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Did You Know That Bob Marley Drove A Land Rover ? Check Out His Restored 1977 Truck
Did you know that raggae legend Bob Marley drove a 1977 Land Rover Series III pickup truck?
On February 6. 2015, a day which would have been Bob’s 70th birthday, the restored truck was unveiled to the crowds.
It took the team two years to restore the near wreck vehicle back to its former glory.
Jamaican music legend, Robert Nesta Marley, popularly known as Bob Marley, is no doubt the most popular raggae music artist of all time.
Some of his famous and chart-topping songs includes No Woman No Cry (1975); Get Up Stand Up (1973); Stir It Up (1973); Redemption Song (1980); Is This Love? (1978) and I Shot the Sheriff (1973).
So it’s no surprise that a legend who introduced reggae to the world also drove an equally iconic vehicle; a 1977 Land Rover Series III pickup truck finished in blue matte.
Bob Marley reportedly bought the Series III because of its abilities to handle the rough roads in his home town.
Sadly, reggae legend Bob Marley died in May 1981 at the age of 36 after a four-year battle with a melanoma skin cancer that started on his toe.
Unlike his reputation that keeps waxing strong since his death, Marley’s truck was fading away. The pickup truck stood neglected in the car park at 56 Hope Road in Kingston, now a museum.
In anticipation of Marley’s 70th birthday, Sandals International Resorts, a Jamaican Land Rover dealership, worked with the Marley family to bring the classic truck back to life.
It took the team two years to restore the near wreck vehicle back to its former glory. According to the team, the project was something they really enjoyed.
Stephen James, a master Jaguar Land Rover technician for ATL Automotive in Jamaica, said :
“When we first saw the vehicle it was in complete disrepair; we stripped it and we rebuilt it from the chassis up”
“Finding parts for a vehicle this age is tricky; we used a supplier in the US, Rovers North, and they found us 80% of what we needed.”
“There was no engine in the vehicle, so the power plant came from an import to the US that had originally been in Ethiopia.”
“It seems appropriate that for Bob’s truck the heart of the vehicle was from the motherland.”
On 6 February 2015 at the Bob Marley Museum, a day which would have been Bob’s 70th birthday, the restored SUV was unveiled to the crowds who had come out in force to celebrate the legendary artist.
Sandals Resorts International CEO Adam Stewart also added that :
“Bob really raised the profile of our nation of Jamaica and we felt the greatest gift we could give to him was to restore his original Land Rover to its former glory,”
“Marley’s Land Rover is one of the most famous vehicles in automotive history and we were delighted when the opportunity arose to be a part of its restoration.
For us it has been an unbelievable privilege working with the entire Marley family and to reunite them with the same vehicle they rode around in as children is something we were only too pleased to do.”
The matte-blue Land Rover is currently in Bob Marley’s former home, now a museum, at 56 Hope Road in Kingston.
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