A little known and now quite rare part of Land Rover’s history, the Stage One is part Series 3 part Range Rover and has the lines that would soon morph into the coil sprung Land Rover which the became the Defender. Toyota were taking market from Land Rover with the more powerful Land Cruiser around the world so British Leyland came up with a plan and the initial part of the plan was the Stage One. Roughly speaking it took the engine and gearbox from the Range Rover giving the Land Rover more power than the hapless and out of date 2.6 6 cylinder and providing it the benefit of permanent four wheel drive.

Bought by us a few years back from a Land Rover enthusiast this fantastic Stage One V8 just had to be restored. We aimed to build this Stage One to Concours level keeping it a close to original as possible. It was a tough job, the chassis, bulkhead and doors were corroded beyond sensible repair. Luckily a few years before we found a brand new chassis stored in a chaps garage, all oiled and kept dry since the 1990’s. We built a new bulkhead to exactly the same specs as original, the rear tub was repaired over many man hours. New old stock front doors and wings were bought but sadly not so easy for the rear doors. There are aftermarket doors available but they are just not up to the standard needed so we made them as you can see in the pictures.

The engine, gearbox and the rest of the drivetrain were all rebuilt to factory standards and all fixings on the car have been plated as original.

The interior and roof were very challenging, there are numerous parts in the roof vents alone, some plated, some galvanised, all requiring attention. The headlining was a very difficult area for our trimmer but it looks as good as it ever did. The dash frame was remade, re-foamed and recovered in vinyl. The deluxe seats are also in the original black vinyl.

Over 2000 hours went into this amazing Land Rover, we don’t believe there’s another one like it in the world.

£145k