19 700 km’s driven Range Rover Suffix D ‘1975

Chassis number 35816264D

19 700 km’s – Used only between 1975–1977

Lincoln Green

Palomino leather interior

All original documents: instruction manuals and original service book

Unique garage find from the region of Päijät-Häme, Finland.

In the fall of 2018 I got a phone call from a couple of guys who had bought a farm house from an estate. In the yard they found several cars waiting to be restored, but the biggest surprise was waiting in the garage. A 1975 Suffix D – Range Rover had been standing there since 1977. That’s 42 years!

The car had been driven on its roof by the first owner. Then the Landlord, the owner  of the farmhouse had bought it after the crash from the insurance company. The car had only been driven 19 700 kilometers!!

Already deceased owner of the house had taken the car into very small parts. The brake pipes were hanging in the ceiling of the garage and the interior was taken apart in the fire room of the house. Maybe it may be unnecessary to point out that the man was an old man with a tendency to hoard things…  

All the parts were there, but taken apart. Even the tires are the very first and original ones. Fortunately, all the original documents about the car have also been preserved. The car has really only been in use for two years, from 1975 to 1977!

Needless to say, we definitely wanted to save and restore this car. We took the trailer and picked up the car. It took a whole day to pack the parts and load the car.

We knew that restoring this special Range Rover would be particularly demanding, and we chose Autorep as the restoration partner. At one time, my father and several of his cousins worked there. One of the founders of the company was my father’s uncle. Today, the company is run by Mauri Pulkkinen, who has worked for the company since the 1980s.

The crash had been severe: even the chassis had some small bumps, but it was possible to straighten them out. During the repair we found out that the chassis still had even the original chalk marks from the factory.  

The biggest challenge was how to repair the frame of the roof. The frame was fixed by using a frame from a spare part car. 

There are not many people in Finland who knew about this car. A Range Rover with such a low mileage must be saved and restored so that as many original parts are used as possible.

I wonder how many 1970’s Range Rovers still exist with this mileage?

This car will be as close to the new, original Range Rover as possible. The car will be completely nut & bolt restored, but it will have the perfect matching numbers: The car body, engine, transmission and flawless, original interior are the car’s originals.

The restoration will be completed during 2024.