To the eternal question of what to purchase a prime minister on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Winston Churchill might have offered this counsel: a customized 1954 Series I Land Rover. The proto-S.U.V., said to have chauffeured Churchill around his estate in his later years, is scheduled to hit the auction block on Oct. 20 in Sutton, near Cambridge, England.
The Rover was used to maneuver Churchill around Chartwell, his 300-acre estate, where Cheffins, the consigning auctioneer, said it remained until the prime minister's death in 1965. During its time on the estate it was registered under plate No. UKE 80 to “Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill KG. OM. CH. MP. Chartwell, Westerham, Kent.†Acc ording to Cheffins, the Rover was fitted with a wide passenger seat to accommodate Churchill's ample posterior and a leather strap for the P.M. to grasp when entering and exiting the vehicle.
The middle seat was converted to a padded armrest - most likely a modification welcomed by a man with delicate skin - and a foot heater was also installed.
After leaving the Churchill estate, the Land Rover was put to work towing a horse box for its third owner, after which it was placed in a shed for safekeeping in 1977. Cheffins estimates the truck, with 12,932 miles and its original logbook, should fetch around £50,000-£60,000 at auction, or roughly $80,000-$96,000. For a particular collector, this may seem a pittance to pay to have a connection, however figurative, to those broad, sunlit uplands rhapsodized by Churchill in his earlier, more mobile years.
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