Sometimes luxury doesn’t hold up to newer standards. In 1970, when the original Range Rover (classic) was introduced, this vehicle set a high bar for luxury, refinement, and off-road capabilities. As the years have dragged on, we’ve seen this standard surpassed by at least one vehicle from almost every automaker. Vinile, based in Maranello, Italy, is seeking to reinvent and resto-mod the old classic into something that holds up against the best cars made today.
This seems to be something only the Italians could do—inject some Italian flair into an otherwise old and mostly pedestrian British off-road vehicle to make it modern. Their renderings of the final product are nothing short of epic. They’ve refined the Range Rover classic: gaps and panels are tightened, metal parts are handcrafted, new side skirts, LED headlights, redesigned fog lights, new splash guards, and in-house-manufactured side mirrors all adorn this reinterpretation.
That’s not all they’re doing, though. Vinile is using a poplar burl wood veneer from the interior to the exterior. They’re painting and flush-mounting the door handles, something only a purist would recognize. The rear has a new diffuser, and a rear spoiler partially conceals the rear wiper. The overall stance of the Classic has been neutralized from its original ‘rear-set’ look. The wheels are the same diameter as the original, but they’ve changed the concave design a bit and given it bigger tires.
The interior is the real gem here, and Vinile says their goal was to create the comfort of a real sofa using the finest leathers from Baxter. The amount of leather is staggering. A full 45 cubic meters of the stuff was used to cover the seats, steering wheel, dashboard, door panels, and wheel arches. They’ve continued the modifications to a new central tunnel and dashboard support to accommodate all the new interior bits.
Nothing was spared in modernizing the technology either. A 10.1-inch Sony HD touchscreen was added. A knurled-finish touch encoder was placed on the center console that can be used to adjust many of the car’s features with aviation-inspired buttons for window controls and lights. Even the starting procedure was changed, and they’re saying it’s much like a helicopter: turn the key, press engage, then start—with those functions in different locations inside.
After 10,000 hours developing the process, a mere 15 of these Vinile Range Rover Classics will be produced, each requiring 2,100 hours to complete. Pricing is coming in at 280,000 Euros, so get it while it’s hot and ready!
Cheers,
M. T. Blake
