NAMED MODELSpecial · Expedition & CampersUnited Kingdom
Grizzly Torque.
'Grizzly Torque', the custom-built 1957 Land Rover Series I 107-inch in which Canadian biologist Bristol Foster and artist Robert Bateman drove for 14 months through 19 countries on four continents, painting, filming and collecting specimens as they went — rediscovered in British Columbia and restored, and shown at Pebble Beach in 2025.
BASE VEHICLESeries IBUILT BYRover Company (Series I 107); coachbuilt expedition body by an unrecorded builderIN SERVICE1957OPERATED INCanada, United Kingdom, IndiaPRODUCTION1LAYOUT4 wheels · 107″
The record
In the 1950s two young Canadians set out on an extraordinary journey around the world. The expedition was the vision of Bristol Foster, a biologist and ecologist, who invited his friend Robert Bateman, the artist and naturalist, to join him; together they mapped a route through some of the remotest terrain on Earth. To make it possible they commissioned a custom-built Land Rover Series I 107-inch with coachbuilt station-wagon bodywork, which they nicknamed Grizzly Torque. Over the next 14 months they travelled through 19 countries across four continents, painting, filming and photographing the people and wildlife they met and collecting specimens; the countries and a frieze of Bateman's animal paintings still run along the body sides, with GIN & and TONIC on the two jerrycans flanking the grille and WAC 337 on the plate. After the pair returned to Canada the vehicle was sold and disappeared from view until it was rediscovered in British Columbia; once its history came to light the new owner began an extensive restoration, and Land Rover Classic showed it in its 75-year history of expedition vehicles at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours.
The registry's model puts its Lomas-style coachbuilt body on a Series I front, with the roof lettering, animal frieze, front jerrycans, bonnet spare and plate from the photograph.
Specification
MANUFACTURERRover Company (Series I 107); coachbuilt expedition body by an unrecorded builder
ENGINERover 2.0 L four-cylinder petrol (Series I 107 of 1957)
PRODUCTION RUN1
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INCanada, United Kingdom, India, Kenya
STATUSpreserved
REGISTRATIONWAC 337
EXPEDITION14 months, 19 countries, four continents (Foster-Bateman expedition, late 1950s)
CREWBristol Foster and Robert Bateman
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries I
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE107″
CATEGORYSpecial · Expedition & Campers
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Imagery
AI rendering impressionAI rendering, not a real photo
Where it was
CA Canada1957–2026 · 14-month world expedition 1957–58; rediscovered and restored in British Columbia
BuiltRover Company, Lode Lane, SolihullUnited Kingdom · 195752.43, -1.78
ExpeditionNairobiKenya · 1957–1958African leg of the Foster–Bateman expedition-1.29, 36.82