When first produced between 1948-1958 the Series I Land Rover was used almost exclusively as a workhorse, a vehicle designed, manufactured and marketed o earn it’s keep. As such it found great popularity in farming, police, fire and other emergency services, the army, recovery services and utility companies such as the Royal Mail and Telecommunication firms but never found any interest outside of these areas. All this changed in the 1980’s and a new level of enthusiasm gained momentum until today when a good Series I is the most desirable of all Land Rover in every facet of motoring.
The Land Rover long wheelbase made an ideal tow vehicle with its 4x4 go anywhere capability and as such as was very popular with all the recovery services of the 1950’s including as seen here, the RAC. Decorated in the livery of the Radio Rescue Fleet this was one of the first RAC vehicles to have and orange beacon and aerial.
This is a real nostalgic delight, a Radio Rescue RAC Land Rover, from back in the days when the RAC vehicles were in blue and didn’t look like a paramedics services. The old fashioned RAC diamond logo is well done – and particularly neat on the front wings. The headboard is a nice touch, and tiny touches like the picked out door handles, miniature Land Rover badges, glazed headlights and sliding windows bar make it a real treat.