Rover Land Rover

By Jack Nerad

Often the best-laid plans of men go awry, but sometimes plans that were conceived as no more than stop-gap measures work far better than their planners expect. Such was the case with the Land Rover.

Britain in 1946 was still feeling the devastating effects of World War II. Its industries were in shambles; its supplies of raw materials drained; and its forward progress at a standstill. To survive and prosper, Britain's car companies were forced to make do with what little they had available. In that spirit, Rover Managing Director Maurice Wilks looked at the U.S. Army surplus Jeep he had just acquired and said to himself, "We need to build something like this, only better." He envisioned a growing market for such a vehicle, both in Britain and in export markets around the world.

It was relatively easy for him to get his request to the Rover engineering department since the chief designer was his younger brother, Spencer. The goal was to build an interim vehicle that would help the company get through the first, very tough post-war years. Over the following18 months or so, the younger Wilks designed and built several working prototypes of a rugged, go-anywhere four-wheel-drive vehicle, the first of them on a Jeep chassis.

Two key design parameters were strength and simplicity. The former was obvious, the second not just a goal but a necessity. The war had taken a huge toll on Britain's stock of machine tools and investment capital was scarce, so Rover engineers were forced to use relatively rudimentary production techniques. Instead of creating special dies to shape fenders and body panels, for example, they designed pieces that could be fashioned by simple bending. For that same reason, sheet aluminum was chosen as the body panel material.

Similar tactics were used on the frame construction. Since Rover simply lacked the resources to stamp large, U-shaped frame rails, the designers decided to fabricate even larger "box" frame side members from sheet steel. The result was a ladder-style frame with impressive strength and rigidity.

For the drivetrain, Wilks' crew had little choice but to use the engine, gearbox and rear axle from an existing Rover model. He chose components from the P3, including its 1.6-liter four cylinder that produced about 40 horsepower. To drive all four wheels, Wilks team used the expedient of installing a front axle much like the rear with included differential. Both axles were suspended by semi-elliptical leaf springs and damped by tubular shock absorbers.

A transfer case shifted the vehicle from low range to high, but the original Land Rovers were full-time four-wheel-drive vehicles. For particularly treacherous terrain, the front differential/free-wheeling mechanism could be locked from the cockpit via a pull-ring.

If the original Land Rover's drive system was inelegant, it certainly proved to be rugged. With a stiff chassis and exceptionally sturdy cowl structure, it was a vehicle that could -- and did -- take on almost anything. When it was introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show on April 30, 1948, the Land Rover proved to be a solid success. It seemed well-suited to the intense demands of war-torn Europe, and it quickly became a favorite vehicle in the widespread European colonies in Africa and Asia.

Interestingly, from the beginning its rudimentary, slab-sided styling was not questioned by potential buyers, because it seemed well-suited to its intended use. Further, its aluminum body panels, installed by necessity, proved to be a major positive for the vehicle. The panels didn Next Greatest Car>>