The Range Rover was released in 1970. The plan was to create a more comfortable Land-Rover and in this it was embarrassingly
successful. The specifications were astonishing for a four wheel drive of the day. Waiting lists became huge and a lucky buyer
could immediately sell the car for well over its purchase price - if he or she chose.
The Range Rover introduced coil-springs, self-levelling suspension, full-time four wheel drive, all-round disc-brakes and
a 3.5L V8 engine to the general four wheel drive world. The long-travel suspension gave excellent axle-articulation and cross-country
ability. The centre differential was fitted with a diff' lock; it was also limited-slip on very early models but this feature
was soon dropped as being unnecessary. That engine and those brakes meant that it went and stopped, if not like a sports car,
at least like a real grand-tourer.
Overwhelmed by success and short of development funds Rover neglected, or resisted, many obvious improvements for a decade.
The four door Range Rover was not introduced until 1981 although many specialist firms had carried out conversions on both
standard and lengthened chassis.
A factory automatic transmission was offered in 1982. Again, many private conversions had been performed before this. A 5-speed
manual transmission came in 1983.
The long-lived V8 got fuel-injection in 1985. Fuel economy was ever an embarrassment, particularly in costly Europe, and Rover
introduced a 2.4L VM turbo-diesel option in 1986, the engine being more refined than Rover's own diesels.
Land-Rover reentered the US market in 1987, with the Range Rover, which called for a dramatic improvement in quality control.
The Range Rover had started out as "just" a more comfortable Land-Rover but since then it had moved, ever further up market,
although with seeming reluctance at times. This left a widening gap between it and the work-horse 90 and 110 Land-Rovers.
County versions of the 90 and 110 struggled to fill the gap but it was an obvious strain. The Land-Rover Discovery was developed
with unprecedented speed, and released in 1989, to do the job properly.
The new 3-model range let Land-Rover give the Range Rover its head. The V8 grew to 3.9L in 1989. (The VM diesel alternative
grew to 2.5L in 1990.)
1992 saw great technical developments: anti-lock brakes, Morse or silent-chain transfer-case with a viscous-coupling on the
centre diff' to replace the manual diff' lock. Air-bag suspension was offered on the top models.
A longer wheel base (108", right) model was introduced, which not only provided more leg-room but cured that cramped look
under four doors. A 4.2L version of the V8 was released. The VM diesel option was dropped in favour of Land-Rover's own 200
Tdi diesel.
The original design was however reaching the end of its tether. Rumours of a new Range Rover had been about since the mid
1980s, if not earlier. They became reality in 1994. The old car continued to built, as the Range Rover `Classic', alongside
the new one. Then in November 1995 its end was finally announced with a plan to build just 25 25th-Anniversary specials.
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