Diecast Delights: A Land Rover 109" in 1/18 Scale

I bought this model while I was at uni. As a car design student I would typically spend all my time being pompous and over-analytical about everything I saw with wheels attached. I had developed a rather puritanical “function vs form” outlook on design, which sadly culminated in my creating an entire sketchpad of cars which I thought were absolute genius in their pared-down minimalism, but would ultimately have absolutely zero marketplace appeal. It transpires I was doing it wrong.
Rover got it Right when they released their Land model, which has been emulated over the years but even its parent company have struggled to replace. I wanted to make sure that it was represented in my model car hoard collection, which by 2003 probably stood at three dozen models. Of course, the majority of these were of your generic hi-dollar Teenage bedroom wall poster nature, but I was gradually starting to acquire a few “significant” real-world cars, too. On one of my visits to the Gaydon Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire, just a little way down the road from where Aston Martins are hewn today, I bought this model from the gift shop. It was a left over “Millenium” limited edition of 2000 units, and they evidently had trouble selling the whole consignment. Hence it was reduced to clear at £15.