The Royal Warrant for the supply of Land Rovers was first granted in 1951 by King George VI. Given this long association with royalty, Land Rovers played a special part in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant this year, with representatives that ranged from a very early example to the last Defender – including two used by the royal family – taking part. They celebrated nearly 70 years of development, while the company marked the Jubilee by donating a brand-new Defender 130 to the British Red Cross, a charity of which the Queen was a patron. Mike Gould picks 12 stages in the evolution of what has become a British icon and something of a legend on the classic scene.
1. 1947 PROTOTYPE
Legend has it that the first design for the Land Rover was drawn in the sand on a Welsh beach, but serious work soon commenced at Solihull on a prototype using war surplus Jeep chassis and components fitted with a simple body made from aluminium. Power came
