August 1957 brought us the Land Rover in Mk I form but as the 109" longer wheelbase. You'll have to wait for the green one, and also to see a canopy, because these first ones were just either bright yellow with a black roof or blue with a white roof.
There surely has to be some AA / RAC thing going on here? Neither get the branding and we know RAC gets involved in a big way later with the Land Rover and AA get the Bedford CA van but these colours seem quite surprising all the same!
Illustrated are two fine examples of the very first that would have been available. The shaped, but still fixed, wheels would have come a few years later.
They normally had a larger tyre but you may find some with the normal car size tyres. Those look a bit small, to my mind, but I have read somewhere that they may have been initially issued with either.
The 406 will always have a spare pinned to the bonnet and a metal hook at the rear and no aerial.
This was the start of an extremely long run for the wonderful Land Rover. This is model number 406 and lasts through to 1962 when, revised as a Mk II model, it gets suspension and an interior as a bright yellow 406S, shortly after to become 438 in deep dark green. The Mk I will also make an appearance as an RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover and an RAF Land Rover and with the addition of a jib, as a Breakdown Truck too.
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