The story of how Oxford, arguably now the world’s most written about and photographed Series 1 Land Rover, was found, repatriated then dispatched around the world for marque faithful to use and enjoy is indeed a fascinating one. Here, and in the next two issues, NZ Tour convenor Kevin Isemonger treats us to an exclusive insider’s view of the unique elderly Landy’s ‘second-wind’ ‘Tour of Aotearoa.’
So, where do I start a story about Oxford’s New Zealand adventure? I guess for the benefit of the non-believers, I had better start at the very beginning.
Back in 1955, three graduates from Oxford University and three from Cambridge University in the UK set themselves a challenge to be the first to drive Overland from London to Singapore.
Perhaps a bit ‘ho-hum’ now, but it had never been done before and being less than 10 years after WW2, many parts of the journey still had smouldering ruins. All had just finished their degrees when they set out on the expedition, with the exception of Nigel Newbery, who had one year left.
All of the team members were selected based on their skills.
Antony ‘BB’ Barrington-Brown – Cameraman.
Adrian Cowell – Business Manager.
Patrick Murphy – Navigator and Chef.
Nigel Newbery – Quartermaster and Mechanic.
Henry Nott – Chief Engineer.
Tim Slessor – Scribe and Assistant. Cameraman (Author of the book First Overland).
During this time of ‘A Brave New World’ – it was rapidly becoming a craze to go on ‘Safari’ and explorenew frontiers – and there was a huge number of manufacturers who had turned their war-time production into civilian ‘Safari suppliers’ with tents, packs, clothing and camera gear.
Photos of Ed Hillary’s ascent of Everest, for instance, reveal a tonne of Army Surplus type gear – and the Rover car company’s new invention – the world’s first ‘RV’ the ‘Land Rover’ – was rapidly building a reputation as the ‘vehicle of choice’ for all self-respecting Explorers…
And so, the six young student types contacted the Rover Car Company asking for their support and were fortunate to be loaned two new Land Rovers for the trip, which we now know as 86-inch Series 1’s hard top station wagons.
Epic trip
Officially, the epic trip was known as the ‘Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition’ and was well documented in Tim Slessor’s book First Overland (I have a first edition!) and can now be seen on YouTube – but it is what happened after they got back to the UK that not too many know about.
The vehicles were returned to the Rover Car company – a tad ‘used’, and as can be imagined, Rover was swamped with requests for vehicles for all sorts of great causes. So, Cambridge was handed on to an Aid Charity based in Africa, while Oxford was given to the ‘British Ornithologists Union’ and was shipped off to the Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean – and both disappeared into history.
In 2017, a UK-based property developer, Adam Bennett, set off on a quest to find Oxford and succeeded in finding what was left, on the nearby St. Helena Island – did a deal with the chap who was part of the original Ornithologist team and swapped the remains for a later Defender.
Adam shipped the remains back to the UK, had Oxford sympathetically restored, then loaned it to Jaguar-Land Rover for a promotional tour for Land Rover from Singapore to London in 2019. This trip was called ‘The Last Overland’ and there are some great videos on YouTube of the return journey.
Then what?
Once back in the UK, Adam Bennett then thought it would be great to share Oxford with as many Land Rover enthusiasts as possible, so arranged to ship it across the Atlantic to continue the journey west around the world.
David Short is the President of the Rover Owners Association of Virginia and organised the American journey which was dubbed ‘Sea to Shining Sea – Oxford in America’ and can also be seen on YouTube under the Oxford in America tag.
David took Oxford from the east coast to the west and back again, visiting as many Rover and Land Rover car clubs and rallies as possible.
In theory Oxford’s next port of call was supposed to be Australia. However, fate – in the form of a Kiwi guy now living over there – Mike Smith – intervened on our behalf.
I knew Mike from the New Zealand Series 1 group in the 1980, and he contacted me in late February 2020 asking if I would be interested in organising a New Zealand leg of Oxford’s trip around the world.
Mike had made a replica of Oxford many years ago and used it on the 2006 Oxford to Cambridge Land Rover Rally – and somehow Adam Bennett tracked him down to see if he would be interested. Mike suggested that perhaps New Zealand might like to have a play first.
Having been involved in organising a few car rallies in the past, I fully understood the commitment required, and the erratic nature of my job made it difficult to plan too far in advance – but I knew just the man for the job – Rod Corbett from Wanaka.
Rod and his wife Anne could be described as ‘Extreme’ car enthusiasts being heavily involved in the Vintage Car Club and the Targa Rally scene for many years. I met Rod through a mutual friend Duncan Munro from Clevedon who put Rod onto me as a fellow Land Rover enthusiast. I rang Rod to see if he was interested, and with his usual boundless energy he was, so I passed Rod’s contact details onto Mike.
Kiwi kick-off 08 March 2020. Sunday
Mike Smith flicked an email to Rod and the ‘POP Servers’ all over the globe lit up as Rod set about making contact with Adam Bennett, David Short and even Tim Slessor! It was about this time that Covid started to turn the world upside down as Rod and I cobbled together all the various car events we knew that were planned for early 2021 – me with the 4WD events, the ‘Land Rover Series 1 run’ in Whanganui and the ‘Hereworth 4WD Safari’ in Hawke’s Bay – and Rod with the ‘Ellerslie Car Show’ and ‘Wheels at Wanaka’ all due inside a perfect storm for February to April 2021 – it was just the ‘dick’ called Covid that could shut everything down.
By this stage I had set up a Facebook Page called ‘First Overland Expedition to New Zealand’ and started formulating an itinerary for Oxford based around the various other events planned around the country.
For instance, ‘Wheels at Wanaka’ is a biennial event which showcases new and vintage farm and industrial machinery, as well as cars. With its obvious location at the opposite end of the country – combined with the area’s world-famous scenery it just worked out perfectly to be hailed as the final destination (sort of) for Oxford’s trip through New Zealand.
Rod was keen to align the WaW event 2023 with Land Rover’s 75th birthday – but this was just too good an opportunity to pass up to have a massive Land Rover Rally in Wanaka over Easter 2021.
I posted the following as the main cover for the ‘First Overland’ Facebook page.
“All Land Rovers are invited to attend a Land Rover “Oxford in Wanaka” Safari to be held from Tuesday 30th March 2021 through to Monday 5th April 2021 culminating and coordinated with the ‘Wheels at Wanaka’ event on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th April 2021.
“Both events will be based at the ‘Three Parks’, Ballantyne Road, Wanaka. https://www.threeparks.co.nz/ The 1955 Series 1 Land Rover ‘Oxford’ – arguably, “‘he most famous Land Rover in the world’ – will be in New Zealand and will be attending both events in Wanaka. Pre-registration to display your Land Rover at ‘Wheels at Wanaka’ and attendance of the Land Rover Rally is essential.”
September 2020, I arranged an audience with the Marketing Manager and Events Manager at JLR New Zealand, whom I knew through the launch of the new Defender, to see if Land Rover would be interested in getting involved, and they confirmed that they would be interested in displaying Oxford in their dealership showrooms – which relieved us of the burden of how to move Oxford around the country and inter-island. All we needed now was confirmation of its arrival.
Fortunately, Rod knew Ian Jenner, MD of ‘Jenner’s Worldwide Freight’ who specialise in the transportation of cars around the world, and Rod also managed to convince Star Insurance to cover Oxford for its stay in New Zealand. Rod is a very persuasive man!
A massive amount of correspondence went between Rod Corbett, David Short in the US, Adam Bennett in the UK, and Ian Jenner regarding the shipping from the East Coast of America to New Zealand – but eventually all the planets aligned, and Oxford was on its way to the South Pacific.
01 Feb 2021. Monday
I was working in the central North Island when Oxford finally arrived and I was not able to get in to see him roll onto the showroom at Archibald and Shorter North Shore (AandS NS) – but Jay Kalidas, the dealership’s Events Manager sent me some photos of Oxford all set up in the Land Rover showroom – and I posted them on the ‘First Overland’ FB page you could hear the collective gasp of hundreds of New Zealand Land Rover owners saying, ‘It’s real, Oxford is really here!’
By this stage, Rod and I had firmed up Oxford’s timetable and I created all the EVENTS on the ‘First Overland’ page, while Rod had contacted all of the dealerships and Land Rover clubs to make sure they knew about the Facebook Page and the events we had arranged, to give as many Land Rover enthusiasts as possible the chance to not only see Oxford, but for many also the opportunity to drive it.
By this stage, Rod had got himself on the organising committee for ‘Wheels at Wanaka’ which gave our project a massive boost having access to some serious horsepower when it comes to organising large scale events such as automating the event booking system for the WaW and the Off-Road Safaris, as well as purchasing related merchandise such as decals and T-Shirts.
08 Feb 2021. Monday
Oxford was loaded on a transporter and moved from A+S North Shore to A+S Greenlane.
13 Feb 2021. Saturday
I organised with Archibald and Shorter for me to drive Oxford from Greenlane, back over the Harbour Bridge to their North Shore dealership where they had laid on a big breakfast for their Customers and Land Rover enthusiasts to enjoy.
This, of course, was my first chance to even see Oxford, let alone get behind the wheel, and – well – let’s just say we didn’t exactly hit it off straight away.
Oxford, you see, was parked in the main showroom. I loaded some gear in the back – typical Series 1 ‘patch-up’ gear including a tow rope and jumper leads – and hit the starter button. The good news is that Oxford immediately fired into life (whew!). The ‘not-so-good’ news was that as I edged forward towards the $4+ million dollars’ worth of Range Rovers on the slope outside the showroom, I found the steering so heavy, I struggled to get the front around before attempting a reverse hill start – and promptly stalled it. I hit the starter button – but this time nothing happened.
I then grabbed the jumper leads from the back and tried to short the battery straight onto the starter – but again, nothing. Back around the building I backed my Discovery into the showroom and dragged Oxford back up the short slope on a short strop – then crash-started it down the hill, fortunately missing the Range Rover line-up – and left the engine running as I parked the Discovery back around the rear of the building – and we were off – but no fuel. The gauge is busted. Across the road to the Servo – filled Oxford up (yes, with the engine running!) … and we were off to hit the unforgiving traffic on Auckland’s Southern Motorway – God help me.
It was a disappointing turn out at A+S North Shore, but the folk that did turn up made up for the small number with their enthusiasm. I had actually organised a series of timed stops where Oxford would be parked up on his grand tour of Auckland, which included Harbour View Park in Te Atatu, the Auckland Domain, Bastion Point (with the America’s Cup racing in the harbour behind) and finally back to A+S Greenlane by 4:00pm.
The intent was to allow folk to get photos of their beloved Land Rover next to Oxford without having to travel right across the city – or join in as a convoy.
By 4:00pm I had been battling Auckland Saturday traffic in a Series 1 for over eight hours and I was bushed. I think two vehicles followed me back to A+S to consume the 20kg of sausages that Greer Fyfe had cooked up on the Series 2 BBQ truck.
14 Feb 2021. Sunday
Off early again, heading back into the city in my Defender – all nicely polished up and ready for the Ellerslie Car show. This is a very prestigious event, and Rod had arranged with Garry Boyce, Chairman of the Ellerslie Organising Committee to display Oxford in the ‘Newmarket Room’ in the main stand.
Into A+S again, and there was a heap of people shuttling the latest and greatest Jaguars and Land Rover products down to the Giltrap display area. I followed the convoy down to the show grounds in Oxford – then drive past them all and head over to the carpeted (!) Newmarket room to park it smack bang in the middle ... as instructed.
Did I mention that Oxford had a bit of an incontinence issue?
A dude come over – looking very officious – asking “Where are you going with that?” as I am trying to get Oxford as centre stage as possible ... as instructed…
“This is Oxford and Garry Boyce wants it centre stage.” (gulp)
“Oh – all good. If Gary wants it there – that’s fine”.
I switch Oxford off and run back to Archibald and Shorter to grab my Defender to park it with the rest of the Land Rovers from the Auckland Land Rover club.
A few hours later, I went to check on Oxford. Now I could not tell you how many millions of dollars’ worth of cars was parked in the ‘Newmarket room’ that day – but guess which one had the biggest crowd around him – yep – Oxford.
I could be cruel and say that it was a case of “What the hell is that doing in here?” – so I walk over to have a look, but I got nabbed by someone from the local radio station who had been looking for me – I guess it must have been the Land Rover hat and T-Shirt that gave me away – because they wanted an interview about Oxford.
I don’t have a problem talking about Land Rovers – but the interview was conducted outside the broadcast caravan near the PA system which gave about a two-second delay between what I said and what I heard – broadcasting live to a few thousand people. Try and keep your train of thought in those conditions! No pressure Kev.
At the end of the day, I drove Oxford around to the Auckland Land Rover Owners stand, so the team could have a drive around the show grounds – and then headed back to Archibald + Shorter – which was all locked up.
Oh crap.
Fortunately, Greer came to my rescue – which is just as well, as I still needed to get back to the showgrounds to get the Defender out before those gates were locked up as well.
20 Feb 2021. Saturday.
The following Saturday I drove down to Hamilton, as Oxford had been transported to Duncan and Ebbett’s Land Rover showroom in Maahanga Drive, Te Rapa. At DandE I met a family that had driven up from Taupo and another couple of chaps that had come across from Whakatane just to see Oxford.
I fired up Oxford and headed of into the Hamilton Saturday morning traffic. The plan was similar to the Auckland trip – common meeting points so locals could come and see Oxford at set times.
I parked up at Hamilton Lake, Te Awamutu Rose Gardens, Cambridge (for a photo opportunity with Oxford parked in front of the Cambridge sign), Lake Karapiro next to the hydro dam, and then back to Cambridge again to park up next to the Waikato River.
At one point I parked Oxford on a jetty overlooking the Waikato, as it was difficult to get a shot of the river with it, and some guys asked if they could jump off Oxford’s roof into the river about 10m below.
I then headed back into Hamilton to the Botanical Gardens – with a quick stop at Oxford Street in Hamilton East, before dropping it back at Duncan and Ebbetts.
The following day Oxford was packed up and sent south to Whanganui to Philip Avery as the organiser of this year’s anniversary Land Rover Series 1 Enthusiasts Rally from where I will take up my second report in next month’s mag.
