- Ray Bernard
Land Rover 'Greatest Car of all Time'
23 July 2003: The Land Rover Defender has been named ‘the greatest car of all time’ by BBC TV’s Top Gear in a phone vote by its viewers.
The car, originally built in 1948 as the Land Rover, has been known since 1990 as the Defender.
Nine vehicles were short-listed by the show’s team of experts, and following nine weeks of closely contested competition, the Land Rover beat its rivals to the accolade with 29 percent of the vote.
Co-presenter Richard Hammond, who championed the Land Rover cause, said the Land Rover has all the elements of an invention worthy of the ‘greatest of all time’ accolade – function, design, durability, engineering supremacy 'and soul'.
The current range of Land Rovers – Range Rover, Discovery, Freelander and Defender – can each trace their roots back to the original Land Rover of 1948 – the vehicle that established the company. Over 3.25 million Land Rover vehicles have been sold since then, 1.8 million of which were the original Land Rover shape and its successor, the Defender.
©2003 irishcar.com