There are barn finds and then there are barn finds. In 2016, one of the three original launch Land Rovers was found in a garden near the Solihull factory where it was built. The company trotted it out to pay homage to its history, promising to restore the brute back to spec. After much work and careful planning, the OG Brit is ready to turn a wheel on U.K. soil once again.The truck built an impressive resum after helping to launch what would go on to be one of the countrys most well-known brands. After passing through several owners, it apparently found itself in Wales being used as a static power source, before its engine seized in the late 80s.Restoration work began last year, undertaken by a team of experts at Land Rover Classic at its Classic Works facility in Coventry.Interesting discoveries during the work included an original King George V sixpence coin from 1943, a piece which had been deliberately left under the galvanized capping of the rear tub as a hidden memento. After loitering in a field for decades, one can bet there was a generous helping of agriculture in there as well.This approach required the team to strip the vehicle down to its bare chassis and begin a painstaking process of testing and checking which components could be reused and rebuilt following decades of decay and rust. Some parts, such as the rear axle, were X-rayed and depth-tested in an effort to determine their fitness.For parts that needed to be replaced or had been removed over the vehicles life, the team used the archive of original drawings kept by Land Rover Classic, plus access to other surviving pre-production Land Rovers. These tech illustrations helped to restore the original routing and mounting of the exhaust, the brass wheel hubs, the gearbox, and transfer box. The original badge was also AWOL, so the team digitized a photograph of another Land Rover at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show and used that to replicate and place a new one.We this amount of fastidious attention to detail, we think its safe to add this Land Rover to a list of barn find greats even if it was, technically, found in a
Origin: One of the first-ever Land Rovers just hit the mud for the first time in decades
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Land Rover’s TReK 2020 is a punishing thrill ride
It’s 5:45 am, and finally light enough to snap on a life jacket and plunk my butt into a very tippy kayak. The water is warm, but the fog is thick. I can make out the arc of a few other paddles, but not the faces of those swinging them. I fumble with the Garmin GPS unit clipped to my vest; the satellite coordinates are the only way I’ll find my destination (a duck decoy that must be turned over to reveal a clue written on its bottom) but my hands are wet, the jacket bulky. I silently envy my two teammates, who – one running, one mountain biking – will have posted signs showing them their routes. I’ll later find out that five-km run was mostly uphill, and many of the mountain bikers doubled their route due to an easily missed sign. I will feel guilty all day, but at least I’ve finally started this journey.Or rather, this Land Rover TReK.This competition is a unicorn in the world of off-road competition. First debuted in 1996, it went global in 2001, but was mothballed in 2003. The event is being re-upped in anticipation of the release of the new Land Rover Defender, which will hit showrooms in 2020. It’s for those who work in dealerships, not seasoned pros or pampered press. It gives three-person teams from Land Rovers retailers across Canada and the U.S. a chance to spend two intense days testing their off-road driving skills, navigation chops and ability to collaborate. You need all three; if you cant find the station youre aiming for in the dense forest (the entire thing is under strict time constraints) you cant prove your driving skill. If you cant collectively solve puzzles to find clues to even begin, youll be mired in metaphoric mud instead of actual mud. Think Amazing Race meets Survivor meets Camel Trophy.It’s mostly men, but as one of only two media teams on the pilot wave (guys from Motor Trend were the other) this Canadian contingent of women is determined to play hard. There are disadvantages; it takes two of us to hoist the tire we will change, and I still want a redo on something called “Rat Trap.” A tight circle formed from a series of vertical rods, you drive your truck (we’re using spanky new Land Rover Discoveries) into the centre, turn it 180 degrees, and drive out. Easy, right? Nah. You have about two feet of clearance all around the truck. Time constraints or not, we soon learn that taking a moment to plan your attack saves time in the long run. We get out of shape pretty fast and end up executing the world’s most stressful thousand-point turn. At day’s end, we’ve missed out on one of the gnarliest stations of off-roading, plowing through water halfway up the doors. Next year. The night before the event, we climb into tents perched rather precariously on the slope of a rolling hill at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina where Land Rover maintains a year-round Experience Centre (you can pay to go and thrash Land Rovers in the muck). We’ve spent the evening finally getting a glimpse of what we will be facing, but not much of one. A laminated sheet outlines the map of the following day’s events, but with vague names and just satellite coordinates of their location, it’s up to the individual teams to decide where to go when, how to use their time, and which points are worth chasing. We have zero knowledge of which station will hold what task.Allie, our main driver, is a crackerjack off-roader with her own Jeep tucked away in a garage back home. Lesley and I have been kicking around the industry for a lot of years, and greet many of the Land Rover instructors by name. I spent eight days lost in the Sahara desert last year on the Gazelle Rally, which means I’m default navigator (and promptly get us lost within ten minutes). Lesley can get tires off a car in a few minutes, and both women take advantage of that evening session to learn the winching system our truck will be sporting. I input all the long coordinates into our Garmin, a useful, frustrating little device that is only helpful if you’re moving. We will spend too much time the next day trudging through forests, brambles tearing at our sporty new clothing looking for clues nailed to trees.So, why? This event is for retailers. If you work at a Land Rover dealership, whether in back or out front, you can assemble a team to enter. Its not free; dealers pay for a truck, and for travel costs to send a team to the qualifying waves. But that intense sense of competition, and ability to see what these trucks can really do hell, what they were meant to do return teams to their respective jobs with an unbelievable high. That enthusiasm translates to their work, and to sales, and the entire store.If you Google past years of Land Rover TReK events, you’ll see a lot of testosterone. This year, there were five women on teams from the 53 competing retailers. It’s a start, but I really hope more women will get involved, and their employers will encourage them to. The winners of each wave go on to Palm Springs in
Origin: Land Rover’s TReK 2020 is a punishing thrill ride
Jaguar Land Rover’s survival bid: five new cars in two years
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has embarked on a two-year programme of new vehicle launches and massive industrial investments designed to transform the company’s financial fortunes and put it on a long-term, stable footing. As well as three entirely new model lines – the new Defender family, the luxury Jaguar J-Pace SUV and a new Range Rover crossover – JLR engineers are replacing the XJ with an electric super-saloon next year and creating a new version of the evergreen Range Rover by 2022. All of these new models will be built on JLR’s brand-new ‘flex’ MLA architecture, which offers mild- and plug-in hybrid drivetrains as well as a pure-electric option. According to official company documents, there will also be an all-electric Range Rover model and an all-electric Discovery model before 2025. There are no plans for an all-electric Defender spin-off, though. The internal-combustion models sold by all of Land Rover’s three so-called ‘brand pillars’ – Range Rover, Discovery and Defender – will be available in only mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms by 2025. Autocar can also reveal the MLA-based models will have a new SOTA (software over the air) capability, with 14 ‘modules’ in the vehicle’s electrical architecture that are connected to the internet. JLR says the new SOTA set-up will allow it to reduce warranty claims, avoid the need for some recalls, offer predictive servicing and even user-based insurance. Over-the-air feature upgrades for MLA models are also being planned, as well as “in-vehicle rewards and payments”. JLR is hoping to use data generated by real-world use of the new vehicles to inform future model development, too. The first all-new JLR model is the Defender, which will arrive later this year and be made at the new Nitra plant in Slovakia. This is a challenging project for the British car maker because it is a new model, based on a new architecture and built in a new factory with a relatively new workforce. But as Autocar’s scoops have revealed, the new three-model Defender range has huge potential in the lucrative market for premium family SUVs. The electric XJ, first reported by Autocar in 2015, replaces the outgoing XJ saloon, which has just ended a decade-long production run at the Castle Bromwich plant near Birmingham. The new model – due in around 12 months – is expected to be an unashamed super-luxury car in the mould of more expensive Mercedes-Benz S-Class variants (setting it well apart from the ageing Tesla Model S), while also being more driver orientated. JLR will be hoping that the XJ steals a march on premium EV rivals, offering a zero-emission luxury vehicle that’s ideal for East Asian megacities. Later on, plug-in petrol-electric versions of the XJ will be launched. Next up at the remodelled Castle Bromwich plant will be the Jaguar J-Pace, which will be larger and more upmarket than the F-Pace. The J-Pace is also expected to be offered as a pure EV and is unlikely to be made public until early 2021. The upcoming fifth member of the Range Rover family, due in late 2021 and scooped by Autocar in 2017, is also based on the MLA platform. It’s described on JLR documents as a “medium SUV” and is expected to sit between the Evoque and Velar. It will be more road orientated and its smaller frontal area will ensure it will be the most economical member of the Range Rover family as well as the first all-electric Range Rover. Despite JLR registering the historic Road Rover nameplate, there’s no news on what name the showroom version will take. Initially, there was some surprise in the car industry that the under-utilised Castle Bromwich plant is to receive significant investment to convert it to build JLR’s MLA platform. Recently, however, it was revealed that JLR had received a loan guarantee from the UK government for half a billion pounds. The money is expected to help not only the conversion of Castle Bromwich but also planned investments in a new battery factory at Hams Hall, east of Birmingham, and the manufacture of electric motors in the UK. JLR has already announced that it is teaming up with BMW to develop next-generation electric drive units (EDUs) for future electrified vehicles. JLR will make the EDUs at its Wolverhampton engine plant, which, the company says, will be able to switch seamlessly from making the Ingenium petrol and diesel engines to building the EDUs. Recently, JLR boss Ralf Speth said the battery makes up 40% of the cost of an EV and that locally built battery packs for UK-made vehicles is an economic necessity. Unless battery production is secured for the UK, Speth predicted, the UK car industry will see production moving overseas. Although JLR is clearly executing an ambitious and very promising product plan over the next 12 to 24 months, it has plenty of issues to deal with in the near term, with sales of existing models continuing to slide. In the first four months of 2019, Jaguar sales fell 11% and Land
Origin: Jaguar Land Rover’s survival bid: five new cars in two years
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