HERITAGE REDEMPTION SONG

HERITAGE REDEMPTION SONG When Classic Works’ Reborn team unearthed a Range Rover with a curious patina, it belied a stellar musical history... STORY D A N D R A G E Land Rover Classic Works’ Reborn program, launched two years ago, is an object lesson in attention to detail and deep-rooted obsession. Its purpose is to locate and extract milestone vehicles from Land Rover’s history, then restore them to their full and original factory specification – a painstaking task that marries the reconditioning of existing parts with the precision engineering of new ones. With Land Rover vehicles being the original ‘go anywhere’ vehicles, donor vehicles to the Reborn program can literally turn up anywhere on the globe, from the highest peaks to the lowest valleys, from urban centers to uninhabited outposts, from extreme heat to sub-zero climates. Is this a problem – or a once-in-alifetime, dreamlike opportunity for a Land Rover enthusiast? “Definitely the latter,” says Classic Works’ Calum McKechnie. “Our staff are Land Rover-obsessed – they know every single nut and bolt and panel. Whether a Defender needs pulling out of a cowshed in Romania, or there’s a Range Rover halfway up a mountain in the Himalayas in need of restoration, we’ll always see a queue of willing volunteers.” Most donor vehicles to the Reborn program arrive with a story: with Series Land Rover vehicles, that’s anything from a dash of paint to homemade customizations or, in certain cases, a complete repurposing of a vehicle’s chassis, even into fire trucks, mobile libraries and catering vans. Yet one particular recent find came with a story that enchanted even the most battle-hardened of Classic Works’ team – especially those with an interest in reggae and roots. “It all started when we were alerted to the availability of a 1980, two-door Range Rover, which had a very unusual history,” says McKechnie. ”Built in Solihull, it had initially been exported to Germany, and soon after shipped out again, this time to Jamaica. There, it had changed color from Masai Red to a mixture of black, blue and green. And it was being shipped regularly between Jamaica and the UK. “We were interested enough to delve into its ownership history. The original registration document bore the name of one Robert Nesta Marley. Basically, we’d found Bob Marley’s Range Rover.” Perhaps not the most intuitive of love affairs, but the relationship between Marley and Land Rover ran deep. Marley’s other Land Rover, a 1976 Series III truck, had been recovered and restored in 2015 (see box). Why did Bob Marley feel the need to covet two Land Rover vehicles in his adult life? The answer lies in his upbringing in the rural Saint Ann Parish on PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/DENIS O´REGAN/CONTRIBUTOR 66

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