Offering an exhaust note similar to Brian Blessed with a gnarly throat cold and the go-anywhere ability of Chuck Norris, the Stage 1 V8 was Land Rover at its best, making it prime British beef for Tesco value money.
You should buy a Land Rover Stage 1 V8. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.
Rovers now legendary V8 has been mated to various iconic motors throughout the decades, with the mighty Rover SD1, various TVRs and the MG RV8 only a select few from one of motoring’s most distinguished CVs.
However, for numerous petrol heads - mainly the ones who enjoy a dirty weekend - the finest marriage remains the Land Rover Stage 1 V8. From 1979 until 1985, the mother of all Land Rovers was bolted together using components from across the Solihull range - the LT95 manual gearbox from a Range Rover, the 3.5-litre V8 used in the military dark-horse 101 Forward Control and the chassis components from the globally adored Series vehicles - to remarkable effect.
Churning out 91bhp from the detuned Range Rover engine, but with enough torque to literally tear trees out of the ground, working with permanent four-wheel-drive and a range of striking colours, the sheer grunt from this parts-bin beast took Land Rover in a new direction.
Officially dubbed the ‘Series III 109 inch V8’, ‘Stage 1’ actually referred to the first stage of investment from Thatcher’s Government to improve Land Rover’s product range - pumping in £200 million, this scheme eventually led to the development of the 90/110. We aren’t sure how Thatcher and her flaky government took to a car that looked practically identical to the pre-investment Series III, but the public adored them.
Various owners removed the restrictors on the engine to allow all 135 ponies to strut their stuff, pushing the vehicle beyond Land Rover’s generally low threshold of safety. Even when standard, the V8 was enough to get you into a great deal of trouble. Besides drinking like Oliver Reed and offering the usual frighteningly wandery ride, the higher cruising speeds in tight corners would lead into a roll over even Lassie would be proud of.
Yet, in the right hands the Stage 1 was unstoppable. Popular with mountain rescue teams and emergency services the world over, the steroid-fed Series variant maintained the Landy tradition of taking pregnant mothers through snow storms to hospital, carting equipment through floor waters, preserving rare animals from extinction and providing relief in war zones.
In the classic car world, these are the Land Rovers to own. As far as beefy all-terrain vehicles go, the Stage 1 V8 Land Rover is the undisputed king of the bunch. Just keep that map outlining the nations petrol stations handy.