MAN CAVE
Richard’s museum displays Land Rovers from
a multitude of disciplines across the years.
FOR THE LOVE OF
THE LAND…ROVER
“To be able to get one, you had to know
someone that was able to get one in.”
Richard says he believes ‘Goldie’ is the first
new Land Rover bought in Marlborough.
“All the car makers aspire in this sort of SUV
thing, to tackle the Range Rover,” he says.
STORY: MATT BROWN
N
estled in a valley down a winding
metaled lane, cows, sheep and
the husks of old Land Rovers surround a
massive green shed.
Inside the unassuming building, a shrine
to the 4WD icon – Land Rovers, Range
Rovers, military vehicles, fire engines
and campers – the history of the British
vehicle manufacturer is told with loving
detail.
The rural setting is the home to what
a Marlborough farmer hopes will soon
be a museum dedicated to the classic
workhorse.
A V8 broke a rod, and Marlborough
farmer and Land Rover enthusiast Richard
Paterson is taking one of his 60 Land
Rovers to get a new motor.
His infatuation with collecting the versatile
machines began about 1970, he reckons,
when he made a model of the SUV out of
a Weet Bix packet – a model now in his
extensive collection.
22
September 2019
“I’ve actually been restoring it at the
moment and I’m really amazed at what
I managed to do at the age of 10 or 11,”
Richard says.
“It’s pretty intricate.”
Growing up in the outer Sounds, Richard
has been driving Land Rover’s since he
could reach the pedals.
His family worked building roads in the
remote hills and bays of the Marlborough
Sounds.
“Dad and my two uncles were responsible
for getting the road from Kenepuru to
Titirangi,” he says.
“The Cayennes and VW’s – that’s what
they’re all aiming for. They led the world
and still do, basically.”
While Richard grew up in the Marlborough
Sounds, he has lived in Hawkes Bay at his
family sheep and beef farm for most of his
adult life.
“I farmed bulls up there,” he says. “I had
1400 bulls on 850-odd hectares.”
He sold the “whole shebang”, the farm
that had been in the family since 1859
and moved back to Marlborough at the
beginning of 2018.
Richard says the museum is in recognition
“We had this Land Rover but the wives said of what Land Rover did for the development
of the country, “back in the old days”.
it was too hard riding and they didn’t want
to go to town in that thing, so it got traded.” “I had a collection in Hawkes Bay in the
farm up there, I’ve sort of added to it and
It was traded for a Land Rover, nicknamed
had them all scattered around.
Goldie, that Richard’s dad bought brand
new.
It remains one of his favourite vehicles in
his extensive collection. “Land Rovers and the bull dozers working
together, that’s what a lot of people did, and
it sort of stemmed from there.
“If you bought one back then, it was like a
Rolls Royce or better, they were the bees’
knees. The extensive collection features
ambulances, fire trucks and military vehicles
– Land Rovers one and all.