1971/2016 Range Rover 3-Door Aston Martin V12

The first-generation Range Rover, now coined the Range Rover Classic, was produced from 1970, with the two-door models remaining hugely popular to this day. Whilst certainly up-market compared to preceding Land Rover models, the early Range Rovers had rather basic, utilitarian interiors with vinyl seats and plastic dashboards that were designed to be washed down with a hose. Convenience features such as power-assisted steering, carpeted floors, air conditioning, cloth/leather seats and wooden interior trim became more common later in the production run. Marketed as 'A Car for All Reasons', the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover and was much more comfortable, whilst also offering a top speed of almost 100mph. With the quality of performance and ‘go anywhere’ capability with timeless styling, one can easily see why the Range Rover has been the chariot of choice by the Royal Household, celebrities, military, emergency services, explorers, and everyone in between for decades.

It can be argued that the car presented here hasn’t exactly taken the path of least resistance. Quite the opposite in fact… Surely one of the most exquisite projects to reach completion, this 1971 Range Rover Classic is unlike any other. The story starts with the team at Bishops 4x4 sitting having a beer after work when a conversation sprung up about what engine to transplant into one of their ‘restoration stock’ which already had an incorrect powerplant. With the boss, Chris Bishop, having a huge appreciation for Aston Martin, but at the time without one in the garage, it became almost inevitable that a Range Rover/Aston Martin ‘lovechild’ was on the horizon.

The technical specifications paint quite the picture on the level of creativity and craftsmanship the Bishops 4x4 team put into the car. Almost every single aspect has been improved, upgraded, or strengthened to end up with a fabulous cocktail of Britishness that will likely never be repeated, certainly not to this level.

The car was essentially built as a showcase for what Bishops 4x4 could do, and while they knew it would be a long project, I don’t think anyone imagined it would take the next 2.5 years of full-time work to complete.

The base car was a 1971 Range Rover ‘Suffix A’ that was in dire need of restoration, already housing an incorrect engine, and the Aston Martin DB7 V12 powerplant was selected for a few reasons. Firstly, the boss has a soft spot for Aston Martins, especially the V12s. Secondly it was the biggest and best power unit they could lay their hands on, with 420bhp and 400lb/ft torque, even if the crashed donor car did cost over £5,000 alone. Thirdly, and hugely importantly, it was because they were told it couldn’t be done. Clearly this was time for a “Challenge accepted” mentality.

A monstrous amount of engineering went into the build of the car. The front portion of the chassis rails had to have cut-out sections put into them before re-welding with strengthening bars to compensate for the narrower rails. Due to the size of the V12, a significant proportion of the engine needed to sit under/through the scuttle in order to fit, which meant measuring, cutting and re-welding for weeks on end, with an emphasis on precision and tidiness, striving for a factory-like finish. Even with the cutting and remodelling, the engine still didn’t fit as it was, so the alternator was repositioned, which meant re-routing the ancillary drive-belt and making custom idlers to suit, with the coolant hoses and fuel pipes also requiring custom manufacturing.

Supporting the modified chassis were a pair of stronger Defender-type axles with heavy-duty springs and Bilstein dampers. The front axle was then fitted with over £3,000 worth of AP Racing stopping power in the form of dinner plate-sized 362mm grooved and vented discs, with 6-piston callipers. The brakes were housed by 18-inch 5-spoke wheels with 285/65/18 Toyo Proxes tyres all-round. Due to their beefy size the tops of the arches had to be flared and the bottom of the wings altered to house them. Of course, cutting no corners, the flared arches were made up in-house from alloy.

To assist its breathing, the inlet tubes were made up with free-flowing air filters feeding the inlet manifold, with the in-house custom stainless steel exhaust system fabricated in its entirety from the manifolds back.

With the major mechanical complexities dealt with, it was then time to make the car run. A pair of tuneable ECUs were purchased, one for each bank of cylinders, which were then mapped to the Aston Martin factory ECU, as well as having a ‘Compushift’ mapping session for the 4-speed Ashcroft upgraded Land Rover ZF gearbox.

The grille, now with twin headlights, was installed as an homage to the grandfathers of modifying and improving Range Rovers, Schuler and Overfinch, which certainly gives the car a distinctive look, if you somehow saw it before you heard it!

Due to being a radically altered vehicle, instead of simply stating it had an alternative engine fitted and chancing it with the DVLA, Bishops 4x4 went down the V627/1 route, had the DVLA inspect the car and issue a Q-plate to reflect the changes.

The exterior was painted in 4 layers of Bishops 4x4’s signature dark maroon colour, with a subtle grey roof. Three Aston Martin badges were fitted, one to each wing and one on the tailgate. The ‘piece de resistance’ is the airbrushed Union Jack flag on the bonnet, trailing up the wings, which took around two weeks to complete, but done so to embody the ‘Best of British’ theme the car truly represents.

The interior is wonderful. It has been completed to an extremely high quality, commensurate with the external and mechanical work. It’s ultimately a blend of original and bespoke. With Range Rover seats retrimmed in soft brown leather and thick brown wool carpeting throughout. The dashboard is a wooden Wood and Pickett dash, from the workshop stock, modified to house an Aston Martin DB9 push button starter in the centre, flanked by a pair of chrome-rimmed gauges.

Turning on the radio causes two Aston Martin tweeters to rise out the top of the dash, and the digital dash displays a virtual representation of the instruments from a Range Rover Classic featuring a rev counter, speedo, etc. By pushing the sport button, the dash changes the dials to represent what you see on an Aston Martin dashboard, again all digitally presented.

The final touch was the build plate on the slam panel which reads AMRR007001, giving a shared nod to both the Range Rover host and the Aston Martin heart and soul.

It is not unfair to say that the whole project was brain-numbingly complex, and yet what a fantastically wonderful machine has emerged. The craftsmanship is simply unbelievable and needs to be seen in person. With the Range Rover being marketed as 'A Car for All Reasons', the reason for this is surely ‘Because we can’.

You do not want to miss the opportunity to see this car in person. While the phrase ‘unrepeatable’ gets thrown around fairly frequently in the car world, I challenge anyone to say they could repeat this car, to this standard, in that timeframe, and offer it at such a reasonable estimate.