Range Rover with Movie Star History Headed for Auction

Early Range Rovers restored to a concours standard are still a relatively recent phenomenon, but an increasingly growing one, and also one that won't surprise those who've been watching the top European auctions for some time.

The classic Rangie is half a century old, lest we forget, and collectors are taking note now that values have ballooned over the past decade, to a level that may surprise some longtime owners.

In a few weeks Artcurial auctions will offer a restored 1975 Range Rover once owned by French cinema star Alain Delon at its Retromobile event, in a sale that could test the upper reaches of Rangie values at the moment.

The original Range Rover was not only the right model at the right time for the automaker, taking the lineup upmarket while offering genuine comfort, but has also arguably proven itself as a piece of timeless industrial design.

Penned by Spencer King, the model combined a roomy interior with a manageable exterior and plenty of power underhood, thanks to a Buick-derived 3.5-liter V8 underhood. While the Series models were still quite agricultural at the time and were evolving slowly, the Range Rover raced ahead by offering a roomy and reasonably luxurious interior combined with something of a luxury car experience.

"In 1975, Range Rover had already gained in refinement compared to the initial 1970 version. The instrumentation on board was revised and the stereo car radio and power steering were offered as options, as were the laminated windshield, the tinted windows, front headrests and seat belts," the auction house notes.

The original model was offered only in two-door flavor until the early 1980s, with the automaker incorporating relatively few changes during its first decade in production. Engine displacement grew in small increments, from 3.5 liters to 3.9 and 4.2 over the years, as did the amount of interior space, with the final years of the first-generation getting the Range Rover all the way into the 1995 model year—a remarkably long time for a sport utility—with that original model staying relevant in the face of much newer foreign models, most of them from Japan.

The 3.5-liter example that Artcurial auction will offer in a matter of weeks was first registered in June 1976 and was optioned in the popular Bahama Gold color.

The Range Rover received a body-off restoration between 2019 and 2020 with its original, numbers-matching engine also receiving a complete refurbishment. The auction house does not state how many kilometers this model has at the moment, but photos of the odometer show a figure of 05177, as these were five-digit units, so we can perhaps infer that it's on its second trip around the clock.

Curiously, the auction house does not state whether Alain Delon was the Range Rover's original owner, or merely one of its former owners. The French film star is easily one of the best-known European actors of the 1960s and 1970s, gaining popularity outside of his home nation during that time, even in the USSR, where he starred in one major hit.

For a time Delon also performed in American films, having enjoyed a brief Hollywood phase appearing with Shirley MacLaine in The Yellow Rolls-Royce. But overall, his U.S. tenure was nowhere as successful as at home in Europe, where his popularity rivaled that of other prominent male actors of the time, including Sean Connery.

The auction house estimates this Range Rover could fetch between approximately $91,000 and $114,000 on auction day.

Just how much Delon's one-time ownership will play a role in this auction remains to be determined, as restored Range Rover values have been heading into this price range all by themselves for a few years now. As such, specialists have been more confident giving them money-no-object restorations, provided a solid example as a starting point.

The Bahama Gold original color of this example, coupled with an original engine, could get this particular example most of the way to its lower estimate, even though in France the concept of a restored Range Rover playing with a six figure price tag could be a stretch.

In any case, it won't have to compete for attention with too many other British classics, as the annual Retromobile auction is mostly about French, German and Italian cars.

Visit the auction house website to view the full list of lots from this upcoming sale.