Today I woke up like any other day, I had a shower, shaved, made coffee and ate breakfast. Today though, today is different. Today marks the end of the Land Rover, today the production line is shut down.
There will never be another Land Rover built in Solihull. Now some of you may be thinking to yourself “what the hell is he talking about, Land Rovers roll off the line every day at Solihull”. This is true, but I’m talking about the Land Rover.
The Land Rover was first conceived by Maurice Wilks in 1947 on his farm in Newborough, Anglesy when he was chief designer at the Rover Company. Legend holds that he drew the outline of the Land Rover in the sand. It is said that the design was influenced by the Jeep, the prototype (often referred to as Centre Steer) was based on a Jeep chassis and axles so this is probably the case.
The first Land Rover was officially launched on April 30th 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show. It was designed originally for farming and light industrial use and the colours of early Land Rovers were dictated by WWII aircraft surplus so most came in various shades of green. The Land Rover was about as basic as you could get (tops for the doors and roof were all optional extras), but in 1949 a second body option called the “Station Wagon” was offered.
The body for the Station Wagon was built by the coach builder Tickford (who also worked with Rolls-Royce and Lagonda) and the body work was a wooden frame that had seating for 7. Compared to the standard Land Rover the Tickford version was the lap of luxury with leather seats, a heater and a one-piece windscreen however due to the price of the Tickford’s only around 700 in total were sold with 50 being exported.
in 1954 the 80inch wheel base model was replaced with 86inch wheel base and the 107inch Pick Up was introduced. In 1956 the 107inch Station Wagon was introduced but was very different from the Tickford model, it was built with metal panels that were bolted together instead of the wooden structure of the Tickford. The Station Wagons were fitted with a “Safari Roof” which is basically a raised second roof on top of the primary roof to allow airflow to draw heat away from the vehicle in the summer.
Though out the years the Land Rover would go through changes (and ownerships) with the Series II, IIA, III, V8 Stage One, 110/90 and finally the Defender but in essence the vehicle stayed the same. It was a simple workhorse that you could fix with a screw driver, duct tape and a hammer.
Since 1948 2,016,933 Land Rovers have been produced and this is the last one:
Some estimates say that 2/3's of all Land Rovers ever made are still in use today which I can believe because the unwavering passion (or insanity... whatever) their owners have to keep them running and on the road.
The Land Rover is no longer being produced, but it will always be with us because of these qualities I’ve mentioned and although I’m sad to see them go, I’m happy that they’ve been apart of my life.
I grew up in a Land Rover, specifically an ex South African Police Series IIa 109 that my dad bought from a Police scrap yard back in the early 80's, my first memories are me holding and fetching tools for my dad as he stripped the truck down to nuts and bolts rebuilt it. It’s now again sitting in pieces as we replace the engine with a newer diesel engine (300 Tdi) as well as the chassis. This Land Rover came all the way from South Africa when we emigrated to the US and I have no doubt in my mind my future kids and hopefully their kids will inherit the old girl.
She’s the one on the right.
I’m not alone, there are others out there like me who have this connection with these vehicles that goes beyond normal enthusiasm. That is why the Land Rover will always be with us because everyone knows you don’t throw away a perfectly good Land Rover, you fix it... so I guess today really isn’t all that different.