1971 Range Rover

Suffix A

Presented in freshly restored condition
Early ‘Suffix A’ model
Extensive service history
Last owner for 12 years

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On sale £72,000

Chassis: 35503675A

Presented here is perhaps the purest of Range Rover’s, a 1971 Suffix A. An example that has been loved all of its life while others have simply been moth balled and forgotten, then meticulously restored a few years ago by the current owner. Finished from factory in Chamonix White over Palomino, with a freshly rebuilt 3.5l V8 and running gear, it’s ready for its next loving owner.

The car is fitted with just a few optional extras including a heated rear window, rear wiper delete, blanked extra dials and that’s your lot. However, the car amazingly retains its original radio that is still in functioning order. This particular car has been subject to a few modifications, the original vinyl interior has been converted to leather at great expense by the current owner, along with the rear tailgate window frame switched out for an aluminum counter-part, mitigating the notorious rust weakness of the original.

The car has been owned by the current owner for the last twelve years, in which time he personally has restored the vehicle to an exceptional usable condition. The body panels are the originals and sympathetically brought back to perfect condition, while the roof has been replaced with the correct ridged roof (an oversight for many other restorations). The car benefits from new inner front wings, rear cross member and boot floor while the chassis its self has been blasted and sealed with period correct 2 pack paint.

Mechanically the car is in pristine condition. The engine has been rebuilt in the last 2000 miles, while the running gear has received a full overhaul. New hubs, bearings, brake lines, brakes and fuel tank to name but a few. This example has also been fitted with a much welcomed power steering pump, which really elevates this example to the perfect daily driver.

While the car does not retain its entire service history, it does retain an extensive amount which has been filed and documented into its new paperwork folders. Invoices dating from 1992 to present, also accompanying countless parts catalogues, service manuals, MOT certificates and Range Rover Register magazines of which owners of the car have all been members of.

Driving this Suffix A is a truly joyous experience. If you question the enjoyment of a drive in a 4x4 such as this, the answer is a loud yes. At any speed you find yourself with a grin as wide as the Range Rovers dimensions. The V8 pulls well and is more than enough for modern British roads and traffic, more than keeping up and plenty of oomph out of junctions.

With the reconditioned running gear the car feels taught as if it had just left the factory, while the added power steering allows you to concentrate more on the road and adds to the experience for the better. The gearbox retains its authentic ‘stirring coal’ charm but feels smooth and taught, somehow becoming one of the highlights of the driving experience.

The perfect car to complete the collection.

Our team is on hand to help with any further questions on this vehicle, all in-depth details available upon request.

“In a Range Rover, life isn't in any way frantic.”

- Top Gear Magazine

Range Rover is born

The 1960’s, a time of seismic shifts in colour, experimentation and the class system and possibly the most infamous of those was 1966. A year in which England won the World Cup, man landed its first probe on the moon and Land Rover started development on the Range Rover with the 100/1 Prototype.

It’s not often we have to thank the Americans for such a British icon however, due to the immense success of the new Ford Bronco and Jeep Wagoneer; Rover saw the opportunity and seized the moment to bring the luxury SUV to the British public. It would be another four years before the Range Rover would be unveiled to the public.

Rover acknowledged the emerging recreational off-road market in 1967 under Charles Spencer King and began the "100-inch Station Wagon" programme to develop a radical competitor. Rover bought a Bronco, which featured the sort of long-travel coil spring suspension necessary for the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's proven off-road ability. King is said to have been convinced of coil springs while driving a Rover P6 across rough scrubland on part of the Solihull factory site that was being redeveloped. He was also convinced that a permanent four-wheel drive transmission was needed both to provide adequate handling and reliably absorb the power required for the vehicle to be competitive. The cost of developing a totally new transmission was spread between the 100-inch SW project and one working on what would become the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. Powerful, light and sturdy, the Buick alloy V8 earned off-road modifications such as carburetors that maintained fuel supply at extreme angles and provision for cranking the engine with a starting handle in emergencies. The final bodywork featured a design largely done by the engineering team, rather than David Bache's styling division.

Finally, on 17 June 1970, the Range Rover was launched to the press. It has passed into history that they loved the car one and all, but that was probably down to years of defining then refining the project, whilst sticking to the design they had arrived at, without undue modification. The result was that demand was immediate and sustained – customer waiting lists were drawn up as soon as the Range Rover appeared. It seemed that everyone did indeed love the Range Rover – even the French – who exhibited a quarter-scale model of it in the Louvre Museum during 1971 because of it being an, ‘outstanding piece of modern sculpture’. Autocar magazine loved it as well and, in its November 1970 Autotest, concluded that, ‘We have been tremendously impressed by the Range Rover, and feel it is even more deserving of resounding success than the Land-Rover.’