Queen Elizabeth II is usually driven around in an elegant Bentley limousine, yet a 1978 Series III Land Rover built especially for her has sold as part of an auction at the historic Brooklands Museum in Surrey, UK.
 The car's traffic light buttons allowed the queen to send commands to the driver |
The car was consigned to the sale by the Ministry of Defence, who had recently been granted royal permission to sell it. It was auctioned on November 24 for an impressive £28,380 ($47,470), rising above its £15,000-18,000 estimate by 57.6%.
The 1978 Series III - dubbed the Royal Review State V - was first assigned for the Queen's usage in 1979, after being modified at REME Central Workshops in Donnington. Here it was fitted with a traffic light command system in the rear, featuring stop, slow and start buttons, allowing the queen to signal to the driver, as well as retractable steps that would enable her to alight with suitable grace.
The Series III Land Rover is the most common model, with more than 440,000 examples built from 1971 to 1985. This unique model offered a fantastic opportunity for collectors of the British marque, with just 1,872 miles on the clock since new.
Land Rovers were also favoured by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose Series I model sold for £129,000 ($206,933) in October this year. See our top five most collectible royal cars for more of the most memorable sales of regal rides.
Paul Fraser Collectibles has a superb range of royal memorabilia currently available, including autographed Christmas cards from Queen Elizabeth II as well as Princess Diana and Prince Charles.
