The first production Range Rover, chassis number #001, will be going under the hammer at The Salon Privé Sale, hosted in partnership with Silverstone Auctions, in London on 4th September.
While other production Range Rovers wouldn’t be worth too much, this first model of the iconic British SUV to roll of the production line back in 1969 is priced between £100,000 and £140,000.
This car was built between 24th November and 17th December 1969 before being registered on 2nd January 1970, nearly six months before the official launch date of the Range Rover. The first owner of the car was Michael Furlong, the producer of two promotional films for the model.
In 1975 the car, by this time re-sprayed in gold, passed onto a new owner. Changes to registrations as well as colour meant that chassis number 001 was ‘lost’ for a number of years, passing through another owner, until discovery by the current vendor in the early 1990s. What followed was a professional, 6 years ground up restoration, both bodily and mechanically executed to an exceptional standard as well as taking it back to its original Olive Green colour.
Unusually, the vehicle retains all its “matching numbers” components; chassis, engine, gearbox, and axles, as well as the original aluminium bonnet, and the original body shell. In 1997 the DVLA reissued #001 with its original registration number ‘YVB 151H’.
Source: Silverstone Auctions
