An outstanding landmark design that almost single-handedly created the booming market in dual-purpose 4x4s, the Range Rover was greeted with universal acclaim on its arrival in 1970 and has remained the class leader, despite ever increasing foreign and domestic competition, ever since.

The idea of a more road-biased 4x4 had been around since the Land Rover's arrival in the late 1940s, but it would be some two decades before the concept crystallised in what would end up as the Range Rover.

A separate, Land Rover-type chassis was employed to carry the enclosed aluminium body, while long-travel coil-sprung suspension ensured that the ride would be more saloon car than utility.

Rover already possessed an ideal power unit in the form of its 3.5-litre alloy V8, enabling the Range Rover to cruise comfortably at 90mph while offering greater off-road capability than most of its customers would ever need.

This Vogue EFI has the 3.9-litre V8 engine and rare manual transmission.

The vehicle w...