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It’s no secret that older Land Rover products sometimes suffer from what we’ll call—with near-British understatement—occasional reliability issues. It’s a point that’s been officially acknowledged by the company itself with the launch of the new Land Rover Heritage Division, which is intended to help owners look after some of the brand’s older products.
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Land Rover Heritage is basically a sister organization to the Jaguar Heritage division that was launched last year, with the similar mission of helping to keep older Landies on the road. This will be done both by supplying original parts for vintage Land Rover products, but also by remanufacturing components when necessary. The initial emphasis is on the first-generation Range Rover and “Series” Land Rovers (those made before 1983), but we’re told that the ultimate ambition is to offer full support for all older Land Rovers.
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Although Land Rover products have yet to acquire the classic status of cars like the Jaguar E-Type and the Mk2 sedan, there are still plenty of them around to be supported. The company reckons that 70 percent of the cars it has made since 1948 are still in existence, and in Europe values of early Range Rovers have started to climb in recent years. The division will be headed by John Edwards, the man in charge of JLR’s Special Vehicles team, who says it will help keep Land Rover in touch with its vast diaspora of owners. “It’s a different opportunity to Jaguar [Heritage],” he said, “but it’s something that I strongly believe we should be doing. Land Rover is a brand that’s based on passion and that’s something that we’re always very keen to support.”
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Beyond helping owners to get hard-to-find parts, Land Rover Heritage also plans to offer driving events in historic Land Rover products on a specially designed off-road course in the U.K, and will also be offering factory-standard restoration work later on. Speaking to C/D yesterday, Edwards also said that he is considering Land Rover projects similar to the “continuation” lightweight Jaguar E-Types that Special Operations is building, “I’ve got a guy whose job is basically to come up with ideas like that,” he explained, “we’re going to look to do a couple of projects like that a year, and I would love to sign off on a Land Rover one.”
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