This is not a classic.
Words and pictures: Dan Fenn
We don’t do much about historic Land Rovers in these pages. But while a 107” Series I Station Wagon is one of the most sought after classics of them all, that’s not what this is. It’s an original 107 alright – but it’s been reimagined as a truck you can use today, and every day stretching out into the future. You won’t see it looking shiny in the concours at a show – but it could crop up doing a job of work literally anywhere else
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hat does a Series I Land Rover have to do with off-roading in the real world these days? It’s a reasonable question, given the astronomical prices they have long since started to command on the classic car market. Well, the one you’re looking at here has the answer. Or maybe it is the answer. Either way, it’s not the usual sort of Series I you see nowadays, restored to squeaky-clean perfection and fit only for sunny Sunday drives and trailering to shows for static display in the concours. On the contrary, it’s been rebuilt rather than restored, with a view to being an everyday classic rather than a museum piece. A historic Land
Rover, yes, but one which can tow, carry and get covered in mud and worse with the best of them. ‘This is not one for the purist,’ says Matt Moore, owner of Historic Motoring Solutions. ‘It’s more for a discerning motoring enthusiast who wants something useful and unique.’ He’s talking about a Series I 107” Station Wagon dating from 1957. It started life by being exported to Australia and was among a batch of several brought back to the UK a few years ago in response to the astronomical prices the earliest Land Rovers had begun to command. Land Rover itself was at the heart of this, with its own restored Series Is leaving the factory for six-figure sums. These examples were very much
4x4 3.5pp HMS 107.indd 26
22/11/2022 15:37
