SAUNTER down Memory Lane or a blast from the past?

It was certainly a bit of both when I returned to the wheel of the first series of Range Rover which dated from the 1970s.

This was one of the most important vehicles of the time and demonstrated that Land Rover cold pitch into the luxury off-road market with a product that is with us to this day and is better than ever.

Getting out of the latest products from Land Rover and stepping into this classic was something of a culture shock.

I had forgotten how slim the doors were and the interior is very bland compared to the latest Range Rover Autobiography.

But for its day, this model was the car a vast number of people aspired to own and it quickly became a motoring icon.

Out on the roads of Wiltshire I heard again the sound which quickened my pulse whn I first drove a Range Rover in the 1970s.

This was the V8 ‘scream' which was the signature tune of the Range Rover.

Making all the noise was a Buick-derived Rover V8 which was originally of 3,528cc capacity but was later enlarged to 4.0-litre and 4.2-litre.

The company bosses soon realised they had a tiger by the tail as sales soared.

And it was hardly surprising because the like of the Range Rover had never been seen before from a UK manufacturer.

Here was a very powerful car with luxury seating for five with the off-road capability of a Land Rover. It was able toapproach 100mph with a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, although hopefully not both at the same time.

Power was fed via a dual range permanent 4x4 transmission and there were disc brakes all round.

The vehicle came to be due to a firm belief that a market existed for a Land Rover that was off-road capable but more comfortable and civilized.

The Land Rover station wagon certainly did not fill the and by the 1960s, Rover was becoming aware of the development of thesports utility market in the USA.

And so, in 1970, the Range Rover was born with bodyworkpenned largely by the engineering team rather thanthe styling division.

It was marketed as "A Car For All Reasons" - and how true this was.

One of the first significant changes came in 1981, with the introduction of a four-door body. Until then, Range Rovers only had two doors, making access to the rear seats rather awkward.

The first major push upmarket was in 1984, which saw the availability of leather trim and automatic transmission; this was followed by the 1985 model year, which saw the instrument pod replaced by a more modern one.

The Range Rover broke from the Land Rovers of its time by using coilspringsinstead of the then-common leaf arrangement. This gave a vastly superior ride and the Range Rover was riding high to the horizons of fame.

One problem though was body roll and because of this the suspension was lowered.

Air suspension was introduced in late 1992 for high-end 1993 models and it was not until 1986 that Range Rovers gained diesel engines from the factory.

Over 45 years the Range Rover has stood proud as the flagship of the Land Rover fleet. it has been used by royalty, the pope and many agencies and utilities that appreciate its powerful, go-anywhere character.