End of an era, and this time it's personal

After 68 years, the rugged, venerable Land Rover Defender is destined for the history books. Or is it?

The early model was a pig to drive, had suspension that would break every bone in your body if you weren't careful, eschewed such fancy gizmos as heaters and radios, but would go anywhere and take whatever punishment you could throw at it.

The Land Rover Defender, which started out in life as simply a Land Rover Series I, finally bows out at the venerable age of 68 - the same age as me, but I'm staying put - and thus takes the record for the longest continual production of a four-wheeled vehicle, surpassing even the fabled Volkswagen Beetle.

Why am I writing about this? Well, I'm an addict.

Although I haven't owned a Series I, II or III, let alone a Defender, which is what it became known as in the late 1970s, I have to confess to having owned four Land Rover Discoveries ever since I turned 50 back in 1997, and a top of the range silver TD5 model is my current ride.

The Discovery is the better-equipped older brother of the Defender, with such luxuries as computerized air suspension, ABS, air-conditioning, comfortable seats, as well as roof and electric windows that don't leak. More in keeping with my lifestyle, which doesn't involve getting up to feed the cows at 4 am, or driving regularly through ploughed fields.

But like its relative, the Discovery will go anywhere - literally - and is as safe as houses in wind, rain, snow and mud.

Like many British icons, Land Rover is now foreign-owned, being, along with Jaguar, a successful part of India's Tata Motors.

You can add London's big red double-decker buses and the iconic black taxis to the list of transport icons with a foreign flavor - Geely of China now makes the cabs, and BYD is making a revolutionary new big red London bus that runs solely on batteries. Londoners will have a lot to thank Chinese business for as the air in the capital becomes ever cleaner.

But let's get back to the Land Rover.

In the wake of World War II, Britain had huge amounts of aluminum left over from mass aircraft manufacture, farmers who were desperately in need of something to replace the horse and cart, and a motor industry that needed a kick-start.

Step forward Spen Wilks, an auto industry engineer who spotted that his brother Maurice, a farmer, was using a totally inadequate American vehicle to get around on his farm.

Thus the first Land Rover was born in April 1948. An uncompromising box shape, it was an aluminum body bolted onto a solid ladder-shaped chassis with cart-spring suspension and most importantly, four-wheel drive.

The new vehicle was a revelation. It could go anywhere, haul anything, and most of all, didn't need polishing on Sundays. All the panels simply bolted on, and the roof was a flimsy canvas tilt.

You couldn't get more than 50 miles an hour out of it - trust me, you wouldn't want to - and the mechanicals were designed, so legend goes, so simple folk like farmers and soldiers could fix them.

Above all it was British, at a time when patriotism still burned strong in the immediate aftermath of the war.

I've driven a Land Rover through five feet of water, and crawled up a one in three incline.

With my Discovery I've rescued daughters in broken-down cars, pulled reluctant tree stumps out of the ground, and ferried groups of giggling teens to parties. I've driven through blinding snowstorms to get to work.

Everyone thought the death knell had come for the Defender with the introduction of the far more sophisticated Discovery in 1979.

Not so. Land Rover simply rounded off the sharp edges of the original design, gave it a proper waterproof roof and doors, upgraded the engine and suspension (sort of - it still feels like you need to visit a chiropractor after driving it), introduced a long-wheelbase version and hey, presto, the Safari version was born, known wryly in London as a Chelsea Tractor.

But the original go-anywhere concept, with four-wheel drive and a separate chassis, remained.

Staggeringly, the Land Rover Owner's Club estimates that 70 percent of Land Rovers manufactured still survive.

They have been pressed into military service, police patrols, coastguard duty, firefighting, and as ambulances.

Now, it's time to retire. Or is it?

There are reports that the utility industry, which needs all-terrain vehicles to maintain power lines etc, is stockpiling Defenders for use in the years ahead.

It's never over until it's over, is it?

The author is managing editor of China Daily Europe, based in London. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily European Weekly 01/29/2016 page11)