Range Rover CSK (1991)

Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King’s career spanned 40 years with Rover and later works with British Leyland. A pioneering innovator, King is best known for his efforts from 1966 onwards in the development of the ‘100in station wagon’, a project that would turn into the Range Rover.

King, working alongside Gordon Bashford, to create a versatile and practical farmers’ tool for the day to day, that could be spruced up for comfortable road driving at the weekend. The boot had to be large enough for a hay bale or the occasional sheep and the interior, whilst more upmarket than preceding Land Rovers, would still be utilitarian in comparison to a current day Range Rover.

Available only as a three-door between 1970 and 1981, the early prototypes were hidden in plain sight. The earliest prototypes were badged ‘Velar’ instead of Range Rover, a word that directly translated from Latin as ‘I hide’. Conveniently Velar was available from the letters within Land Rover!

From 1984, the sale of the three-door would cease in the UK, although it would be another 10 years before production ended.