Land Rover Series One Review...and OFF ROADING!

Many thanks to Chris from Lakeland Motor Museum, for lending me this superb bit of kit! If you've not been to the museum before, give them a look: https://www.lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk

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Series 1 Land Rover

1948 was a really exciting year for automotive and many cars we now consider real classics and game changers like the 2CV, the Morris Minor, Jaguar XK120 and the Porsche 356 all launched at motor shows across the world, but perhaps one of the most important vehicles to come to market in 1948, was the Series One Land Rover.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing in the world of automotive in the 1940s and 50s.

To truly understand the context and how the Series Landy came into existence, it’s worth giving you a bit of historical context. Before the Second World War, Rover had been an independent manufacturer based in Coventry, with vehicles aimed at the middle and upper classes. The pre war Rover we did last year really shows this off perfectly.

During the war, many big manufacturers were forced to give up factories for war effort and Rover was not immune to this and in addition to this, a shadow factory was established in Solihull approximately 14 miles from Coventry.

Coventry was one of the most badly hit cities during the war and in 1940 there were 198 tons of bombs which fell onto the city and of these attacks, one destroyed the Rover factory and all production moved to Solihull.

Cut to the end of the war, Rover is in a very different place to 1939. Old models are outdated and raw materials are in thin supply. The company decide it’s time to do things differently and Rover’s managing director decided to create a stop gap vehicle which would give the company time to design new cars and for the steel supply chain to improve.

The metal of choice was Birmabright, an aluminium alloy which could be easily sourced. The inspiration for the Series was taken from wartime jeeps and the idea was to create a vehicle which was part way between a light truck and a tractor.

The brother of Rover’s chief designer had been using an army surplus jeep on his farm in North Wales and the idea was this vehicle would take its place. It had to be suitable for agricultural use, incorporate a power take off and simple to create; which is how the simple flat panels came into play.

The vehicle we see today takes inspiration from the early prototype, with The early central steering wheel position was moved to the driving position we see today to ensure driver hand signals could be seen and a passenger seat was added in addition to other bits and pieces including the 80 inch ladder chassis.

Dubbed the ‘go anywhere’ vehicle in early marketing literature, the car was debuted at the 1948 Amsterdam motor show and was at first, only available as a two door rag top painted green, priced at £450. Well, I say two door, but guess what, the doors AND the canvas roof were both optional extras.

If you’re wondering how they got away with pricing it so cheaply, they classified the vehicle as a commercial rather than a standard private car to circumvent the taxes levied on cars at the time.

The initial set up was simple: the 1.6 litre petrol engine as used in the pre-war Rovers giving around 50 bhp, fitted with the four speed Rover P3 transmission unit coupled with a new two-speed transfer box. In 1952 the larger 2 litre petrol engine was fitted.

And don’t expect to see the coil springs on this either, they weren’t introduced until 1983. These were fitted with semi-elliptical leaf spring set ups, which was typical for commercials of the era.

This particular example we’re testing today is modified as you may have spotted. We’ve got the sound deadening in the engine bay, a 2 litre inlet over exhaust engine with an alloy cylinder head pinched from a rotted out P4, hence the badging to front and a few other bits like the SU carb instead of standard Solex and different dizzy.

There are also other touches of modern living like the Defender mirrors, different wheels and Ramsey winch.

This is all a basic potted history and there is so much more reading to be had out there if this is an area of interest for you, but for now, let me give you a tour of the dash before we go out adventuring.