’s answer to the ubiquitous Jeep – the Land Rover - was born and launched at that year’s Amsterdam Motor Show as the world’s first mass-produced civilian 4X4 costing £450. With post-war rationing and steel in short supply but masses of aluminium around, the vehicle was initially made with the lightweight metal. The original sage-green paint was acquired from a fighter plane factory.
The first pilot pre-production model called ‘Huey’ after its registration number ‘HUE 166’ and is fully working.
Astonishingly, some three-quarters of the 2 million Defenders ever built since then are said to be still in regular use.
Land Rover holds a royal warrant, as supplier to the royal household. The royal relationship with Land Rover goes back to 1948 when King George VI viewed the original Land Rover.
The Queen, who is regularly photographed
