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The Land Rover is a vehicle built for adventure, so tied to a sense of exploration that it has come to embody a pioneering spirit around the world. The first vehicle to make the overland trip from London to Singapore? A Land Rover. The first to make a land crossing of the Darien Gap? A Land Rover. The star of the Camel Trophy endurance race? You guessed it: the Land Rover.

And, it appears, the Land Rover's reputation only continues to grow. At 61 years and counting, the tales of its legendary durability grow taller with each passing decade. Stories abound of adventurers, stranded somewhere in the wildest parts of who-knows-where, stumbling across an abandoned Land Rover covered in sand or dirt or vines (depending on the particular who-knows-where) and, with a little tinkering, firing it up and driving it away to safety.

It has been said that that 70 per cent of Series Land Rovers ever made are still in use. It may be a statement that stretches the limits of credibility, but I'm a believer. A year ago, we hauled home a 1964 Series II that had been retired to somebody's front yard. Since the last time it had been driven, it had spent the better part of a decade outside being alternately blasted by Eastern Ontario's harsh winters and baked by its blazing summers. The tires were low, the paint was faded, and there was moss growing on the seats, but all it took was a new battery and she fired up on the first turn of the key.

The first Land Rover emerged in the late 1940s, the Rover Motor Company's response to British demand for a utilitarian, agricultural-use vehicle -- something like a tractor, but more versatile. The idea is credited to Rover technical chief Maurice Wilks, who had been using a Willys Jeep on his own farm and, the story goes, was looking for a replacement. From the very start, Land Rovers were built to a design brief that combined a sense of comfort with true off-road capabilities.

What emerged at the Amsterdam Motor show in 1948, was a sturdy prototype. It featured the aluminum bodywork that reflected the rationing and steel shortages of the post-war era — and that explains why so many are still around -- and was decked out in surplus paint purchased from a fighter-plane factory. A truly utilitarian vehicle, the steering wheel was mounted in the middle -- like a tractor.

The farming influence was softened somewhat for the production line, with the steering wheel moved off to the side, but buyers needed look no further than the list of extras for confirmation that the four-by-four was built to a minimalist standard: even a roof was optional.

Initially, Rover had limited plans for the vehicle, planning to bring it to market for just a few years before phasing it out in favour of their luxury car models. Hardly temporary, it endures some six decades later.

In addition to public use, the vehicles have served in many other capacities. The British military began using them in 1949, and they later became standard light military vehicles throughout the Commonwealth.

Throughout the 1950s, Land Rover continued to evolve what has become known as the Series I, making tweaks in chassis size and drivetrain enhancements. In 1958 came the Series II, which featured some tweaks to the body style and a significant evolution under the hood from the 1.6-litre to the 2.25-litre gas-powered engine. It is the Series II and the later IIa variant — produced until the early 1970s -- that springs to mind for many people when they think of Land Rover.

The introduction of the Series III in 1971 is said to have ignited controversy among ranchers in Australia. It wasn't the headlights, which had begun a migration to the fenders with the later Series IIA models. Nor was it the increased compression ratio in the engine. No, Australian ranchers a apparently objected to the introduction of a plastic radiator grille. The complaint reflected the hardiness of the Land Rover's key consumer group: plastic was inferior to the metal grille because it could no longer serve for cooking outback meals over the fire.

Built until 1985, the Series III is the most common of the Series vehicles and the one that saw the most changes through its lifespan. Later models featured such relative luxuries as synchromesh on all four gears and molded plastic dashboards. In 1976, the millionth Land Rover rolled off the production line.

Since its inception Land Rover has had periods of dominance over four-by-four markets virtually the world over. In 1960s Australia, it held 90 per cent of the market.

Buyers can still get a new Land Rover, but purists will tell you they'll never be what they were during the first half of their production. Perfectly rugged and mechanically simple, they were truly a go-anywhere vehicle. No matter what you did to it, or where you took it, there it was like a faithful hound dog, waiting to escort you home.