In the early 1990s, the Range Rover Classic was turning twenty, an incredibly long lifespan for any car design. Land Rover wanted to commemorate this longevity with a special edition. As the Range Rover had changed so much in twenty years, from 2-door utility vehicle to luxury 4-door, the CSK was a way to combine these two ethos in one special car, the first limited-and-numbered Range Rover ever built.
The name CSK is a tribute to Charles Spencer King, the lead designer of the original Range Rover in the late 1960s. They were built to a very high specification, drawing their fittings from high-trim British models and the heavily-equipped American models. They featured the anti-roll bars that were introduced in the early 1990s, which made the truck massively more comfortable on the road.
They were painted in Beluga Black, with tan leather interiors. They were available with manual or automatic transmissions, five spoke wheels similar to 1993 Range Rover County LWBs, and American Walnut wood trim. All vehicles featured the Range Rover ABS system which was introduced in the late 1980s.
These were the first Range Rovers built with an eye towards performance and road handling, the beginning of a lineage that leads to today’s super-powerful SVR variants. In fact, a CSK was featured at the launch of the Range Rover Sport in 2005 because of these.
There were only 200 CSKs built, and during the low point of Range Rover Classic values in the late 1990s and 2000s, a good number fell off the road. With the world rediscovering the magic of the Classic, the values of the CSK have climbed massively, especially the very few mint trucks left.
If you want your own CSK, there’s an excellent example currently available from Land Rover Classic – Land Rover’s in-house vintage truck restoration department. This particular example, number 34, is currently owned by Nick Dimbleby, Land Rover’s long-time company photographer. He’s owned it for a decade, including a full rebuild in the early 2010s. It’s been loved since and was featured in the Land Rover celebration parades at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the company’s 70th anniversary in 2018 and Range Rover’s 50th in 2020. The listing can be viewed here.
If you’re interested, the vehicle should be fully importable to America, and all it takes is a call to Land Rover Classic in the UK – and some money commensurate with this incredibly rebuilt and special truck – to arrange to bring it home.
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