A 1958 Ceremonial Land Rover, which is part of the National Historic Collection at the National Museum of Australia, is one of six identical cars built in Sydney specifically for royal services.

Built as a TKD (Total Knock Down) kit by Sydney-based Pressed Metal Corporation, the Australian Land Rover is similar to the cars used by Queen Elizabeth II on her 1954 Commonwealth tour.

According to details published by RELMR (The Registry of Ex-Military Land Rovers) eight vehicles were built by Land Rover for this tour, with one being left for use in the UK, one sent to New Zealand and six of them on a sailing expedition to Bermuda in November 1953 and to Gibraltar in May 1954, writes Drive, Telegraph reports.

Advertisement

Built on a 2187mm Land Rover chassis, which was new for 1954, Royal Review Land Rovers used a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine and were all finished in a deep wine shade called Royal Claret.

In 1958, the Australian government commissioned its fleet of ceremonial Land Rovers to be used for future royal and dignitary visits.

The request coincided with the Queen Mother's visit planned for later that year.

Land Rover supplied the components, and the cars were assembled in Sydney.

For the Queen's visit to Australia in 1963, Ceremonial Land Rovers were used for parades, and were later used for the same purpose when Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne visited Sydney in 1970

Advertisement