If you've always wanted to experience the original Range Rover but had written off the best examples as long gone (or were rightly skeptical of the used examples in the classifieds), Land Rover has the answer. Following up on the "Reborn" program in which the factory restored original Series I 4x4s, Land Rover will turn its attention to early Range Rovers that first rolled off the assembly line in 1970.

That original 1970 design lasted all the way through 1996; yes, it gained rear doors and revised fascias in the process, but it was still based on the debut model. If you recall, the two-door configuration itself was the sole flavor available all the way through 1981, and while there are still a good number of those first-decade models out there, the number of well-preserved or restored examples is minimal.

Land Rover Classic will start with the most authentic project examples available, and preserve as many of the original parts as possible.

Land Rover will take 10 of the best-preserved examples of the original Rangies they can find and restore them to the original 1970 specifications using Land Rover Classic parts and surviving parts as needed, to preserve their authenticity. Ten is a small number, and we suspect that demand for restored first-gen Rangies is far greater, given some recent sales of barn-find examples -- 47 years after the first Range Rovers debuted, collectors are starting to seek out the best-preserved proto-SUVs.

The very first Range Rover in the Reborn program has already been completed; it's a 1970 example finished in Bahama Gold, powered by the same 3.5-liter Buick-sourced V8 fed by Zenith-Stromberg carburetors. The factory won't be souping up these early Rangies, so they'll still produce 132 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque as the originals did, with a four-speed manual transmission sending the power to all four wheels.

The original models that debuted in 1970s are being sought out and restored by other shops, as collector interest rises.

The price? The restored Rangies start at $168,000, which is in the neighborhood of the current long-wheelbase Autobiography model available new. It'll be a tough choice to make for those with $168,000 to spend on a Range Rover, but we know which one will draw more gawkers and cognoscenti when parked in front of a posh hotel in central London.

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