Members of the press ( ie myself and others ) where summoned to the Midlands one day to see the first Freelanders to roll off the pre production line. A 3 door and a 4 door where laid out for us to look over .
Following a very nice lunch and a talk by Jerry McGovern, we set about pestering the LR chaps for a drive...please, just around the field, just up and down the drive.

We were met with very firm denials which was not surprising. You see, they had no engines in them !! Shortly after they project was signed off, there was a falling out with Honda who were going to provide the various power units. Hence the big engine bay which eventually hit the market with a very old 1.8 K series petrol engine lost in it . Been going through my old negs and found this images.

My first LR was an Epsom Green Freelander XEi 1.8. T698 PKE, inevitably christened Pike. I bought it after my employer swapped company cars for car allowances, so off went a MkIII Golf GTi and in came Pike, a 3 door hardback; I never did take the back off, but the glass roof panels certainly got removed and put in the storage bag whenever the sun came out. Such a great car, had no issues with it and at 3 years I upgraded to a Santorini Black TD4 ES hardback, which was even better with that BMW diesel lump in it. Fond memories of both cars, but especially Pike; I even liked the noise that K series engine made!