Cambridge

History

Cambridge was one of the two new Series I 86" Station Wagons supplied for the Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, which left London on 1 September 1955 and reached Singapore on 6 March 1956 - the first overland drive between the two cities, covering more than 18,000 miles in six months and six days. The two cars were painted in the rival universities' colours, Cambridge wearing the lighter blue against Oxford's dark blue. The six-man student crew filmed the journey for the BBC with backing from a young David Attenborough, and Tim Slessor's book First Overland became a classic of overland travel.

After the expedition both cars returned to the Rover Company and served as promotional vehicles until the Series II's 1958 launch made them obsolete as showpieces. Cambridge was sold through a dealer in July 1957 to Terence Bendixson, who set off with friends on a further expedition to the Middle East. Driving back towards the UK alone, travelling at night to avoid the heat, Bendixson ran off the road somewhere between Tabriz in Iran and Dogubayazit in Turkey and the car tumbled into a steep ravine. He was thrown clear, suffering a serious leg injury, and was evacuated to hospital.

Exactly where the accident happened, and whether anything of SNX 761 remains there, is unknown. Attempts by the First Overland community to trace the wreck - or any recovered remains - have so far failed, and Cambridge is counted among the great missing historic Land Rovers. Its survival is considered unlikely, in poignant contrast to Oxford, which was recovered from St Helena in 2017 and driven back from Singapore on the 2019 Last Overland.

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (The Rover Company)

Manufactured

1955–1955

Engine type

2.0 L petrol inline-four

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

lost (crashed into a ravine between Tabriz and Dogubayazit in 1957; never recovered)

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Series I

Wheels

4

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-10)
• 'After Overland' - the story of SNX 891 and SNX 761 after 1956 (Cambridge's sale, night-drive accident and unknown fate) ↗ — teeafit.co.uk (First Overland team site) (accessed 2026-09-10)
• First and Last Overland: London to Singapore and back in a 1955 Series I (Cambridge sold July 1957 to Terence Bendixson; ravine crash between Tabriz and Dogubayazit) ↗ — Land Rover Monthly (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Wanted: Missing Historic Land Rovers ↗ — Rovers North / roverparts.com (accessed 2026-09-10)

Catalogue references

• User-supplied First Overland photographs