Author and acknowledged “Landie” expert Paul Woods offers 121 black-and-white photographs and a two-page introduction to tell the story of the iconic Land Rover (initially Land-Rover) in this 2006 book. Conceived by Maurice Wilks of the Rover Motor Co. as Britain’s answer to the Jeep, Woods chronicles its origin in 1948 through the 2005 models. The photographs are from the Ludvigsen Library, which was created by famed author, researcher, and historian Karl Ludvigsen. (The Ludvigsen Library has been part of the Collier Collection since 2011 and housed at the Revs Institute, an automotive research facility in Naples, Florida.) Offering comprehensive visual coverage of the great variety of unique military and civilian Land Rover models, the book features carefully staged exterior, interior, and engine beauty shots as well as dramatic action shots befitting 4x4 vehicles. In addition, the author includes photographs produced for Marshall Specialist Vehicles (Cambridge), a manufacturer of special bodies for Land Rover. While not in-depth, captions that feature word lengths ranging from short to medium are generally informative. In the Iconografix Photo Archive tradition, this book is a worthy visual and text companion to add to your knowledge of Land Rover models, such as the 1974 Series III featured in the November/December 2021 issue of Vintage Truck. 

Book Review by Robert Gabrick