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Written by Ollie Kew
Confession time. A year, or even six months ago, I"d never heard of the original Range Rover Velar" story. So calling the new, road-focused, ultra-clean surface and style-saturated Range Rover Velar" has done its job, hasn"t it? Those who don"t care about heritage think it"s a pretty, pleasantly sophisticated new badge. Anyone who cares to do the research will dig out a nugget of Land Rover legacy, and unlock that warm glow you feel from becoming part of a brand"s story, and family. Like buying the football shirt, you"re sort of part of the team now.So, Velar. That"s slightly misspelled Latin for cover", or hide". It was a high-brow in-joke dreamt up by Coventry in the late 1960s, when Land Rover was dreaming up a more luxuriously appointed, easy-to-drive off-roader that"d be just at home dropping significant others off at the vicar"s tea party as retuning home over a bleak, wintry moor. That car was to become the original three-door Range Rover, the machine that every modern luxury 4x4 owes a monumental debt of gratitude to. The engineers honing this unique new vehicle needed to test their prototype in the wilds of the real world, but wearing any form of Rover" badge would give the game away. Happily, the letters that spell Velar" were already in the LAND ROVER" badging parts bin, and anyone who paid mind to this rugged handsome box as it trundled past their Morris or Austin would"ve presumed it was a new, unheard of brand, perhaps from the other side of that wall in Berlin. Seven original Velar prototypes were built up to 1970. Deemed surplus to requirement in less nostalgic times after their shakedown duty was done, none survive today, which I"m sure Land Rover is mildly devastated about. Happily, of the 28 pre-production cars then built to iron out the final creases in a recipe that would go on to become one of the car world"s all-time genius moves, several managed to dodge interfaces with static objects, rust and abuse, and this 1970-spec blue example is a charming example. So, before a ride up the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb in 2017"s Velar, I took its ancestor out on the roads of Hampshire for a drive. Or, as it turned out, an education.Don"t we all crave a slower pace of life anyway? No smartphone interface or ventilated massage seats makes pootling around Hampshire"s lanes an invigorating, relaxing experienceI"ve driven cars from the late Sixties and early Seventies before Alfas, Jags and Mercedes-Benzes - but never an SUV", so expectations set nice and low for the driving experience, I pop the light door catch and clamber up onto a worn, slightly torn seat that"s more comfortable than any of the furniture in my house. It"s also a lot tidier in here. There are two clear clockfaces, one for speed and one for temperatures, but no rev counter, and between them a totaliser of warning lights to warn of internal combustion suddenly going a bit external. Obviously, it"s so far removed from a modern Rangie there"s no point in peering around for retro links. There"s a gearchange to master first.Yes, it"s an actual manual. How incongruous. It"s a four-speed that likes being rushed about as much as the boatlike steering likes being hustled, so it"s a slow-and-steady-to-win-the-race approach that works best here. Treat it regally, like you"re handling the Queen"s bone china. Place the lever between gates. Politely suggest to the clutch it might like to dip into the footwell. Feed the steering like the fingertippy, thin wheel is made of glass. Gently does it.
Date written: 4 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8370
Confession time. A year, or even six months ago, I"d never heard of the original Range Rover Velar" story. So calling the new, road-focused, ultra-clean surface and style-saturated Range Rover Velar" has done its job, hasn"t it? Those who don"t care about heritage think it"s a pretty, pleasantly sophisticated new badge. Anyone who cares to do the research will dig out a nugget of Land Rover legacy, and unlock that warm glow you feel from becoming part of a brand"s story, and family. Like buying the football shirt, you"re sort of part of the team now.So, Velar. That"s slightly misspelled Latin for cover", or hide". It was a high-brow in-joke dreamt up by Coventry in the late 1960s, when Land Rover was dreaming up a more luxuriously appointed, easy-to-drive off-roader that"d be just at home dropping significant others off at the vicar"s tea party as retuning home over a bleak, wintry moor. That car was to become the original three-door Range Rover, the machine that every modern luxury 4x4 owes a monumental debt of gratitude to. The engineers honing this unique new vehicle needed to test their prototype in the wilds of the real world, but wearing any form of Rover" badge would give the game away. Happily, the letters that spell Velar" were already in the LAND ROVER" badging parts bin, and anyone who paid mind to this rugged handsome box as it trundled past their Morris or Austin would"ve presumed it was a new, unheard of brand, perhaps from the other side of that wall in Berlin. Seven original Velar prototypes were built up to 1970. Deemed surplus to requirement in less nostalgic times after their shakedown duty was done, none survive today, which I"m sure Land Rover is mildly devastated about. Happily, of the 28 pre-production cars then built to iron out the final creases in a recipe that would go on to become one of the car world"s all-time genius moves, several managed to dodge interfaces with static objects, rust and abuse, and this 1970-spec blue example is a charming example. So, before a ride up the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb in 2017"s Velar, I took its ancestor out on the roads of Hampshire for a drive. Or, as it turned out, an education.Don"t we all crave a slower pace of life anyway? No smartphone interface or ventilated massage seats makes pootling around Hampshire"s lanes an invigorating, relaxing experienceI"ve driven cars from the late Sixties and early Seventies before Alfas, Jags and Mercedes-Benzes - but never an SUV", so expectations set nice and low for the driving experience, I pop the light door catch and clamber up onto a worn, slightly torn seat that"s more comfortable than any of the furniture in my house. It"s also a lot tidier in here. There are two clear clockfaces, one for speed and one for temperatures, but no rev counter, and between them a totaliser of warning lights to warn of internal combustion suddenly going a bit external. Obviously, it"s so far removed from a modern Rangie there"s no point in peering around for retro links. There"s a gearchange to master first.Yes, it"s an actual manual. How incongruous. It"s a four-speed that likes being rushed about as much as the boatlike steering likes being hustled, so it"s a slow-and-steady-to-win-the-race approach that works best here. Treat it regally, like you"re handling the Queen"s bone china. Place the lever between gates. Politely suggest to the clutch it might like to dip into the footwell. Feed the steering like the fingertippy, thin wheel is made of glass. Gently does it.
Date written: 4 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8370
