Estimate: £28,000 - £34,000
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"It’s bleargh, bleargh, bleargh, there aren’t any words… Very, very good this. It’s really very, very, very good.” Jeremy Clarkson. BBC Top Gear. Series 6, Episode 1. May 2005
The original Range Rover of 1970 was without doubt a seminal design but more importantly it single handedly created a whole new market sector that has grown to be one of the largest today: that of the civilised and usable off road vehicle. It took the original workhorse Land Rover with its binder-twine breaches, into the world of not only the tweed but ultimately pinstripe suit.
As this market grew so too did the Range Rover product range and a ‘Range Stormer’ concept was first shown at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in, it should be noted, two door configuration. When the production Range Rover Sport reached the market one year later, it differed very little from the ‘Stormer’ concept though it had bowed to convention and grown a pair of rear doors.
History repeated itself with the Sport, as the Range Rover engineers again turned to Land Rover, this time for their ultra-advanced semi-monocoque chassis on which the Discovery was by then built. For the top of the range petrol engine they switched their attention to sibling company Jaguar’s parts department, where they availed themselves of the sports and saloon car manufacturer’s glorious 4.2 litre, all aluminium supercharged V8 engine that provided the off roader with 390 BHP and 380 lb ft of torque – enough to pass 60 MPH from a standstill in 7.2 seconds and give an artificially limited top speed of 140 MPH - via a six speed automatic gearbox. Brakes from Brembo reigned in this very impressive performance.
With its super-strong, rigid and yet refined ‘best of both worlds’ semi-monocoque body frame/chassis arrangement, the Sport enjoyed excellent handling on the road paired with supreme ability off it, along with genuinely excellent refinement whatever the terrain under its fully independent suspension. The steering, again sourced from those sportsters at Jaguar, ensured the cheques the Sport’s name wrote could be cashed while ride height adjustable air suspension and Land Rover’s peerless patented Terrain Response ensured there were no embarrassing slip ups at the Pony Club. Dynamic Response roll control featured active anti-roll bars which responded to cornering forces to give remarkably flat cornering more often associated with an out and out sports car.
Fully five inches shorter and lower than the ‘standard’ Range Rover, the Sport, though visually similar, shared no common panels with its big brother and despite a list price within touching distance of £60,000 it sold in impressive numbers. When Clarkson asked “Is it possible to turn a Range Rover into a Sports Car”, the answer resoundingly came back “Yes!” As the bard for the modern generation so ably put it, “bleargh, bleargh, bleargh”
Registration Number: CO04OUP (Was COU9E)
Chassis Number: TBC
Engine Number: TBC
As can be appreciated, the Range Rover Sport was a pretty special machine straight off the Solihull production line but the example Berlinetta are proud to offer for sale is all of that, taken to a whole new level; arguably the ultimate Sport built without compromise for the most discerning of buyer and totally unique.
At the Sport’s launch in 2005, leading Range Rover and Land Rover modification gurus LSE Design in London identified that there was a market for extensively modified vehicles based on the already hugely competent standard car. Referencing but not mimicking the original Range Stormer concept, LSE conceived a radically redesigned two door coupe based on an extensively modified factory four door body. Crucially it was not LSE’s intention to simply modify the odd vehicle but to put the Range Rover Sport Coupe into limited production and a run of 200 cars was planned. As they so eloquently put it themselves,
“Based on a standard Range Rover Sport Supercharged, the LSE Coupe, as its name suggests is a three door variant of the Range Rover Sport. This is not a Range Stormer lookalike, this is how LSE Design consider a three door Range Rover should look… This car is NOT a concept car it is NOT a prototype, this is a limited production bespoke coachbuilt modified Range Rover and it is available to purchase!”
The first car produced, Coupe 001 – the very car on offer today – was based on a Supercharged 4.2 litre V8 HSE Sport and its specification today reads like the world’s most extensive options list. With a tick in every box. Plus some extras added by a Professor at the University of Unreasonably Demanding:
Once completed it was registered COU9E and in 2008 was shipped to the USA where Andrew Green of LSE Design worked in conjunction with Eric Noble of The Car Lab in California to develop and market the concept. While there, 001 earned its keep with a relentless round of publicity appearances, photo and video shoots such as this for DUB Magazine.
Not for shy, retiring types, the media storm that is the Gumball 3000 was also on the rosta for the Coupe and in August 2008 American uber-celebrity (actor, Ralph Lauren super-model and TV presenter as you are no doubt aware) Tyson Beckford was duly installed along with actor/comedian Orlando Jones for the ‘rally’, declaring “I’ve never had so much fun in my life”. Quite an accolade given that one would imagine Mr Beckford was, more than most people, in an unusually advantageous position to have fun…
Aside from its extensive publicity tour of the USA the Range Rover was displayed to the Trade at the ultimate showcase for the modified vehicle industry, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in 2009, a key aim for LSE Design and The Car Lab.
Come 2012, LSE were finally ready to launch the Coupe onto the open market and as the only one ever built, ‘001’ was again the vehicle with which to do so, freshly refinished in Lamborghini Grigio Telesto. Professional photo and video shoots were commissioned which today provide us with an enormous archive of the car that launched the Range Rover Sport Coupe, the best of which is well worth a quick look, here and in the pictures above.
Unfortunately by this time the market for ultra-expensive conversions had slowed considerably and the project stalled some 199 cars short of the 200 planned production run. Since then this unique (and for once it actually is unique) vehicle has continued to be enjoyed and cause something of a sensation wherever it goes.
Now owned by a good customer of Berlinetta, and re-registered with another appropriate number, the Coupe is in exceptional condition.
The Sport Coupe remains a testament to its showcase origins, built with no attention paid to the costs involved, it still turns heads wherever to goes. The lowered and uprated suspension plus generous wheel and tyre dimensions ensure it drives as well as it looks while the custom made stainless steel exhaust guarantees that it not only looks but also sounds the part. A remarkable engineering exercise that is a credit to its concept and the craftsmen who created it, it is now available for a fraction of its build, never mind development costs.
PLEASE NOTE THAT A FRESH MOT WILL BE SUPPLIED WITH THE CAR POST SALE AT THE OWNER'S EXPENSE.
