1957' Land Rover Series 1

Ordered from Hapstead Garage of Ardingly by Sir Henry Price (The Fifty Shilling Tailor of Saville Row), British businessman, Philanthropist and owner of Wakehurst Place in Ardingly, an Elizabethan mansion built in 1590 and set in 500 acres he used as a retreat for weekends and Summer holidays.

Henry ordered the 2.0 Petrol 4WD SWB 88” Station Wagon in Bronze Green, Equipped with Deluxe interior trim, Removable light alloy hard-top, Flyscreens, Speedometer, Heater, Rear view mirror, Twin windscreen wipers, Rear seats and locking differential, At the same time, Ardingly resident and a young engineer Mr Dobson who was trained by Rolls Royce as a Spitfire mechanic came out of the Royal Airforce and took a job at the Hapstead Garage, His first task was to PDi the brand new Land Rover and deliver it to Sir Henry. The Land Rover was registered with its East Sussex registration number MNJ 857 and was solely used by Sir Henry to drive visiting friends around the Wakehurst Estate and for collecting the newspapers from the local Village Post Office. Mr Dobson and Sir Henry became friends through the garage and 3 years later when the Land Rover was part exchanged, the young mechanic did not hesitate to purchase MNJ 857 himself. Over the next 36 years no expense was spared maintaining the Land Rover to preserve its originality. Following the death of Mr Dobson in the late 1990’s the Land Rover passed onto his son, also an Ardingly resident who kept and used it sparingly. When it was time to sell due to lack of use a family friend and again fellow Ardingly resident who had known and admired MNJ 857 for many years and indeed travelled in the Land Rover as young boy didn’t hesitate to purchase.

MNJ 857 is complete with a history file including Original Land Rover Series 1 Instruction Manual, Workshop Manual and Parts Catalogue, all with handwritten notes of work carried out over the years to MNJ 857 ! This matching numbers delightful, Original, Un-restored Series 1 Land Rover is compete with all of its original factory accessories, Fly screens, Jack, Starting handle, Tool kit, Hub caps, Original Smiths heater, Jaeger instruments, Lucas wiper motors, Lucas headlights/indicators/side lights, Triplex glass in the windscreen/doors and hardtop and is exactly how it was ordered from the factory by Sir Henry back in 1957.

A rare opportunity to acquire an exceptionally original, un-restored & very desirable Series 1 with an incredible provenance.