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One of the first Land Rover 4x4s - created on an Anglesey beach and believed lost - will now be restored to its former glory after being discovered in a back garden.

The pre-production example was used to launch the original model back in 1948 after being developed by Maurice Wilks on the island, where Wilks had a home. Its innovative body shape was first drawn into the sand at Red Wharf Bay.

This first demonstration vehicle went to the Amsterdam show in 1948 and was last on the road in the 1960s.

After that it spent 20 years in a Welsh field - Land Rover won't reveal where - before being bought as a restoration project.

It then lay languishing unfinished in a garden a few miles outside of Solihull, Birmingham – where the car was first manufactured.

After its discovery the experts at Jaguar Land Rover Classic spent months researching in company archives to unravel its ownership history and confirm its provenance.

Now the team will start a year-long mission to preserve this historically significant prototype and enable it to be driven again.

Tim Hannig, Jaguar Land Rover Classic director, said: "This Land Rover is an irreplaceable piece of world automotive history and is as historically important as ‘Huey’, the first pre-production Land Rover.

"Beginning its sympathetic restoration here at Classic Works, where we can ensure it’s put back together precisely as it’s meant to be, is a fitting way to start Land Rover’s 70th anniversary year.

"There is something charming about the fact that exactly 70 years ago this vehicle would have been undergoing its final adjustments before being prepared for the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show launch – where the world first saw the shape that's now immediately recognised as a Land Rover.

"The Jaguar Land Rover Classic team will follow a dedicated process to restore the launch vehicle, which has a lot of special features that are unique to the 48 pre-production Land Rovers that were produced prior to the mass production vehicles, such as thicker aluminium alloy body panels, a galvanised chassis and a removable rear tub.

"The patina of its components will be preserved, including the original Light Green paint applied in 1948."