365 Reasons To Be Proud To Be British: The Land Rover

April 30th 1948: The Land Rover Mk I debuts at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

Regular readers will know that I don't drive, have no intention of learning to drive and even if I did, have no intention of buying a car. That's what Mrs Scoop's little blue beer taxi sporty orange beer taxi is for.

But if I did.... if I really had to... there's only one car I'd choose. A Mosler MT900:

Except it wouldn't fit in the garage. So it'd have to be the Jaguar C-type:

Except that wouldn't fir in the garage either. So it'd have to be a Land Rover. At least I could leave it parked in the road. It could get scraped and knocked and cow-splat-covered and burst-beer-barrel-drenched. And it would all add to its character.

Land Rovers feel to me as if they want to tell you their tales. Of ewes and daughters born in the back in a snowdrift. Of treks across plains or glens. Of how they made it to That Destination only after a hitch-hiker donated her knicker elastic.

There's something stoically romantic about a marque where the majority of those ever made are still running on the road, field and fell. Indomitable and stalwart. Maybe I ought to start building one by stealth. I'd have to clear some room in the shed though. Especially if I want to build one like this:

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