God drives a Land Rover

It’s a testimony of British engineering, the only surviving aspect of British automotive competence. In the 1940s the British made and exported a lot of cars, today the British automotive industry is largely a corpse. British Leyland is gone, Rover is gone, Jensen is gone and the Morris as well. It is a sad story, in fact only Aston Martin remains British owned and until recently so was Land Rover.

...Land rovers are built for the man who doesn’t shave beards, he has a mane. The kind of man who doesn’t wear suits, the kind of man who doesn’t eat vegetables, just meat. Land rovers are for the man who has hairy legs and doesn’t wear trousers...

There are many land rovers, but I only acclaim one. It has been with us since the peak of the empire; it was dedicated to the crown and given to the Royal armed forces for the purpose of the Second World War. It was unveiled to the world 64 years ago as the Land Rover, today we call it the Land Rover Defender. It was the forerunner to all modern off road vehicles. It is 64 years of tradition, six decades of unquestioned pedigree and millions of miles or distinguished excellence.

For 64 years it has not changed a bit, it looks as it did back then when Colour had not yet reached television. They got it right the first time. It’s not beautiful, it’s handsome. It was only made with one thought, utility and nothing else. It was never made for the road, no, it was meant for the bush. It was built to go to places where roads hadn’t dared… I reckon God used a land rover during creation, I am sure Noah towed the arc with a land rover…It has proven its worth in peace and in war, No other vehicle has ever had such a long run of  tradition without compromise . No other vehicle has ever had such a distinguished appearance for so long. The Land Rover Defender is timeless, it’s been with us for us long as the moon but it’s as fresh as a spring. Other than the position of the spare tire, nothing has ever changed about the defender.

The land rover is built for a purpose, utility over looks, strength over comfort and tradition over image. Land rovers are built for a special kind of man. Land rovers are built for the man who doesn’t shave beards, he has a mane. The kind of man who doesn’t wear suits, the kind of man who doesn’t eat vegetables, just meat. Land rovers are for the man who has hairy legs and doesn’t wear trousers,just shorts... that is the kind of man who drives a Land rover, and I suspect God is that kind of man…

 The land rover is the last remaining piece of the old England, the England where everybody lived in Anna Hathaway’s cottage, the England where men were called William, the England where every boy dreamt of being a sailor. The Land rover helped run the empire, the empire is gone but the Land rover is the heritage, the legacy, a nostalgic memory of times more triumphant. To me the defender is special, its special because its old fashioned, the land rover is special because its simple, It reminds me of a less complicated time, its endearing because of its “Honest to God engineering”. Sadly we may be loosing it, land rover is owned by the Indians now and they don’t recognize pedigree. In recent times it has adopted the sophisticated ergonomics of the Land rover discovery, it has lost its “agricultural and rugged” interior, but that is not all, The Indians are bringing up an all new defender concept called the DC 100 and I hate it.