As the UK’s only manufacturer of top tailgates for Range Rover Classics we are asked repeatedly by our customers to supply many of the items which bolt on to the tailgate frames. Most of these, such as the tailgate side catches, handles and hinges are available from our stocks. Some items have been discontinued and are incredibly difficult to source.

In response to customer demand, we have successfully re-manufactured two previously obsolete parts;

FF007593 corresponds to Land Rover part number 390345 and is the rubber seal which fits to the bottom horizontal edge of the top tailgate. This was fitted to Range Rovers pre-1982 and is the earlier, thin type seal correct for the early 2 door vehicles.

FF009306 is the lever arm section of the link rod for the central locking actuator which forms part of Land Rover part number MXC1391. As it is usually just this arm that breaks, we have re-manufactured this piece as a method of repairing the link rod assembly.

Check out our online ordering webpages for details of how to order.

An auspicious day for our Range Rover restoration project ELA 830J as her bodyshell is now fully prepared and in primer. Top coat of Sahara Dust will be applied next week, and further pictures will follow. Watch this space….!

This is an example not so much of a ‘barn find’ but more of a ‘field find’. A super-early 2 door 1970 Range Rover ‘Classic’ from the very first few weeks of production, chassis number 142 is the latest addition to Famous Four’s collection.

Many original features such as the Bendix brake servo and master cylinder are present. It certainly requires a full restoration but, with the original matching numbered engine and gearbox still intact, represents a challenge well worth undertaking.

The chassis is in need of repair, and the body shell is in a very sorry state of disrepair, but nothing is beyond redemption when it comes to these historically important early Range Rovers. We will either sell it on as a project for a brave enthusiast, or store it in preparation for future in-house restoration.

Pictured is our recovery of the Range Rover by our faithful 110 Utility Land Rover, in the safe hands of Richard Spence, earlier this week.

Not content with a comprehensive and highly detailed restoration of Velar chassis number 10, Famous Four have recently taken on another very early ‘Classic’ Range Rover restoration; chassis number 48, registration ELA 830J.

ELA 830J was the third vehicle to leave the production line in Solihull, and was supplied directly to the Ministry of Technology along with two other Range Rovers, chassis numbered 53 and 54, which were consecutively registered as ELA 831J and ELA 832J. The former was painted in Sahara Dust and the two latter were Masai Red. All three vehicles are extremely important in the history of the Range Rover development.

ELA 830J subsequently became the first ever Range Rover to be evaluated as an ambulance, was displayed as such at Farnborough airshow in 1970, and served for many years with the MoD at Boscombe Down, having been lightly modified by Wadham Stringer to accommodate a single personnel stretcher.

Released by the Ministry in 1985, ELA 830J passed through the Bristol & West Motor Auction group to its new owner, Burnworthy Manor in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset; within 10 days of purchase it was painted in military camouflage colours and was used as part of a high octane military style leisure sport business named ‘Combat Zone’ which operated in the country estate in the 1980s and 1990s. Occasionally it was used to ferry wounded combat players to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton suffering severe cuts that needed stitches!

Burnworthy Manor sold ELA 830J on in 1991, and by 1998 it had fallen in to a rather sad (but not unusual for a Classic Range Rover) state of disrepair; body corrosion had worked its way into the frame, and its future hung in the balance. Luckily, its historical importance was recognised, and Brian and Phil Bashall of Dunsfold Land Rovers bought the wreck, with to a view to either save it or as a donor of many rare and unobtainable super-early Suffix A parts.

It was during a trip to DLR’s Surrey premises that Dr. Julian Lamb, now of Aston University, spotted the vehicle’s potential, and bravely undertook its restoration back to a fully road-going vehicle, whilst diligently preserving its originality and painstakingly researching its past life. He and his wife used ELA 830J as a ‘daily driver’ for some years, exhibiting it at the NEC Classic Car Show in 2000. During their ownership ELA 830J was reunited with Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King, the original designer of the Range Rover, and unique and previously unseen video footage now exists of CSK himself driving the vehicle.

The vehicle has not been on the road since the late 2000s as Dr. Lamb began a full strip down with a view to complete restoration, before deciding that time constraints meant he could not dedicate the effort required to complete the project to the level he felt it deserved an required.

Famous Four were delighted to have the opportunity to acquire the Range Rover from Dr. Lamb early in 2015 and immediately have begun the process of thorough restoration; the body has been removed from the chassis; the chassis has been shot blasted and powder coated; the running gear has been overhauled and re-fitted to the now rolling chassis, and the bodywork is being professionally restored prior to a full refit.

Further updates will appear on our website blog, and we very much hope to be exhibiting ELA 830J on our stand at the 2015 NEC Classic Car Show.

It is hoped that by 2016 chassis number 48 will be re-built to a high standard ready for the next chapter in its colourful life, and will take its place as one of the most historically important ‘Classic’ Range Rovers in the long and successful lineage of the model stretching back over 45 years.

We will be updating you with the progress of our thorough Range Rover restorations over the coming months and years, as we return it to its original incarnation as one of the most historically important Range Rovers still in existence, and as such a hugely important vehicle in the long and successful history of the Range Rover marque.

2015 marks the 45^th anniversary of the launch of the evergreen Range Rover. To mark this milestone, Chris Elliott of the Range Rover Register (RRR) organised a gathering of a good number of the pre-production Range Rover VELAR vehicles at the British Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire on June 28^th 2015.

Richard, our 2-Door Range Rover expert, was lucky enough to attend, albeit without our own VELAR, YVB 158H which is nearing completion in our workshops here at Famous Four. Highlights included meeting with many legendary figures instrumental in the history of the Range Rover story such as Geoff Miller. Phil Bashall and Gary Pusey of Dunsfold Land Rover Trust were there, along with around 12 pre-production Range Rover ‘YVB’ ‘AOY’ and ‘NXC’ registered vehicles.

The survival of so many of these incredibly rare vehicles is a testament to the enthusiasm and dedication of their original owners, and the loyalty and fanaticism of subsequent owners, all of whom joined together on Sunday in their tribute to the ‘Classic’ Range Rover car originally conceived by Spen King, Gordon Bashford, Roger Crathorne and others back in the late 1960s, before its launch in Cornwall in June 1970.

Richard got a chance to chat with other VELAR owners and to learn more of the history and current condition of these cars, some of which have been in the same ownership since their release from the Land Rover factory back in the 1970s. Some of the highlights of the day for him were meeting the owner of YVB 160H, the Masai Red vehicle used in Land Rover’s promotional brochures, Dunsfold’s Gary Pusey and his three remarkable pre-production vehicles, talking with Chris Elliott who rescued our own YVB 158H from an almost certain demise back in the 1990s, and following Geoff Miller’s Tuscan Blue Velar YVB 163H out of Gaydon. These vehicles and their owners are an inspiration to everybody who loves the Land Rover brand.

Back in October 2012 we were fortunate to be able to acquire one of the very earliest Range Rovers in existence – chassis number 10 – from the private collection at Dunsfold Land Rovers.

YVB 158H has been well documented since it was built in late 1969 and early 1970 as one of the 28 pre-production Range Rovers which were code-named VELAR; this one was registered 9^th February 1970.

The factory build records suggest that our Velar was originally painted in Lincoln Green, but during the course of our nut and bolt rebuild we have conclusively determined that it was indeed originally painted in Land Rover Bronze Green, making it unique amongst the 28 as the only one painted in this colour.

Land Rover’s Special Projects Department used YVB 158H as a test mule for front-mounted winches before it was sent to specialist vehicle converters Wadham Stringer in Hampshire who converted it to an Ambulance. It was in this guise that the vehicle was used, firstly by Rover Cars’ Transport Department as the works ambulance at the Solihull factory, and later sold (in 1977) to the British Red Cross in Worcester. In 1991 it was rescued by early Range Rover enthusiast and founding member of the Range Rover Register Chris Elliott, who passed it on to the Dunsfold Collection in 2001, from whom we purchased it.

We will be updating you with the progress of our thorough restoration over the coming months and years, as we return it to its original incarnation as one of the most historically important Velars still in existence, and as such a hugely important vehicle in the long and successful history of the Range Rover marque.

Recently arrived is this remarkable find; a Range Rover which we purchased from the original owner who bought it brand new in September 1972.

This early Suffix A vehicle is complete with the original “Passport to Service” booklet, Owner’s Manual, all previous MOTs and, as a sign of times gone by, a letter from the supplying dealer to the purchaser thanking him for his purchase and welcoming him to the Land Rover fold.

Many original features remain intact; a real feast for early Classic aficionados – a ‘matching numbers’ car.

She has been standing forlorn for the last 14 years, and now, although looking rather sad, is ready for her new owner to breathe fresh life into her.

Rebuilt and resplendent in Davos White, MJD 588L will, we are certain, be treasured by her next owner, hopefully for the next 43 years!