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The Solihull Collection is a particularly unique line dedicated to Maurice Wilks, the founder of Land Rover and to all men and women who made this legend possible with their heart and sweat.

We thank y'all from our heart!

August 16, 1954, when this Land Rover expedition was back after five months in Africa and the Middle East, having covered 22,000 miles of hard going in extreme temperatures. The object of the trip, led by Colonel A.P. le Blanc (right) was to put the Land Rovers through the most challenging tests on routes deliberately chosen for their difficulty, and to collect technical data on performance. There was an average of more than 190 miles for each running day, with no forced stops, even in sections which had never been thought possible for vehicular travel.

The design for the original vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks. Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, Anglesey, working in conjunction with his brother Spencer who was the managing director of Rover.
The early choice of colour was dictated by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so early vehicles only came in various shades of light green.

In 1948, the first Land Rover was officially launched 30 April 1948, at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
This car, with registration number HUE 166, was the first pre-production Land Rover. It is now kept at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, UK.

The 500,001st Land Rover rolls off the production line on April 7, 1966

Flashback to Land Rover on an unspecified date in the past

November 25, 1953, as Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh pass through long lines of schoolchildren at a youth rally to greet the royal couple in Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.

The Land Rover production line at Solihull on April 8, 1975

All images are from Birmingham Mail, UK