Restomodded Series 3 Land Rover is joyous to look at, sit in and listen to.
It looks like a classic workhorse, but it has a 250bhp V8, bespoke luxury interior and a surprising tech upgrade
This car feels rather less prim and imperious than its name, The Admiral, might suggest.
It’s dark blue, but there’s nothing dark about its character. It’s a restomodded Series 3 Land Rover named after its Admiralty Blue paint, which was used in period by Royal Navy on its posher staff cars.
This car is a one-off, one of three self-commissioned specials that Kent Heritage Works (KHW) of Tunbridge Wells will build in a typical year around its normal restoration and commissioned-modification works. But if you ask, they could build you one like it. This one is £195,000; in the frankly bonkers modern world, I was left a little surprised that it wasn’t more.
Its starting point is a 1976 short-wheelbase (88in) Series Land Rover, whose chassis and body get stripped and restored, with the rear bulkhead moved backwards to improve room in the cabin. Finish and trim are, it’s fair to say, improved, including leather and wood to bespoke luxury standards. Mechanically it’s interesting.
KHW took a same-period Rover 3.5-litre petrol V8 and sent it off for some tweakery. It returned with a reground crank, rebored cylinders, new pistons and new high-lift cams, and it has had Holley fuel injection, different ancillaries and a custom stainless exhaust added, resulting in 250bhp and 220lb ft of torque.
This engine being quite spiky in a manual with lots of transmission shunt, here it drives through a torque-converter automatic ‘box to calm it down a bit – an older ZF unit with four speeds, because that way it can retain the high- or low-ratio, rear- or four-wheel-drive options of the original vehicle, driving during my test in RWD high-ratio mode.
Brakes are (thankfully) uprated with Defender discs on the front and Freelander 2 discs on the rear, because they bring an electronic parking brake – one of a few subtle tech upgrades, like a fridge and a decent hi-fi. A less subtle one is the central touchscreen, which KHW’s chief, Cliff Smith, having spent 18 years working for Apple, has designed to be of brilliant clarity for controlling the heated seats and windscreen, plus CarPlay of course.
The suspension retains parabolic springs because they look the part, matched to adjustable dampers because the engineers weren’t sure how hard to make them. There’s power steering from an original Range Rover (three rather than four turns between locks) and longer Range Rover differentials than standard to bring taller gearing, so if you were looking for an easy way to describe it, “you could say that it’s a Range Rover Classic underneath”, says Smith.
It has been a while since I last drove a Series Landie, but the ride remains, dare I say it, authentic. Smith thinks coil springs would change both the character and aesthetic not to his liking – so it isn’t without some bounce. Sophisticated it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t lovely. The light- to middle-weighted power steering is smooth and the assisted brakes are quite reassuring, but there is little grip or traction.
And it matters not a bit. This car is a joy. It makes a brilliant noise and feels incredibly nicely put together (there are more than 40 3D-printed parts discreetly dotted around). If you had a second home or private island and wanted a tender for it, this would be just the thing, either as it is or, like I said, drop ’em a line with your imagination primed.
