DIFFLOCKEDTHE REGISTRY NAMED MODEL · 1950
NAMED MODELSpecial · Expedition & CampersUnited Kingdom

Pollyanna — Barbara Toy's Series I

Pollyanna, Barbara Toy's 1950 Series I 80-inch KYH 628, in which she drove alone from Tangier to Baghdad in 1950 and then became the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a Land Rover — shown by Land Rover Classic in its 75-year expedition-vehicle display at Pebble Beach.

Drive it in the gameSources & evidence
Pollyanna — Barbara Toy's Series I — front three-quarter render
BASE VEHICLESeries I 80″BUILT BYLand Rover (Series I 80-inch)IN SERVICE1950OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTION1LAYOUT4 wheels · 80″

The record

Barbara Toy, an Australian-born London theatre manager and writer, bought a new Series I 80-inch in 1950, named it Pollyanna and set off alone across North Africa and the Middle East from Tangier to Baghdad — the journey of her first book, A Fool on Wheels. Over the following years she drove Pollyanna through the Sahara, the Middle East and Asia, and with the later legs of her travels became the first person to drive round the world in a Land Rover, writing A Fool Strikes Oil, Columbus Was Right and other books along the way. Land Rover Classic included Pollyanna, still registered KYH 628, in the 75-year history of expedition Land Rovers it curated for the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, whose page reproduces the period photograph of Barbara Toy beside the loaded car.

The registry's model is a Series I 80 hard top in green with a roof rack of rolled tents, bedrolls and cases that drops as cargo in the game, and KYH 628 plates.

Specification

MANUFACTURERLand Rover (Series I 80-inch)
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERBarbara Toy (expedition fit and roof rack)
MANUFACTUREDBuilt 1950; Tangier–Baghdad 1950
ENGINERover 1.6 L four-cylinder petrol
PRODUCTION RUN1
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSpreserved
REGISTRATIONKYH 628
JOURNEYSTangier to Baghdad 1950; first Land Rover circumnavigation
BOOKSA Fool on Wheels; A Fool Strikes Oil; Columbus Was Right
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries I
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE80″
CATEGORYSpecial · Expedition & Campers

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Sources

  1. 1Land Rover Classic curates a 75-year history of great expedition vehicles ↗Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance · accessed 2026-09-11SOURCE
  2. 2https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/cars/land-rover-classic-curates-a-75-year-history-of-great-expedition-vehicles/https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/cars/land-rover-classic-curates-a-75-year-history-of-great-expedition-vehicles/ ↗REFERENCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-11T15:21:52.655Z · status: researched