Land Rover Series 1 models to be restored and sold

Land Rover’s Classic division is restoring 25 Series 1 models, which will be sold for between £60,000 and £80,000.

The Series 1 models will be restored to original 1948 factory specification, including Land Rover Classic parts and the choice of colours on offer.

The 25 examples will be restored to exactly how they would have been originally, with the only differences being each customer’s choice of materials and colours. No modern emissions or safety technology will be applied.

The donor vehicles are being sourced from around the world, meaning both left- and right-hand drive cars will be available. The cars will be restored in Solihull, at Land Rover’s new Classic workshop in its Defender production facility.

A Land Rover spokesperson revealed that the team behind the restorations consists of Land Rover employees with more than 200 years of Land Rover and Land Rover Defender experience between them. Land Rover was unable to say how long each restoration will take, but a source said each will take "hundreds of hours", with customers free to view the vehicle in progress.

The decision to restore the Series 1 models follows the recent announcement that Jaguar Land Rover will build nine Jaguar XKSS D-Types to replace those lost in the Browns Factory fire in 1957.

The timing of the decision is undoubtedly influenced by Land Rover’s Defender model ceasing production after 68 years. During that time, more than 2 million Defenders were produced until safety and emissions legislation caught up with the model.

JLR finally pulled the plug on the Defender in January. A family of all-new Defender models is scheduled to appear in 2018.