Overfinch turns 50, looks to bright future

Land Rover's original tuner says its forthcoming Range Rover restomod might be the 'most expensive ever sold'

It’s fair to say that Overfinch has enjoyed plenty of ups and downs in the last half-century. It’s also fair to say that it was ahead of its time when it opened its gates as Shuler Presses back in 1975. While traditional coachbuilding is almost as old as the car itself - a background that more than one British tuner can trace its heritage back to - not many started life with the intention of improving the output of a single OEM. But that was Arthur Silverton’s plan from the start, a chap that some have credited with kickstarting the concept of the fast SUV almost single-handedly.

Certainly by 1985, when the firm’s name was changed to Overfinch, it had become the go-to modifier of Range Rovers, typically installing a 5.7-litre GM V8. It sustained its reputation throughout the ‘90s and early ‘00s, but the introduction of the Range Rover Sport in 2005 (itself late to the Porsche Cayenne’s party) signalled the arrival of serious manufacturer muscle. By 2010, Overfinch went into administration, and though it was saved by its largest retailer, the output (and customer interest in it) dwindled as it sought ways to distinguish itself in a suddenly overcrowded market.

Happily, it seems to have returned to health in recent years - its resurgence partly underwritten by the Heritage Classic side of the business, which includes the 6.2-litre V8-powered Range Rover Classic Field Edition we tested back in 2022. Overfinch’s boss told us at the time that the order book had a healthy glow to it (not least thanks to the restored Defenders it was shifting in North America) and he remains buoyant about the brand’s prospects three years later.

“As proud custodians of the Overfinch brand for the past two decades, we are delighted to mark 50 years as the original customisers of the world’s most iconic SUVs,” he commented. “As we enter the last quarter of 2025, we report stellar business performance and growth for the last financial year. We’ve achieved healthy profits and continue to invest in product development, in our Heritage business and in developing international sales channels in key regions such as North America and the Middle East.”

In fact, Overfinch has this year opened an all-new showroom in Abu Dhabi, which says a good deal about where the money is coming from. Accordingly, its forthcoming output has a certain ring to it: last year, it signed a five-year partnership deal with gunmaker Holland & Holland, and reckons its first branded special edition will be ‘the most luxuriously enhanced Range Rover ever built’. Which is quite some boast given the lengths that Land Rover is currently going to…

The reveal of the car is set for later this year, alongside the introduction of a new Overfinch Defender. But the loudest splash - certainly from a PH point of view - will likely be made in 2026, when the Heritage side of the business promises nothing less than ‘the most valuable Range Rover by Overfinch to date, if not the most expensive ever sold’. On the basis that the Field Edition we drove retailed at £340k, you can see how the firm arrived at that statement, though it declines to specify which of ‘the most collectible of classic examples’ it has targeted. Too much to hope for the V12-powered P38 that Land Rover declined to build? Probably.

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