Landy's heart-warming Feb 14 gift

Published Feb 17, 2015

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By: IOL Motoring Staff

Auckland, New Zealand - Land Rover has restored a beat-up but beloved old Series 1 to create a heart-warming Valentine's Day gift.

Fifteen years ago four adventurous New Zealand university students - Will Radford, Jeremy Wells, Anthony Dawson and James Shatwell - clubbed together to buy a (very) second-hand Land Rover Series 1, which took them on many adventures, got them into - and out of! - all sorts of trouble and, along the way, became a beloved member of their group.

But by 2015, many rough and often non-existent roads later, 'the Landy', as it was affectionately known to the families of the four - who were still firm friends - was almost beyond repair, and was reluctantly listed for sale on a local auction website, along with the story of their adventures in it.

That's where Land Rover New Zealand marketing manager James McKee heard about it.

COVERT OPERATION

“When we came across the auction listing,” he said, “we loved the story behind it, of the many journeys and stories the Landy has been part of, showing just how much it meant to the four guys.”

So they quietly bought it, then got in touch with Radford's wife Claire and hatched a 'covert operation' to give the Landy a ground-up mechanical restoration.

Note, we said 'mechanical'.

“We replaced all the broken bits with original parts,” McKee said, “but we kept some of the dents, dings and even the bumper stickers that made it theirs and gave the Landy its charm.”

After the rebuild the Landy was taken on a whistle-stop tour of New Zealand's South Island to relive some of the original adventures Radford had described in his auction listing, before returning to Auckland just in time for Claire to hide it in the shed, ready to unveil it to the four unsuspecting friends as their Valentine's Day gift.

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