1984 Range-Rover 2-Door '5-Speed' Wagon

Description

Widely regarded as the car that started the modern SUV revolution, the original Range Rover is an absolute icon of automotive design.  Brilliantly conceived to perform equally well on road as off road, the original Range Rover proved so popular that it very quickly spawned ever-better equipped and ultimately more luxurious iterations.  The Range Rover was launched in 1970 by British Leyland and only available only in a two-door body in Australia until 1984.  The early Range Rovers had basic, utilitarian interiors with vinyl seats and plastic dashboards that were designed to be washed out with a hose.  Convenience features such as power steering, carpeted floors, air conditioning, cloth/leather seats, and wooden interior trim only came in later models.  The Range Rover was a body-on-frame design with a box section ladder type chassis, like the contemporary Series Land Rovers but differed by having coil spring suspension, permanent four-wheel drive, and four-wheel disc brakes.  The Range Rover was originally powered by a detuned 130 horsepower 3.5 litre version of the Buick-derived Rover V8 engine, which was later increased in capacity to 3.9 litres, then 4.2 litres.  Diesel engines joined the range, as did various other model iterations including more luxurious versions built on a longer wheelbase.  One notable improvement towards the end of the two-door Range Rover production was the adoption of a five-speed transmission in 1984, along with an updated dash and centre console, central locking and a revised transfer case.  As with virtually every collectible car made, it’s the first and last iterations sought by enthusiasts and as values of the early ‘Suffix A’ Range Rovers have skyrocketed in recent years, the last of the classic two-door versions now look great value.