During my decade or so living in The Land of Hope and Glory I noticed that the landed gentry were generally skint (financially bereft). The Labor Party’s death taxes had stripped them of their wealth with the kind of speed and finality that might, well, should shock Bernie Sanders supporters. All that was left: titles and the idea of titles. Sensibly enough, Brits now sell the romantic allure of the English aristocracy — embodied by the enormously wealthy, tax-exempt Royal Family — to foreign tourists and luxury-loving members of the nouveau riche. Enter the Holland & Holland Range Rover . . .
maxim.com‘s glossy feature on the H&H Range Rover is suffused with irony. For one thing, Range Rover, that most British of motor car companies, is owned by India’s Tata Motors. The Empire strikes back! As discretion is the better part of political correctness, that’s all I’m going to say about that. Except to say BMW owns Rolls Royce.
For another, the fact that Maxim magazine is testing Landie’s $244k rolling palace gives one pause for mirth. Despite the reporter’s pocket-square sartorial splendor, I can’t think of a more boorish publication in which to pimp highlight this rolling testament to the English aristocratic lifestyle.
Lastly, the spread was photographed at George Vanderbilt II’s 8k acre estate in Asheville, North Carolina. GVII was an active member of the Sons of the American Revolution, an organization open only to Americans whose ancestor(s) fought against the British in the Revolutionary War. While the multi-lingual multi-millionaire Vanderbilt was probably something of an anglophile, it’s still funny that the oh-so-British Rangie’s posing on the estate of a man whose middle name was Washington.
OK, I’m reading too much into this. The H&H RR is a luxe off-roader with a lockable gun cabinet for shotguns. Which is a cool idea, well-executed. And I love the engraved door pulls (paging Otto Carter!). I just want to point out that the only time I saw Holland & Holland shotguns in the field they were transported there by a Lady who drove a small Peugeot. And bummed a fiver for petrol.
Nothing says pretentious like a Range Rover. Kind of like nothing says imbecile like a Hummer 2 or 3.
The last Range Rover I saw was on the side of the road with flames. Nope, the flames weren’t painted on, we tend to call that a Car-B-Que here in Atlanta
Almost pathetically unreliable, yet beloved of the newly upwardly mobile denizens of Austin and similar progressive enclaves, Range Rovers are definite career enhancers for mechanics, many of whom have created a distinct sub-specialty for fixin’ these overpriced POS cars. Some shops actually have “Range Rover labor rates” which are a bit more dear than Ford or GM labor rates. Just sayin’ . . .
From being the empire of the world. wealth, armed, and free to being invaded by the 3rd world, poverty stricken as to pay for their votes and welfare, disarmed in the name of the “common ground” and reduced to serfs, what a pity.
All that will be left will be a bunch of old buildings and pictures of the queen on the pound note
I thought range rovers were only expensive for Americans. I seem to recall some discussion of this during the Cecil the lion debacle. Something about LRs being super cheap for europeans.
If they still have Lucas wiring, I’d pass.
*snicker* 🙂
“What’s that smell? British electrics…”
In motorcycle jargon, that’s called letting the magic blue smoke out.
Lucas, Lord of the Darkness.
“In motorcycle jargon, that’s called letting the magic blue smoke out.”
That’s pretty much universal in electronics (and power electrics), keep the magic smoke *inside* the components…
It’s a good thing they don’t make guns.
Now, now! Lucas did invent some fine things, vehicle-electrical-system wise.
For instance, the three-position headlight switch. (Dim, flicker and off.). And fluid-filled gauges. (When it rains.)
Anyone who is truly bored today should spend the rest of the afternoon reading Lucas jokes.
There’s a world full of them. Most are pretty funny. Look up the “factory replacement harness smoke” that’s a good one.
My first car was a Triumph GT6, and it never had an issue. I did actually clean all the connections when I bought the car, which was all it took. I’ve had half a dozen X1/9s over the decades as well – bulletproof, especially with Bosch EFI. That said, you couldn’t give me a Rangie (‘friends’ have tried) – or any other LR product unless it was brand spankin’.
I’ve always loved the look of the X1/9, but assumed being a Fiat, it would be a nightmare.
Looking back on it, Toyota ripped the X1/9 off with the MR2.
Almost bought a new MR2, it was a tossup between the Toyota and a notch-back 5.0 Mustang or the Civic Si.
Went with the Honda. The *one* smart decision I have ever made. (besides that Trek 1200 bought at the same time, to this day ridden near daily). Sold the Civic still running at over 300,000 miles, and still saw it around town two years after that…
Oh yeah, the MR2 was definitely the X “perfected” and more importantly, modernized – the Exxie was released in the wild in ’74, and despite the last of the bunch getting EFI, it was still slow compared to most everything. Handled better, had the best brakes in the world short of a 911 back in the early ’80s.
I understand you getting the Civic, people did sometimes had trouble with ancillaries on 70s/80s FIATs and they could have tinworm problems even worse (really) than rustbucket American product. I do miss them, and when I get some spare time and money (hah!) I’ll build a fully flared X, with mile wide tires and an ALFA V6 in the back. It’s already been done, but it just seems so right
Kinda like those Pontiac Fieros that folks shoe-horned a smallblock V-8 into?
Yup they were kinda fast, but they had GM interiors, ergonomics, brakes, and handling, which made 20 year old Italian look rather advanced…
God the Fiero was so much fail. So much potential, but so much fail.
Holland & Holland engraved door pulls?
*sigh*
If you have a 2 inch dick or less this is defiantly for you. Range Rover is one of the most expensive pieces of shit you can buy. A dumb ass and his inherited money are soon parted.
The Donald is a natural customer for this vehicle. Perhaps they can build a Trump edition.
You know why the Brits don’t make televisions?
They can’t figure out how to make them leak oil.
THATS funny!
Now that is funny!
Is it true that you have to have a license to have a TV in England? It would hack me off to have to pay for crap I won’t have in my house. My TV is used for either Netflix or DVD because I tossed cable 15 years ago.
Yes, it’s true. That is how they pay for the BBC.
Yup. And there’s still a reduced price license for black & white TVs.
They drive around with a van full of antenna sensing television operating and fine you if you didn’t pay about 200 dollars in tax that year. And they still have commercials.
I once saw a restored MG that the driver obviously loved with a bumper sticker that said “all of the pieces falling off this car are of the finest British manufacture.”
“(paging Otto Carter!)”
Speaking of Mr. Carter, any updates on his progress?
With a tip of the hat to Douglas:
There was a reason and a method for stripping the English landed gentry and titled aristocracy of their money which was/is just and righteous. The justification is simple: People with a flair for living in EXACTLY the same way as modern hipsters are douchebags. Douchebags don’t deserve money.
The how is brilliant though and shows a distinctly English sophistication. Thankfully. Disease, alcohol, drugs, sexual imbecility, poorly maintained road vehicles, inbreeding and a penchant for selling off the most financially productive parts of their estates while simultaneously installing god forsaken fun fairs and mazes of shrubberies which spend centuries languishing unvisited have all combined to cut vicious swaths through the aristocracy and the gentry. The beauty of all this is it’s a process that’s entirely internal to the aristocracy and the gentry. Nobody from the rest of society had to dirty their hands with heroic acts of socialist villainy.
When it comes to England they pretty much embody the land of former hope and faded glory.
With the exception of the brief pause of the times of Margret Thatcher and Winston Churchill they have been on a fast down hill ride for the last hundred years. This is what comes of having to depend on tradition and custom in place of a written constitution. Pity the people who had no option but order a baseball bat from Amazon as their only form of protection during the riots a few years back, but this is what happens when a free people surrender their firearms and their freedom to a police state.
Only the Cops and Criminals have guns, not to worry though, after all when the bad guy breaks in and shoots your wife they will (eventually) declare it a crime after they catch the bad guy, if they ever do. Why should you complain, they will provide you free medical care to patch your wife back up. Hillary and Bernie think this is just fine since that is the direction they want to take us.
“Hillary and Bernie think this is just fine since that is the direction they want to take us.”
Ugh. This thread was soing so well, too.
April fools day was yesterday. You can go now.
The reason they drink warm beer is because they have Lucas refrigerators.
That suit in the first picture…
Oh my gawd
Optional eagle-beak inlay interior?
Isn’t it not a Holland & Holland if it doesn’t cost 30 times more than the standard model?
Spit on the ground next to a British car. It’s now so humid the car won’t start.
If you haven’t heard Bernie’s tax plans from Bernie then you probably haven’t actually heard Bernie’s plans.
I thought it was good that they had to do the spread in the USA, probably because Brits can’t really take their shotguns out very often. There was an article just yesterday about a young man who was arrested in England because he posted a picture of himself holding a shotgun on Facebook.
The Brits have sold themselves into slavery.
Holland & Holland is owned by the same group as Chanel, the French perfume company. They’re both components of the “lifestyle” companies owned by the Wertheimer family, an old European Jewish family that is rather reclusive and avoids the press, but are billionaires who make business decisions for the long haul.
Today, you can buy everything from H&H pocket squares to shotgun cases, and now a H&H-branded Range Rover.
Well, as far as the Range Rover goes:
If you drive out into the bush, take a Range Rover.
If you want to drive out of the bush, take a Land Cruiser instead.
for 244k a guy could buy 3 Land Cruisers… or a Land Cruiser, a bespoke H&H, and an amazing safari…
“Where do you find parts for your Rover?”
“Usually in the driveway.”
Actually I own a Landie (LR3) and it’s been trouble free. Quirky, but trouble free. I also have owned a Jag and a MGBGT and ride a 20 year old Triumph. Brit vehicles are fun.
I’d rather have a Land Rover D90 and a pair of L85A1s.
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