14 July 2023
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The Rally didn't disappoint
: credit: © Vicky Turner
When it came to the Land Rover Series One Club’s 75th Anniversary Rally, the venue was probably just as much the highlight of the celebratory event as the cars.
The Packington Estate was not only the testing ground for the original 1947-48 Land Rover prototypes through to the Range Rover development vehicles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but it is also just a stone’s throw away from the Solihull factory of the original Land Rover. Set in front of the imposing Great Hall with the surrounding deer park, it was the perfect setting for a gathering of their iconic vehicles.
Sadly for fans of the Series I, it was a club member-only event, but that didn’t stop members far and wide from making the trip – including a LWB station wagon driven from South Africa by a 76-year old driver. The ‘Elliots of Bideford’ Series was another highlight, among the fantastic variety of heritage Land Rovers on display. Visitors were also able to put their skills to the test on the Packington 2023 Homelands Rally, taking in the surrounding lanes and the famous Packington ford, where the road joins the river bed, which in this case is for around 75 metres… Suffice to say, not everyone made it through. The weather happened to shine down that day and with camping available too, it proved to be a very enjoyable event.