1981 Land Rover Series III V8 88 concept vehicle

Chassis number: V8 88 LR32

Registration number: PRW819W

Engine type: 3.5 V8

Gearbox type: 4 Speed Manual

Vehicle spec: This vehicle was built in early 1981 at Land Rover’s Drayton Road engineering facility and registered on 3 March. Executive Engineer Bob Platt was enthusiastic about the potential for a recreational, lifestyle and leisure vehicle and his team created the unique Series III you see here. We think it is the company’s first serious attempt to create a purely recreational Land Rover.

Powered by a 3.5 V8, the soft-top 88 was completed with a Stage 1 front end, Ninety/One Ten wheel arch eyebrows, bespoke roll cage, custom-made sloping ‘pram hood’ hoops, a tailored plastic hood with big side windows and a zip-up rear panel, two bespoke forward-facing folding rear seats, galvanised body cappings and front bumper painted black, wide aftermarket white wheels and chunky tyres, and the Inca Yellow paint job with decal side stripes. After their first test drives, engineers Staff Dewson and John Faulkner nicknamed it the Yellow Peril and concluded that the ride was awful!

It was sold into the dealer network in December 1982 after Land Rover had no further use for it. Its second owner remains unknown. The third owner fitted a tuned V8 taken from a Morris Marina day racer which is still installed while the original engine is being rebuilt. The fourth owner, Chris Herbert, renovated the vehicle between 2010 and 2014, and the Collection acquired it from him in 2025.