This is the original 1969 Range Rover Velar – one of six prototypes of the original Range Rover
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This is the original 1969 Range Rover Velar – one of six prototypes of the original Range Rover – which spawned the entire Range Rover family.
Whether it’s entirely appropriate to use the codename of the original Range Rover for a car many will think anathema to the spirit of the original is a matter for Land Rover, but there is no doubt that without this original Velar there would have been no 2017 Velar.
By the time this Velar was built in 1969 – chassis number 100.6 – there had been five others, but only this one – AOY 289H – and chassis number 100.7 registration number YVB 150H still exist.
Despite this being a prototype, the classic design was already intact, the split tailgate was present and correct and even the interior was close to what went in to production as the first two-door Range Rovers.
Land Rover, rather daftly, sold this Velar off in 1973, and the last time we came across it was in 2012 when Graeme Hunt – a classic car dealer – had it up for grabs for almost £80k.
It’s astonishing that Spen King’s design still looks great after almost 50 years, and more than an echo of its original design can still be seen in the latest full fat Range Rover.
But Range Rovers are now a long way removed from the original ethos of a working off-roader which scrubbed up well for social events, especially the soon to arrive 2017 Velar.
The all new Range Rover Velar will debut on 7 March in Geneva.
wolfie says
You reckon ‘it still looks great’. Debatable. My own view is that is was quite an ungainly looking beast in its original form. Very practical, admittedly, but certainly not very stylish.