Range Rover Creator Charles Spencer "Spen" King Dead at 85

British Automotive Legend Dies After Tragic Bicycle Accident

Words by Bill Baker

The Range Rover was first introduced to the world 40 years ago this month. The man most responsible for its development, Charles Spencer "Spen" King, died June 26th after a tragic freak accident in which the bicycle he was riding collided with a delivery van within sight of his home in the bucolic village of Cubbington, England.

Photo Credit: British Motor Industry Heritage Trust

If you're wondering why a man of 85 would be jumping on a bicycle, well then you didn't know Spen. He was a very fit, inquisitive, energetic engineer who refused to let the years slow him down.

Whether driving his Golf GTi hell‑bent‑for‑leather around Warwickshire lanes, racing his sloop Berhoo around the Isle of Wight, designing a boat that would walk itself out of the water and onto the shore or riding his "pushbike" as they call a bicycle in England, Spen was always on the go.

I first met Spen and his late wife Moyra in 1990 when they agreed to come to the U.S. to help observe the 20th anniversary of his original first Range Rover. I was the Public Relations Chief for Range Rover of North America as the company was then known, so it was my job to figure out how to keep the Range Rover legend alive despite the vehicle having been relatively unchanged in the 20 years since Spen and designer David Bache created it.

By 1990, the Range Rover had only been in North America for three years, but we had no new version to talk about, so we decided that an anniversary would provide a good excuse to make some news. Spen was not very keen on public speaking, but he made the rounds of the various automotive enthusiast magazines while Moyra made sure that, well, Spen made the rounds of the various automotive enthusiast magazines.

You see, Spen could create wonderful suspensions, turbine powered race cars and form aluminum ‑ excuse me ‑ aluminium ‑ into car bodies (he was a world authority on that science) but he needed Moyra's organization of the daily minutiae of living to allow him to free up his mind for matters weightier than cooking, check writing and shopping for oatmeal.

Despite his distaste for public speaking, Spen seemed to enjoy all the attention and took justifiable pride at how well the Range Rover was being received in the Colonies. After all, it was originally envisioned as a U.S. market entry when it was being developed in the UK in the late 60's, but was never introduced here despite being a favourite with Lords, sheiks and jet setters in the UK, the Continent and the Middle East.

Some 16 years after it debuted, it was decided that Range Rover was ready for America. Or maybe it was the other way around. The sport utility market was really taking off, but there weren't many four‑door SUVs available, much less any from Europe. It was time to create the "luxury sport utility vehicle" segment and bring Range Rover to the U.S. under the banner: "Today the World, Tomorrow America."

Spen loved to tell stories about how the Range Rover was developed. I asked about the name itself and he told me that one of the designers around the "Styling Department," the late Tony Poole, came up with "Range Rover." That bit of alliteration became one of the great brand‑name masterstrokes in history. The vehicle itself was one of the 25 finalists in the Car of the Century competition a few years back and Spen King was one of the top 25 automotive engineers of the century.

Photo Credit: British Motor Industry Heritage Trust

On my last visit with him in England, Spen and I drove over to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust Museum not far from his home. We looked in on the first production Range Rover, a vehicle Spen and I drove in the FIVA 100th Anniversary of the Automobile UK rally in 1996. It was displayed among several other Spen King creations ‑ from turbine powered racers to experimental safety cars and Triumph sports cars.

Listening to his stories about those early days in the company gave me a special appreciation of the impact the Range Rover has had over the years ‑ especially because it had a paltry development budget by auto industry standards.

After Spen's 1990 visit to the U.S., he returned several times to serve as Grand Marshall for the Range Rover 24 Hours of Aspen charity ski race. Even in his 70s, Spen could ski the pants off any of us as we tried to keep up. He had an interesting technique, go straight down and go fast.

He drove the same way, which I came to learn during a trip to Moab, Utah last year. When driving off‑road, there's a rule that you drive as slow as possible, as fast as necessary. In Moab, going slow over huge rocks and boulders was pretty essential in order to preserve the body of the 2009 Range Rover we were driving ‑ not to mention my body. But Spen would have none of it, applying his engineer's foot to the throttle to see how well the suspension could handle the jolts. He pushed the limits of the rule "as fast as necessary."

Spen King at the wheel of a 2008 Range Rover in Colorado in 2009

Perhaps my fondest memory of Spen was riding with him in an early North American specification Range Rover around the twisty, hedgerow lined lanes in Warwickshire. I was discussing the way the suspension worked when suddenly it dawned on me that I was learning from the man who invented it! It was as if I was getting painting tips from Michelangelo.

For more on Spen King's life logon to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Spencer_King.