As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, Land Rover is donating 60 vehicles to the British Red Cross Society and its sister national societies around the world. The vehicles were officially handed over to the President of the Red Cross, HRH The Prince of Wales, during a garden party at Buckingham Palace. In an unprecedented move, the vehicles, a mixture of Defender, Discovery and Freelander models, were arranged in the form of the Red Cross flag in the quadrangle of the palace.
This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Charter being granted to The British Red Cross by HM King Edward VII. The two landmark anniversaries provide an ideal opportunity to celebrate and recognise the unstinting work of Red Cross volunteers, staff and supporters, as well as the remarkable contribution Land Rover has made to the global aid agency requirement for vehicles over the past 60 years. (…)

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Land Rover LRX Concept and the first ever Land Rover pilot production vehicle (known as ‘Huey’), built in 1948. Photo: Land Rover UK
Gaydon, 30 April 2008 – 60 years ago today, a motoring icon made its public debut, when the original Land Rover was shown at a motor show in Amsterdam, on April 30, 1948. The current Defender is clearly descended from that first vehicle, now known as a Series 1. Extraordinarily, they even share a couple of original parts, an oil filler plug and a cleat for tying down the canvas roof. But the rest of the vehicle technology has moved on considerably.

Land Rover LRX Concept and the first ever Land Rover pilot production vehicle (known as ‘Huey’), built in 1948. Photo: Land Rover UK
Today, Land Rover goes from strength-to-strength, with a five-model line-up headed by the Range Rover, and record global sales of over 226,000 vehicles in 2007.
The company recently received an early birthday present, in the form of two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. (…)

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New book launched to celebrate Land Rover’s 60th anniversary year.
As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, Land Rover today launches ‘Born in Lode Lane’ – a book written by one of Britain’s best known motoring journalists, Gavin Green – which brings together ‘behind-the-scenes’ recollections of Land Rover’s history and anecdotes from long-serving employee, Roger Crathorne.
Roger Crathorne, a Land Rover employee of over 45 years was born in April 1947 in Solihull Hospital, one mile away from what was to become Land Rover’s historic manufacturing plant on Lode Lane – the same month that the Wilks Brothers conceived the first ever Land Rover vehicle. Having served as an engineer for 15 years, he is now widely regarded as one of the best off-road Land Rover drivers and instructors and is expert in demonstrating the vehicles’ all-terrain capabilities. (…)

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