The iconic Range Rover Classic gets the Twisted treatment: meet the TRRC

Twisted Automotive came to fame with its radical reworkings of the classic Land Rover Defender, transforming its agrarian character into a true off-road performance machine. While the Yorkshire-based company has also dabbled in marine products, as well as the fabulous Beetle-based T-Bug, it’s retained a focus on Land Rover. Up until now.

This is the new TRRC, the company’s first foray into rethinking the first-generation Range Rover. Twisted is far from the first company to revisit the crisply folded lines of this pioneering luxury SUV. In recent years, we’ve had a stylish restomod from Italian company Vinile, another variation on the theme, the Kingsley Re-Engineered KSR, as well as electrified versions by Inverted and Everatti.

So what sets the Twisted TRRC apart? For a start, the company – founded by Charles Fawcett in 2000 – has always been first and foremost about petrol-powered performance, adding unexpected levels of handling ability to cars that weren’t always renowned for their dynamic prowess. The TRRC continues this tradition.

Twisted will create just 12 examples of the TRRC a year, each one hand-built to an exacting customer specification (with 2026’s allocation already sold out). This is not just a simple restoration, but a thorough reinterpretation of the original two-door version of the Range Rover (as it was at launch, in 1970, until 1981).

All bodywork is made from hammer-formed aluminium while power comes courtesy of a GM LT1 V8, the engine found in recent Corvette and Camaro models. Uprated to put out 500hp and paired with an eight-speed auto box, the TRRC’s handling has been tuned to provide a stable but supple platform that doesn’t detract from the Range Rover’s characteristically comfortable ride.

Stylistically, the new bodywork brings together a number of iconic Range Rover elements, from the stark simplicity of the 1970s front bumper to the imperious 1990s-style grille and headlights. Inside, the seating position is slightly lowered, while seats and dash feature premium leather and carpet with added contemporary conveniences like heated seats and uprated infotainment. New sealing and soundproofing add to the luxurious feel.

For Fawcett, the TRRC is an exercise in nostalgia as well as engineering innovation. ‘When I think back to the 1980s, my father always seemed to have a two-door Range Rover, and there was one particular one that stood out,’ he recalls. ‘It was terracotta brown with fibreglass extended wheel arches and white Weller eight-spoke wheels shod with General Grabber road-oriented tyres. On the front, he’d fabricated a valance out of an MGB GT front spoiler. To me, it was just iconic.’

Twisted TRRC, from £350,000, Twisted Automotive, TwistedAutomotive.com, @Twisted_Automotive