THIS BATTERED old 1977 Land Rover Series III has quite a history, as it was the ‘tour bus’ for Bob Marley and the Wailers and used to carry Bob and his group to gigs around Jamaica. Since Marley’s death in 1981, it has been sitting, neglected at 56 Hope Road, Kingston, Jamaica at the reggae star’s original home, now turned museum. Now, thanks to the support from major hotel and holiday company Sandals Resorts International, the Land Rover is off to get a full ground up restoration. The work will be completed by ATL Automotive a Land Rover specialist in Jamaica and sister company to Sandals. As you read this, the dismantling of the vehicle has been completed and you can see this on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyfTM-B2jo8&feature=youtu.be). ATL wants to source a replacement engine and is looking for a suitable ‘Africa-based military’ vehicle, since Bob’s original engine is said to have come from Ethiopia.
This is a family project led by Bob’s son Julian: “I have always loved my father’s Land Rover and I remember driving in it from where my family lived, to nearby Hope Road and from Kingston to Nine Miles, St Ann (in North Eastern Jamaica) where my father was born. I love what the team at ATL is doing and would love to take the refurbished Land Rover for a test drive when it returns home”.
Marley’s first born daughter, fashion designer Cedella, recently credited worldwide for designing the Jamaican Olympic Team uniform worn by record-breaking athletes Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake at the London Olympics last year, will personally design and upholster the Land Rover’s three-seat bench. You can imagine that Usain is likely to be one Jamaican who will be keen to see the result. The project should be finished in the next month or so and will then be displayed at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston. Great story, but somehow, it’s hard not to think that perhaps it would have been better to leave it as it was, revelling that those globally famous reggae beats are somehow ingrained in its battered bodywork…
