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Named model · Series I · 1954

State III Royal Review Land Rover

The last of Rover's State III Royal Review Land Rovers, chassis 5710-2615 of 1954: a Series I with the smooth-sided open review body and chrome grab rails built to the specification of the 1953–54 Commonwealth Tour cars, but finished in dark blue rather than Royal Claret so it could serve non-royal dignitaries — Harold Macmillan at the Hyde Park car park opening in 1955, and Torvill and Dean on their Nottingham victory tour.

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State III Royal Review Land Rover — front three-quarter render

History

For the Royal Commonwealth Tour of 1953–54 Rover built a small number of ceremonial Land Rovers — open review vehicles with a smooth-sided body, a raised rear compartment behind the cab, chrome grab rails round the back so the Royal party could stand and be seen, and fittings well above anything the standard Series I offered — in Royal Claret. The State III cars followed to the same specification as the State IV tour vehicles. Chassis 5710-2615 was the last of them, and Rover kept it: painted dark blue instead of claret, it was a review car the company could lend to dignitaries who were not royal.

It went into service in 1955 when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan used it at the opening of the Hyde Park underground car park, worked the Royal Show at Stoneleigh among other events, and in 1984 carried Olympic ice-dance champions Torvill and Dean through Nottingham on their victory parade. Rover stored it at Solihull with its other ceremonial vehicles until it was retired around 1987–88, still running. Bonhams sold it at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, on 29 June 2003 for £12,650. The Bonhams photograph shows it as modelled: dark blue with a pale coach line, an open cab with no doors behind a clear windscreen, grey leather seating, chrome bumper, the rails round the rear, and body-colour wheels with domed chrome hub caps; the source gives neither engine nor wheelbase, and the 86-inch nominal figure here is the Series I chassis of the period rather than a recorded dimension.

Imagery

Chassis 5710-2615 at the 2003 Bonhams sale — the reference this model was built from; linked only, © Bonhams.
Chassis 5710-2615 at the 2003 Bonhams sale — the reference this model was built from; linked only, © Bonhams. Bonhams ↗

Registry record

Manufacturer
The Rover Company, Solihull (special ceremonial body)
Manufactured
1954, chassis 5710-2615
Engine type
Series I 2.0 L petrol inline-four (period standard; not stated in the source)
Production run
A handful of State III/IV review vehicles; this one unique in blue
Country of origin
United Kingdom
Operated in
United Kingdom
Status
preserved (sold at Bonhams, Gaydon, 29 June 2003)

Catalogue data

Record kind
Named model
Model line
Series I
Wheels
4
Nominal wheelbase
86″

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

Catalogue references

Registry record updated 2026-09-11T07:24:28.452Z · status: researched