1970 Range Rover Velar Prototype

Lot details
Registration No: YUB172H
Chassis No: 35500020
Mot Expiry: Feb 2005

Offered here is the Land Rover prototype chassis number 20 fitted with engine number 18 which was built at Solihull in March 1970. Initially retained by Rover as a management assessment vehicle, the pre-production 4x4 was registered YVB 172H, the same plates it carries today.
In September 1971, as one of two `works' prototype entries in the Senior Service Welsh International Hill Rally, it was finished in Masai Red with Davos White rood panels and side stripes, and crewed by Dave Woodcock, an Experimental Department fitter, and Rover engineer and rally navigator Rob Lyall. In May1972, it was then transferred to Basil Wales of British Leyland Special Tuning where it was employed as a race and rally service vehicle.
In the mid-1970s it joined the collection of Brian Bashall of the Dunsford Land Rover Trust, although official transfer of ownership did not occur until March 1981, by when it had already been restored with chassis replaced and panels straightened. Post-restoration, it was considered good enough for inclusion in Land Rover's 1988 40th Anniversary calendar. Bashall then used it as his everyday driver until it passed into current ownership during the summer of 1997.
Current condition of 2-door bodywork, red and white paintwork and beige interior are described by the vendor as good, while 3.5-litre V8 and 4-speed manual transmission are said to be in good order. Both MOT and tax disc of this historic Range Rover will not need renewing until February 2005.