Description Rare early Land Rover with 'ring pull' gearbox; meticulously restored about four years ago and only 3,000 miles since; totally correct and in wonderful condition throughout Although it was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motorshow in April 1948, the first Land Rover did not roll off the production line until July of that year and as much of it was still being hand-built, production was painfully slow to begin with, with around 100 being built each week.

Improvements were constantly being made and very few of the early models were exactly alike until the production process had been refined and standardised.

First registered in Suffolk in August 1949, this particular Series One 80” is among the first few thousand made and has many special features that were absent from later models, including the ring-pull gearbox, lights behind the grill, dip switch on the centre of the Bakelite steering wheel, rear ‘D’ lamps and spade back seats.

It was originally one of a pair owned by a hote...