The record
In September 1955 six students from Oxford and Cambridge universities left London in two new Series I 86" Station Wagons, aiming to complete the first overland drive to Singapore. The cars were named 'Oxford' (SNX 891) and 'Cambridge' (SNX 761) and painted in the universities' colours - Oxford the darker blue. Six months and six days later, on 6 March 1956, the expedition reached Singapore after more than 18,000 miles through Europe, the Middle East, India, Burma and Malaya. A young BBC producer named David Attenborough had staked film stock on the venture, which became three BBC 'Traveller's Tales' films, and team member Tim Slessor's 1957 book First Overland made the journey - and the Land Rovers - famous.
After the expedition both cars went back to the Rover Company and worked as promotional vehicles until the Series II arrived in 1958. Oxford was then loaned to the British Ornithologists' Union for its centenary seabird expedition on Ascension Island, and was afterwards passed to the driver of the island's Cable & Wireless water bowser, who eventually took it home to St Helena. There it was gradually cannibalised for spares for a later 88" Land Rover, and parts of the body and chassis were bulldozed into a hillside during road building.
In 2017 York businessman Adam Bennett persuaded the owner of the remains to part with them in exchange for a refurbished Defender shipped to the island. Every identifiable piece was containered back to York, where Tim Slessor confirmed the car's identity, and with Black Paw 4x4 Bennett reconstructed SNX 891 - a few unrepairable parts, including the chassis, were replaced, but most of the original car was reassembled and deliberately left in the weathered condition in which it left St Helena. The DVLA reinstated its original registration and it passed its MoT at the first attempt.
From August to December 2019 Oxford was driven the 19,000 km from Singapore back to London on the 'Last Overland', conceived with Tim Slessor - who fell ill just before departure and was represented by his grandson Nat George - and led by Alex Bescoby. Since then the car has kept working as an 'in use' vehicle: a Round-America tour with the Rover Owners Association of Virginia from 2020, tours of New Zealand and Australia, and a place in the 'Great Expeditions' Land Rover class at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. ROAV describes Adam Bennett as its continuing owner, though the Last Overland team describe the car as having been gifted to the expedition; no single permanent museum home is documented.
