If a brand new Range Rover is just too slab-sided, over-luxurious and distant from the original concept for you, here’s the four-door answer. Dubbed Silver Birch, after its rare colourway, by restorers and remakers Solihull’s this 1982 four-door Range Rover is as good as - if not better than - new and as a stealth statement of taste and style there’s little to match it.
As Solihull’s point out, this impeccable Rangie is an early four-door example. First Range Rovers - from 1970 onwards - were strictly two-door, with large tailgate adding the necessary access to cargo bay. Big success prompted Land Rover to think, and they took their time over this, of adding two more side doors, which they duly did in 1981. The Range Rover you see here, a rare InVogue edition, rolled off the production line a year or so later, with an impressive specification.
You’ll be reassured to know that Silver Birch's original picnic box, complete with fitted place settings, is present and correct. Not to mention the Range Rover branded cooler, for Champagne refreshments while on safari. They’re indications of painstaking attention to detail, and the extent to which this 43-year-old Range Rover has been fully rebuilt. To Solihull’s, that means a body-off restoration, stripped down to bare metal before a respray to exacting standards. And to this Range Rover’s correct colourway of Silver Birch. All parts are inspected and, where necessary, repaired or replaced with factory-correct items.
Silver Birch: A look inside
Interior speaks of every 1980s British Leyland product at the time, with added Range Rover sophistication. Golden ribbed velour to the seating is, naturally, as new and twin dial dash has been restored. The look is very much as storied motoring designer David Bache intended for the original Range Rover. Without any of the electronic screens and multimedia toys deemed essential for its successors today. And that’s refreshing.
Original engine has been fully recommissioned too, so your old-new Range Rover is ready for its new, pampered life ahead. Of course you could drive Silver Birch through a field of turnips in great style, but would you really? As Solihull's put it: "our goal is to breathe new life into these relics of the past and bring them back to their former glory .. the end result is a show-stopping classic". As these images show, that’s no idle boast.
If, like us, you’re hooked on the idea of having Silver Birch join your collection, there’s good news. It’s for sale, if a little far away. Because despite their distinctly West Midlands name, referencing Land Rover’s factory, Solihull’s are based in Manama, Bahrain. No matter, because they’ll ship this - or any other Land Rover project - to any destination you require. Price without that shipping of this remade Silver Birch four-door: £50,108, which given the nudging six-figure price of new Range Rovers is, we think, a snip. Ideal for the summer season at your country house.
Next up: This Range Rover Classic is the next car on your want list.
