I grew up in the back of my father's 1995 Range Rover Classic LWB, camping and offroading with my family before I could walk. My mom drove a Classic. My dad drove a Classic. My brother's first car was a project Classic. By the time I was old enough to want my own, there was never really a question.
On my 15th birthday, I found a 91 bronze Range Rover Classic on Craigslist for 900 dollars. That was the beginning. Three years later, I took in a free green Range Rover Classic that was rotting away. Both trucks had lived a hard Minnesota life: rust in all the normal spots, sills gone, the rear cross member gone, front floorboards gone, holes everywhere in the inner fenders. They were broken and leaking every fluid, but they never stopped running and driving through all four seasons.
What started as fixing trucks with my dad and brother turned into welding, then fabrication, then an engineering degree. Along the way I started building custom parts for our family's whole fleet. Now it is time to share that with the world: a place where someone actually designs for the Range Rover Classic, not a universal fit borrowed from a Defender or a Discovery. Something built for the Classic, still the best Range Rover ever made.
I have wanted to do this since 2021, but the website, the products, the name, all of it, has lived in the back of my mind since 2024. Manatees are unique. They're graceful. They're slow. They swim in groups. That's everything I love about the Range Rover Classic. You almost never see one on the road anymore. It drives wonderfully, when it wants to, and it looks just as at home parked in the woods as it does parked in the city. It's slow, by today's standards, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
I've been a member of the Minnesota Land Rover Club since before I can remember, and some of my best memories come from that club. Everything I grew up loving about the Classic, the pace of it, the character of it, the way it moves through the world, reminds me of a manatee. That's Manatee Rovers Co.
