Land Rover Shaves a 1993 Flank Bare. Put It Back.
Land Rover's Classic division gave a 1993 Range Rover a 2,000-hour restoration, kept the mechanicals honest, then took off its side trim and fitted the new SV Ultra's hood script. The old car was made to impersonate one nobody had drawn yet.
When Land Rover's Classic Works team finished its 2,000-hour restoration, the flanks of a 1993 Range Rover carried no side trim at all. They took it off. Land Rover says the removal reflects the clean surfaces of the new SV Ultra. Then they screwed the new SV Ultra's hood script onto a bonnet built in 1993.
So here is the demand, and it is not negotiable. Put the trim back. Unscrew the script. Were that flank still wearing its own trim, as it should be, the old car would look like itself. Whoever signed the order to shave it should be walked to the engine bay and made to explain himself to the V8.
My tailor could price this in four seconds. Take a 1993 jacket in so it hangs like this year's cut, he says, and yes, it can be done. Once. Then he asked me who I was trying to fool. He has never put this year's label in an old coat. He says it is rude to the coat.
Mechanical authenticity, they say, remained a guiding principle throughout. The engine, the transmission, the brakes, all restored, the 3.9-liter V8 and its four-speed automatic kept as they were. Above all that sits Titan Silver, a color Land Rover launched on the SV Ultra and says evokes liquid metal. Inside, Ultrafabrics for the first time in a Range Rover Classic, in Orchid White and Cinder Grey, perforated in the new car's mosaic. Heritage, 2,000 hours, mechanical authenticity, and a face borrowed from a car nobody had drawn yet.
Dominic Elms, director of Land Rover Classic, says the process can elevate any generation while maintaining its essence. The essence was on the flank, and they took it off with the trim. Save it, in a box, for whoever bids on Aug. 14.
Then go look at Land Rover's own photograph of that flank. There is nothing there.
Editorial disclosure: Land Rover couriered to Drive Observer a restorer's rolling tool chest from Classic Works in Coventry, its drawers lined in green baize and each holding a single tool, the top drawer empty but for a stopwatch stopped at 2,000 hours and a card reading 'the hands did the rest.' Per our strict ethical policy, we do not let this influence our coverage.