Range Rover History & Wallpapers

The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle (SUV) produced by British car maker Land Rover. The model, launched in 1970, is now in its third generation. Range Rover is also being developed by Land Rover as its premium brand, and it is used as a brand name on two other models - the Range Rover Sport and the Range Rover Evoque.
The Rover Company (the creator of the Land Rover marque) had been experimenting with a larger model than the Land Rover Series as far back as 1951, when the Rover P4-based two-wheel-drive "Road Rover" project was developed by Gordon Bashford.This was shelved in 1958, and the idea lay dormant until 1966, when engineers Spencer King and Gordon Bashford set to work on a new model
In 1967, the first Range Rover prototype was built, with the classic Range Rover shape clearly discernible, but with a different front grille and headlight configuration. The design of the Range Rover was finalised in 1969. Twenty-six Velar engineering development vehicles were built between 1969 and 1970 and were road registered with the number plates YVB 151H through to YVB 177H
It is commonly thought that "VELAR" is an acronym for Vee Eight LAnd Rover, however the name is derived from the Italian 'velare' meaning to veil or to cover.Range Rover development engineer Geof Miller used the name as a decoy for registering pre-production Range Rovers. The Velar company was registered in London and produced forty pre-production vehicles that were built between 1967 and 1970. Most of these Velar pre-production vehicles are accounted for and have survived into preservation.
The Range Rover was launched in 1970. In the early 1970s the Louvre museum in Paris, France exhibited a Range Rover as an "exemplary work of industrial design".

In 1972, the British Trans-Americas Expedition became the first vehicle-based expedition to traverse the two American continents from north-to-south, including traversing the roadless Darien Gap. The specially modified Range Rovers used for this expedition are now on display in the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust collection at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England.
Before 1987, Land Rover vehicles were only sold in the United States through the grey market. The Land Rover company began selling the Range Rover officially in the U.S. on March 16, 1987. From that time until 1993, the U.S. marketing was all in the name of Range Rover, because it was the only model offered in the American market. In 1993, with the arrival of the Defender 110 and the imminent arrival of the Land Rover Discovery, the company's U.S. sales were under the name "Land Rover North America".