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That short slogon (also recently adapted to THE BEST 4X4X50, to commemerate its 50 anerversary) sums it all up. There is only one contender when you are talking about 4x4's - LAND ROVER.
I have made this page for fellow Land Rover fans who, like myself, are 'new-comers' and want to find out more about the company's history. It will tell you the marques history, and maybe future if I can find any information!!!, including help on how to identify each different model (Series 1, 2, 2a & 3 for example).
| BEGINNING- | -HISTORY- | -MODELS |
Land Rover's are made by The Rover Group in Land Rover's own factory at Solihul, in Birmingham, England.
Rover manufactured cars for the 'professional' classes before the First World War, but when the war ended in 1945, the British Government wanted all manufacturers to export their goods rather than making them all for the home market, to try and rebuild Britain's economy. But Rover had no new car designs to put into production, and their pre-war models were showing their age. The Government had also rationed steel supplies, and the better your export success, the more steel your company was allocated. So Rover had to do something if it wanted to get the materials to build cars with.
Maurice Wilks, Rover's engineering chief, had noticed that ex-MOD Jeeps were much sought after by farmers and for industrial use, and people were paying high prices for them. So the design engineers were told to design a similar vehicle to sell to farmers, etc. They had to use current Rover parts wherever they could, and to use easily made parts where no others were suitable. This was to save time and money.
The very first Land-Rover prototype first appeared in September, 1947. This first prototype was a 'mule', built on a Jeep chassis, with a Rover car engine and gearbox. It was designed by Rover, and as it was mainly built for export, it was designed with the steering wheel in the center. This would have saved them money, as it wouldn't have required separate left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive forms. But this design proved to be impractical in testing so it was scrapped, almost imediately, probably in early spring, 1948. The design had then changed and pilot-production models were starting to be made at this time.
The first Land-Rover was shown to the public in Amsterdam at their Motor Show in April 1948. The first batch of production vehicles came of the production lines in Solihul in the July of 1948.
Luckily for Rover the were immediately an export success, and even though Rover only intended it to be made for a couple of years, so they could get sheet steel for their car development, it is still going strong more than 50 years later. By 1950, Land-Rover's were out-selling Rover's saloon cars, and business had taken on a life of its own! Although they both shared the same mechanical parts, the two sides of the Rover Company grew further and further apart.
By about the 1970's, Rover's car division was making huge losses, and the Rover Company was taken over by British Leyland in 1968, which became state owned in 1975. In 1978 Land-Rover, as part of British Leyland, became its own operating division within the company, and was now called 'Land Rover Ltd' (no hyphen). By this time, Land Rover was suffering from a lack of investment from British Leyland, and they had no new models to compete with their Japanese rivals, so their export success was slipping.
But in the early 1980's Land Rover started to recover and by 1986 the British Government was planning to sell the company as a going concern. However, when the British public heard that it was going to be sold to a foreign company the plans were aborted. So Land Rover Ltd stayed as part of the Rover Group, even when the company was sold to British Aerospace in 1989. It has stayed in the Rover Group ever since, and is still thriving at the Lode Lane factory.
The original Land-Rover, the Series 1, came in 1948. During its lifetime (until 1958) it went through many changes, mainly under the bonnet. It also had the wheelbases increased, among other alterations.
The Series 2 followed the Series 1 (suprise, suprise!!) in 1958, with a restyled body. This also had a new engine. The Series 2 didn't last for long, as it was replaced with the Series 2A in 1961. This was virtually the same, but with yet another new engine, this time the bigger 2.25 litre diesel.
Introduced in 1971 was the Series 3. These featured more improvements, such as an all-synchromesh. The range of body styles and options for these cars was almost endless.
1983 saw the end of the Series Land-Rovers and the beginning of the 'new' Land Rovers, the Ninety and One Ten. These were noticably different, but the most important change was the introduction of coil-spring suspension which gave a much better ride than the earlier leaf-spring type. A new, 127 inch wheelbase was made available. Again the engines were also greatly changed.
The names were changed in 1990 from 90, 110 and 127 to Defender 90, Defender 110 and Defender 130 (the wheelbase was still 127 inches, though), and they were given new intercooled, direct-injection turbodiesel engines.
The Range Rover, the first all-new Land-Rover since the original one was launched, came in 1970. It was designed to compete with the the newer models that were coming over from Japan. It was aimed more at the car market, as it was much more refined than the Series Land-Rover. It remained almost unchanged for 25 years, when it was updatd with the new Range Rover. This is much more luxurious than the 'classic' Range Rover, as it is now known.
Another completely new model to come from Solihul was the Discovery. It was launched in 1989 as a family offroader, as Land Rover tried to push the Range Rover up to the more luxurious end of the market.
The newest, the last, but by no means the least, is the Freelander. This was launched in early 1998. It was to compete with the likes of the Toyota RAV4 and the Suzuki Vitara, in the 'fun' 4x4 sector. Some say that it isn't a proper Land Rover. It doesn't even have a low ratio!!!
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