This rotten Range Rover and more will live again with JLR Classic

After years of neglect left under a tree in a Northamptonshire bog, it might not look much right now but it’s a 1971 two-door and that makes it hot – whatever condition it is in. JLR’s Reborn programme can (and will) rebuild it.

For a look at one they finished earlier just wander over to JLR Classic’s stand in Earls Court where an early Bahama Gold two-door has already been reborn. And the cost to go from swamp to showroom? £100k plus. That Bahama Gold car is actually for sale at £165,000…

It’s a price that reflects not just JLR’s no-expense-spared approach to its first Reborn Range Rover project but also the burgeoning values of classic Range Rovers – the two-door, pre-1981 models at least.

“Swampy’s owners came to Revival yesterday and got quite emotional about seeing their car again,” recalls a JLR Classic spokesman.

“We bought it last year and are scouting around for more like it because we can rebuild them. There are relatively few of them still around in good condition.”

The same factory-fresh body panels that went into the Bahama Gold car are available from your local JLR Classic dealer where restoration costs from a more manageable £100 an hour.

The moral of the story? Don’t leave your classic Range Rover to rot… unless you want a really big bill!

Other tempters at JLR Classic’s impressive barn in Revival’s Over the Road area to catch our eye were a new period-look Jag radio (digital and complete with satnav etc) being launched at Revival, and, out the front, a rather tasty XJR.

The 1992 (so XJ40 series) 250bhp saloon in red was Jaguar’s press car at the time. A rare manual example with 48,000 miles up, it’s for sale at £20,000.

Photography by Tom Shaxson and James Lynch