Land rover defender wiki
Most series models feature leaf-spring suspension with selectable two or four-wheel drive 4WD , however series I's produced between and mid had constant 4WD via a freewheel mechanism, and the Stage 1 V8 version of the series III featured permanent 4WD. It hence became known as the " centre steer ".
This factory was now empty but starting car production there from scratch would not be financially viable. More likely, he used his own experience of using an army-surplus Jeep on his farm in Anglesey , North Wales. The Land Rover was designed to only be in production for two or three years to gain some cash flow and export orders for the Rover Company so it could restart up-market car production. The first prototype had a distinctive feature — the steering wheel was mounted in the middle of the vehicle.
Wake to a new world.
It was also tested ploughing and performing other agricultural tasks. Plans for a small, economical car known as the M Type were drawn up, and a few prototypes made, but would be too expensive to produce. Also, Rover's original factory in Coventry had been bombed during the war, forcing the company to move into a huge " shadow factory " built just before the war in Solihull near Birmingham , previously used to construct Bristol Hercules aircraft engines.
Land Rover entered production in with what has later been termed the Series I. This was launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show. The bodywork was wooden-framed and had seating for seven people.
His design added a power take-off PTO feature since there was a gap in the market between jeeps and tractors which offered the feature but were less flexible as transport. Series Land Rovers and Defenders continually excelled in space utilization, offering optional three abreast seating in the seating rows with doors, and troop seating in the rear, resulting in up to seven seats in the SWB, and up to ten seats in the LWB models, exceeding the capacity of most minivans , when comparing vehicles of the same length.
Before the war Rover had produced luxury cars which were not in demand in the immediate post-war period and raw materials were strictly rationed to those companies building construction or industrial equipment, or products that could be widely exported to earn crucial foreign exchange for the country.
Maurice Wilks , Rover's chief designer came up with a plan to produce a light agricultural and utility vehicle , of a similar concept to the Willys Jeep used in the war, but with an emphasis on agricultural use. Originally the Land Rover was a single model offering, which from until used an inch 2. The result was a vehicle that didn't use a single Jeep component and was slightly shorter than its American inspiration, but wider, heavier, faster and still retained the PTO drives.
In , the lights moved from a position behind the grille to protruding through the grille.
Engineering:Land Rover Defender (L663)
The four-speed gearbox from the Rover P3 was used, with a new two-speed transfer box. The steering wheel was mounted off to the side as normal, the bodywork was simplified to reduce production time and costs and a larger engine was fitted, together with a specially designed transfer gearbox to replace the Jeep unit. The original Land Rover concept a cross between a light truck and a tractor is similar to the Unimog , which was developed in Germany during this period.
It was built on a Jeep chassis and used the engine and gearbox out of a Rover P3 saloon car. Tests showed this prototype vehicle to be a capable and versatile machine. From launch, it was the first mass-produced civilian four-wheel drive car with doors on it, and an available hard roof. The choice of colour was dictated by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so early vehicles only came in various shades of light green.
This incorporated an unusual four-wheel-drive system, with a freewheel unit as used on several Rover cars of the time. This was a basic vehicle: tops for the doors and a roof canvas or metal were optional extras. The PTO drives from the front of the engine and from the gearbox to the centre and rear of the vehicle allowed it to drive farm machinery, exactly as a tractor would.
This disengaged the front axle from the manual transmission on the overrun, allowing a form of non- permanent 4WD.
However, as the vehicle was readied for production, this emphasis on tractor-like usage decreased and the centre steering proved impractical in use. From the beginning, it was realised that some buyers would want a Land Rover's abilities without the spartan interiors. It was designed for farm and light industrial use, with a steel box-section chassis and an aluminium body.
In , Land Rover launched a second body option called the " Station Wagon ", fitted with a body built by Tickford , a coachbuilder known for their work with Rolls-Royce and Lagonda. A ring-pull mechanism in the driver's footwell allowed the freewheel to be locked to provide more traditional 4WD. Once car production restarted, however, it was greatly outsold by the off-road Land Rover, which developed into its own brand that remains successful today.
As well as the aluminium alloy bodywork which has been retained throughout production despite it now being more expensive than a conventional steel body due to its ideal properties of light weight and corrosion resistance other examples include the distinctive flat body panels with only simple, constant-radius curves originally used because they could be cut and formed by hand from aluminium sheet on a basic jig and the sturdy box-section ladder chassis , which on series vehicles was made up from four strips of steel welded at each side to form a box, thus cutting down on the complex operations required when making a more conventional U- or I-section frame.
Contrary to conventional car and truck chassis, it used a sturdier fully box-welded frame. The first pre-production Land Rovers were being developed in late by a team led by engineer Arthur Goddard. He was possibly inspired by the Standard Motor Company , who faced similar problems and were producing the highly successful Ferguson TE20 tractor in their shadow factory in Coventry.
Many of the defining and successful features of the Land Rover design were in fact the result of Rover's drive to simplify the tooling required for the vehicle and to use the minimum amount of rationed materials. Tickford was well equipped in comparison with the standard Land Rover, having leather seats, a heater, a one-piece laminated windscreen, a tin-plate spare wheel cover, some interior trim and other options.
Furthermore, due to post-war steel shortage, and aluminium surplus, Land Rovers received non-rusting aluminium alloy bodies, favouring their longevity.