A very early Land Rover from the first months of production, we were asked to sell HRM for a client. The new owner, impressed with our passion and knowledge of these vehicles then asked us to carry out a restoration on it. The vehicle was in non-running condition and with an incorrect later engine fitted. The Land Rover was covered in several thick layers of paint and had been updated over the years.

 

Our client’s desire was to repair the structure of the vehicle, reunite it with an early, correct ‘side plate’ engine and uncover as much of the original paint as possible. HRM was stripped back to the bare chassis and bulkhead both of which were extensively repaired by us and the running gear repaired where deemed necessary. 

 

The suspension, brakes, wiring and steering were brought up to standard and the galvanised cappings carefully stripped of later paint. The bodywork was a challenge taking countless hours to painstakingly remove the top coats. Once stripped back it was clear that the original light green paint was worn and part-stripped in the past, but this gave HRM a unique identity of its own and celebrated its working past. Where paint was completely missing we carefully painted in sections to match without over-restoring.

 

The crowning glory was to reunite HRM with an early, extremely rare side plate engine which was located after months of searching. Now a usable and correct early example HRM is part of a private US collection.