1998 Range Rover Overfinch 630R

“ A rare 4x4, with only 25 ever built in this spec. ”This is a seriously potent piece of over-engineered 1990’s excess.

BackgroundThe Range Rover has been voted one of the top three Most Influential Cars of the 20th Century.

It created a whole new category of vehicle, set a benchmark for combining off-road capability with luxury that the rest of the pack have spent decades trying to match, and has no serious rivals when it comes to blocking roads in posher urban post codes during each and every school run.

At its launch in 1969 it was clearly years ahead of its time and it took the motoring world by storm. Such has been its enduring influence that, today, manufacturers as unlikely as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Maserati have bitten the SUV bullet.

In what some considered the ultimate act of automotive sacrilege, Ferrari unveiled their attempt in 2022.

We’re waiting for the Koenigsegg camper van and Pagani pick-up to make an appearance any day now.

Originally, the Range Rover was fitted with a detuned 130bhp version of the Rover V8 engine. In 1984, the engine was fitted with fuel injection, which saw power increase to 155bhp. The 3.5-litre engine was bored out to a displacement of 3.9 litres for the 1990 model year.

Twenty-five years after the introduction of the original Range Rover, the second-generation (model-designation P38A) was introduced for the 1996 model year.

Overfinch sprang into life in 1975 with a remit to take the already powerful, luxurious and capable Range Rover and make it even more powerful, luxurious and capable. More often than not, they succeeded, and usually in considerable style.

This 630 R Anniversary edition, is a particularly rare and potent offering from the Leeds-based Range Rover whisperers.

OverviewToday, of course, we are familiar with the concept of a 4X4 that can outsprint a sportscar and wears badges from Bentley, Porsche, Aston Martin, etc, etc.

Back in 1998, people expected a 4X4, and especially a Range Rover, to be two things: supremely capable off-road; supremely comfortable on it.

People weren’t expecting a third

option:

namely, tarmac-shredding grunt and irresistible tsunamis of power.

Overfinch did a lot of the work needed to change that perception, and not least with the 630 R, a vehicle designed to showcase the firm’s abilities as a bespoke low-volume manufacturer and commemorate 25 years of their high-performance Range Rovers.

The 630 in the car’s title refers to the displacement of the 4th generation Overfinch/GM (small block) V8 engine, a 6.3-litre beast producing 400 bhp and 457Ib ft of torque – a combination capable of propelling a big, heavy car to 60mph in just 6.6 seconds.

You had to really want one of these cars back in the day because they were seriously expensive.

If your base Range Rover was costing you over £80,000, Overfinch’s engine, suspension, braking, exhaust and interior trim upgrades would add at least a further £36,000 to your overall outlay.

The vendor bought this car in 2012 from a dealer in rare and specialist vehicles.

His understanding, and ours, is that the car had spent a few years before then living in the sunny climes of Gibraltar.

And that might go some way to explaining the car’s somewhat confusing status regarding its overall condition.

It is mechanically and dynamically excellent. It drives very well and the magnificent engine has lost none of its ability to induce an ear-to-ear grin on the faces of all who hear it.

Why? Because it makes a noise like a rockfall in a canyon.

In fact, it could probably cause a rockfall in a canyon, such is the cacophony of high-volume grunts, rasps, burbles, pops and shrieks that emanate somewhere deep under its rocker covers and explode into the world through its twin exhaust pipes.

Splendid stuff.

So, mechanically and dynamically, all is well.

But the paintwork and exterior aesthetics have definitely fared less well, and we would attribute at least some of that deterioration to time spent baking under a Gibraltarian sun.

That said, cosmetic flaws are rather simpler and cheaper to correct (if you want to) than mechanical or structural issues, and this car seems to us to have plenty of structural and engineering integrity.

Estimate: £15,000 - £20,000

View Current Bid Price HERE