Strange Rovers: the wilder side of Range Rover

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Cars come and cars go, with some staying around a little longer than others. The original Range Rover can certainly be counted among the long-standing champions. For no fewer than 26 years, the original luxury 4x4 remained in showrooms as a brand-new car. And while it has always been an interesting vehicle in its own right, it is the many conversions and variants that make for the most fascinating derivatives.

Using the strong chassis as a base, almost anything seemed possible: from ambulances and camper conversions to landaulets, and from six-door versions to six-wheelers, with or without electro-hydraulically folding interiors or outrageous colour schemes. Prices were not infrequently multiplied fivefold, but with a clientele consisting of kings, sheikhs and other wealthy individuals from the Middle East, that hardly seemed to matter.

Wood & Pickett, Glenfrome, Rapport International and Vantagefield were perhaps the most prolific builders in this genre, although there was also Robert Jankel’s Panther Westwinds, which, incidentally, built two Range Rover-based popemobiles. Nor did they hesitate to replace the standard 3.5-litre V8 with a GM 6.5-litre V8 when required. Meanwhile, a German company called Schuler had been tinkering with improving and accelerating Range Rovers for years. When it made a fresh start under the Overfinch name in 1985, 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8s became its engines of choice.

Swiss designer Willy Felber modified one in 1975 at the request of an anonymous diplomat. Beneath the deep, glossy blue bonnet of this Range Rover sat the V8 from a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, while the interior was fully upholstered in denim fabric, right down to the headlining.

East German officials knocked on the door of Morgan’s factory on Pickersleigh Road in Malvern with a request for a wild Range Rover convertible conversion, intended as a gift for head of state Erich Honecker’s 70th birthday in 1982. Morgan could hardly refuse. At the state’s expense (cost: 212,765.56 Reichsmarks), an extended and raised hunting vehicle emerged, complete with a roof structure from a Rolls-Royce Corniche.

One conversion that perhaps went even further was the Facet by Glenfrome of England. This was a Range Rover that was no longer recognisable as such and was therefore dubbed a 4x4 sports car. Launched in 1983, the wild body design came from none other than Dennis Adams and featured an electro-hydraulically operated Targa roof.

Tasteless, you say? Perhaps. But, boy, do we miss wacky cars like these.

Words and photos: Jeroen Booij

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.