In 1955, six students , one from Oxford and five from Cambridge , drove two Mk 1 Land Rovers in convoy from London to Singapore. It was the idea of a Cambridge undergraduate, Adrian Cowell, one of the eventual team. The Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition , First Overland - as it became known - set off from London, first stop Vienna. Their route then took them through Belgrade to Salonika; then through Turkey, Persia (now Iran), Iraq, Pakistan, India, Burma and then on to Thailand, Malaysia and finally to Singapore, arriving there in 1956.
The Land Rover was relatively new at the time, having been launched in 1948 as the first rough all terrain vehicle on the market, It was to become the workhorse of the era and the most suitable, if not the only vehicle, capable of undertaking such a challenge.
This set of two Series 1 Land Rovers recalls the legendary expedition in authentic miniature, down to the roof racks and tarpaulin-covered equipment and supplies. In the appropriate colours of light blue (Cambridge University) and the dark blue (Oxford University), the models feature a list of the countries the adventurers drove through , each model shows them in a different order. The decoration also includes the sponsors of the day who made the journey possible.
Scale
1:43 scale means that this is 43 times smaller than the full sized vehicle(s)
For a much more detailed explanation of scale and the history please follow .