Land Rover News & History Blog

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Antony Barrington Brown MBE FRPS. (BB)

It was a huge shock that I received a couple of weeks back. The producer of the ‘First Overland’ and ‘Stop Gap’ DVDs, Graeme Aldous got in touch to say that BB, from ‘First Overland’, the well known Expedition from the mid 50s, had died in an accident along with his wife Althea. It was very sad news. As you know Land Rover hosted the three Oxford and Cambridge teams back in September last year at the Solihull factory for a reunion.

BB last year at the Solihull reunion with one of his expedition cameras.

BB was the very talented and passionate photographer who not only did the famous 1955 First Overland Land Rover expedition images and footage, but many other famous pictures too. The most famous being the Crick & Watson DNA picture from the early 1950s. I briefly got to know BB during this time when I helped to organize the reunion event last year for the old Oxford and Cambridge Expedition teams at Solihull. He was a character. I thought I would share one story I have of meeting BB at his home. Steve Kerrs who was organising the event and I went down to see him and his close friend Ross Charlton, who was photographer of the earlier 1954 African Expedition. Steve and I arrived and BB was the perfect host. Seating us outside on a nice day, a lunch of fantastic bread and antipasti items was all ready. BB went to grab us some drinks. The drivers, Steve and Ross just wanted something soft and politely declined having a beer. BB turned and looked at me, and stated with a smile, ‘You are Australian. You’re having a Beer?’ I could see he really wanted to share a beer with at least one of us, and it wouldn’t be until much later in the day that I had to drive. So no harm, ‘Yes, I would love to’ I replied. BB’s smile beamed at my answer and he poured our beers for us and went on to share his thoughts on his collection of photos and sides of the old days, in fine detail. The pictures he liked were the ones that were good from this and that technical point of view. He shared mountains of information with us. I’m a big fan of sharing life and a meal in the alfresco way, and usually can recall exactly what was served to eat and drink at such times, but not this day. At 84, BB’s drive and enthusiasm for life, and what he does, was far too great to simply remember if we had, for example, Stella or Carlsberg. What ever beer it was that we had, the whole experience of it was unforgettable. One to remember! BB and Althea will be greatly missed.

Arthur’s Birthday.

The new Land Rover club in Australia, SLOw or ‘Series Landy Owners’, recently held their first event, a birthday party for Arthur Goddard! The day was a huge success. Arthur, now 91, was presented with a plaque to commemorate him as Patron of the new club.

AG and his plaque.

Enthusiasts attended with a wide variety of Land Rovers from the early Series 1 of Arthurs time at Rover, to more current models. A P3 Rover Car also attended, another Rover model which Arthur worked on in the 1940s.

You can find more info on SLOw at www.slow.org.au

The Petrol Age.

I did a bit of filming last week in the snow and slush at Eastnor Castle near Ledbury. It is for a new TV series that will run in mid March on Sky Atlantic to coincide with their launch of host the 2012 Formula 1 season.

Their show wants to explore the history of iconic vehicles and brands that have help ‘make’ the British Motor industry. This is all been done as a bit of a celebration of Sky showing the 2012 Formula 1 season, which predominantly has British based teams and engineering. The four part series is very suitably titled ‘The Petrol Age’. The Land Rovers early history was on the list as one of the stories they wished to explore.

They got in touch with me looking for a 1948 Pre Production Land Rover to film off road. So I offered them the use of 16 (260AC) and put them in touch with Land Rover. Land Rover took along two of their 80” vehicles from their heritage fleet to add to the filming. Everything from then on was cast in stone for filming on the 6th of this month. It was great fun and I’m sure the results will speak for themselves. The Petrol Age first screens on Thursday 15th of March at 8pm on Sky Atlantic in the UK and runs for four episodes. For more info click on the link. The Petrol Age.

Thanks

Michael

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2012 begins.

By Michael Bishop.

2012 began for many Land Rover enthusiasts, with the Malvern 4×4 spares day held in early January at the Three Counties Show grounds in Malvern in theUK. An early vehicle line up was organised for the event by the Land Rover Series One club. I took along 260AC and placed her in the display with info about her history on the windscreen and went for a look about.

The Series One line up with 260AC

The show was a great success. It is organised by the team that does some of the other days for Land Rover and vintage parts so was very well run. The great thing about this show being so early in the year was that it felt like the year was getting off to a good start.

Plenty of early spares available on the day

The format is simple and effective for everyone. The people with stands, in that they bring along to the show what they wish to offer for sale on their stands. The buyers get access on the morning and can walk around the stands and try and catch a bargain or find that rare part.

and heaps of later stuff too!

I was looking for a few parts to add to my ‘new to me’ old 300 Tdi Land Rover Discovery. My father ran this model of the Discovery 1 as company cars in the 1990s and I got to know and like them great deal. After a long time looking for the right one, a friend found an decent example on the side of the road for sale that I grabbed. At the spares day I was pleased to find a replacement right hand headlight for a fiver and will continue to tidy the old Disco up. You will hear more about it soon.

A nice Series 2 Station Wagon being closely admired. 

I came back to find score people looking at the all early Land Rovers on display and reading about 260ACs history and taking photos of her. The display was of the historic Land Rovers were all very much appreciated.

It was a great day at the foot of the Malvern hills

Another small project I worked this month is a facebook page for the Land Rover Series One Club. You can find it at the www.facebook.com/LRSOC

Other than that we had a good Christmas and New Year. With all that now in the past, I am really looking forward to an eventful 2012. No better way to start it off than a day searching for a bargain at Malvern.

Thanks

Michael

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Cars, Wheels, Lights!

By Michael Bishop

My first Land Rovers where the Corgi model variety.

My parents have always said my first words were ‘cars, wheels, lights’ which I yelled out when sitting in my child seat in the back of the family car. A theme that has evolved, but also that I am very than happy to stick with today. The excitement of motoring has never worn off. As motoring enthusiasts, like most kids we start with a collection of toy cars, which grows to include plastic toy roads and sand pits, and as kids our imagination ran free. For me the dream of making the toys come to life and driving the cars was never far from the surface at set a strong desire to experience, feel and drive vehicles. The fascination of trying out, experiencing and driving a vehicle, that is new to me, is never far from the surface, be it a current new model or something from the past.

50 years at Eastnor.

The official photo to mark the 50 years of off road testing and development.

Land Rover had an event to celebrate this month with their 50th anniversary of using the 5000 acre Eastnor Castle estate for development of their vehicles. They were going to have a few historic vehicles there as well as the current range available to drive. Great stuff and I was given the opportunity to come and have a look.

It was great fun to drive the 1961 129″ prototype that unfortunately never made it to production.

The Land Rover story at Eastnor all started when engineers Geof Miller and Bill Morris took a vehicle for test on the estate – a Land Rover 129-inch wheelbase prototype.  So impressed by the terrain Eastnor had to offer, just a few weeks later Land Rover engineers were using the land for testing and assessing development vehicles.

Eastnor played a major role in developing an impressive collection of Land Rover technologies – such as Long travel coil suspension, Anti-lock Brakes, Adjustable Air Suspension, Electronic Traction Control, Hill Descent Control and Terrain Response – many of which were world firsts in the 4×4 sector.

Another great drive is the V8 100″ Land Rover coil sprung prototype from the mid 1970s, developed at Eastnor, that lead the way to the current Land Rover Defenders.

For me the event was a touch surreal. A bit like being a kid again, but living the dream that your toy box and the sand pit with all the toys suddenly became real life. With a heap of space to play in and real Castle!!!

I was in awe of it all and trying to take in, learn and note down as much as I could from the engineers and experts on the event. I remembered halfway through to start recording some footage with my flip camera and made this short video that captures the spirit of the day.

Land Rover 50 years at Eastnor Castle on youtube.

The Eastnor 50th Anniversary Fleet.

The 1989 Camel Trophy Land Rover 110 showing its agility off road at Eastnor where the trials for the event took place.

The vehicles I took for a spin were the 1994 CB40 Freelander prototype 9 (the black van), 1961 Land Rover 129″ truck, 1976 100″ Land Rover prototype, 1971 Range Rover, 1956 Land Rover 86″ trailing Series 1, 1970 Range Rover running chassis, 1989 Land Rover 110 Camel Trophy, 1979 Land Rover 110 prototype number 19, 1988 40th Anniversary 90, 1994 Range Rover Classic, 2012 Range Rover Vogue, 2012 Range Rover Evoque and 1949 and 1951 Land Rover 80″ Series 1s. Great fun and what better way to celebrate the the bands history with the estate. The latest creation the Range Rover Evoque, excellent off road ability can be traced to Eastnor, reinforcing it as the ancestral home of off-road testing for the company.

The 2012 Range Rover Evoque, just at home in Manhattan or the Mud was developed at Eastnor.

From 1989 members of the public could join in the Eastnor action, with Land Rover Experience moving their operational base to Eastnor. Land Rover fans can book an adventure around the tracks of the 5000 acre estate to hone their driving skills with tuition from a team of highly qualified Land Rover Experience instructors.

A brilliant event to cap off a busy year. All the best to everyone. I hope you have enjoyed my blog posts and I look forward to adding some new posts next year.

Michael.

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The November Round Up.

It has been another busy year and this month really moved quickly. With Christmas now so close, a couple of events capped the year off. I also had to collect 260AC from her place at Droitwich Land Rover. It was great to get her out on the open road again. I have started doing some more research into a few areas. The 1947 Mock Up seems to be an un ending can of worms at the moment, which will make it in fine detail into ‘Full Grille’ as did the last set of Mock Up drawings we managed to find.

Land Rover in Action.

I went to the “Land Rover in Action, : Global Humanitarian & Conservation Partners Exhibition”, at the Royal Geographic Society with Steve Kerrs, with whom I helped with the Oxford & Cambridge reunion and also Tim Slessor and Patrick Murphy from ‘First Overland’. It was a great exhibition but the highlight was without doubt was hearing from Polar Explorer and Land Rover ambassador, Ben Saunders who gave all a brilliant talk on the ‘Insights of a Polar Explorer’. Ben is one of only three people to ski solo to the North Pole which he completed in 2004, and the youngest to do so by more than ten years. He holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton (1,032km).

Ben is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and a Patron of the British Schools Exploring Society and as we all found out, a great story teller. He spoke of his next challenge to reach the South Pole, following in the footsteps of Scott of the Antarctic and an attempt to complete his the original expedition 100 years after it tragically ended. You can follow Ben at www.bensaunders.com

Back at Anglesey

Stephen Wilks unveils the memorial to his father.

Whilst we were planning the filming of the Land Rover episode of BBC’s Coast program at Red Wharf Bay, the local school at Dwyran on the South East side of Anglesey got in touch with Land Rover to say that their students had been looking into interesting stories in the local area. They had learnt about Maurice Wilks and the Land Rover’s story on Anglesey. The Wilks holiday home was within a mile from the school gates. Two of the students managed to find a forgotten display board hidden under some undergrowth within Dwyran to tell the story of Maurice Wilks and the Land Rover which left everyone a touch baffled as to when it was placed there. Some of the team from Land Rover went to visit the students and display board to see if what could be done. The board was in very bad condition and the pupils felt that something need to be done about it.

Some fine detail of the fabulous mosaic by Martin Peach.

This idea led to the School and its pupils to work with Land Rover on designing a new memorial to Maurice Wilks. The pupils decided that the memorial should include text and pictures. Land Rover hired one of their former designers, Martin Peach to go to the school and meet with the pupils and discuss their design. A lot of hard work lead to a design that was unveiled at the school on the 16th of November, by Maurice Wilks son Stephen. Huey was there as well. The design was made to represent the road travelled in the early Land Rover story. It is conveniently placed at the front of the school for all to see. The BBC news were at the unveiling and you can read their report here,

Stephen Wilks and a guest admiring ‘Huey’.in the Dwyran School Grounds.

Two very different events but equally great in every way.

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Arthur Goddard on Project Icon (DC100)

By Michael Bishop.

When Arthur was back over in the UK in May 2010, he was given a private invite into the behind the scenes engineering and design areas in Gaydon! To see what the future holds for Land Rover. This was well ahead of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show and the DC100 being announced, but Arthur was in the box seat to see and hear what was really going on way before anyone else did. Graeme Aldous managed to get a couple of photos from Land Rover of Arthur with the current engineers, chatting about the Land Rover design. They had bought ‘Huey’ into the current design studio so they could all have an in depth discussion of how the design came about and evolved.

Arthur having a laugh with the current engineers at Land Rover with ‘Huey’ and other special vehicles

At the time though it was all top secret and Arthur being the professional engineer didn’t say a word.

Project Icon as the DC100 was shown firstly on the world stage at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year which was great to attend. You can read my blog post on the DC100 here. Arthur’s thoughts were something else which I left to ‘4×4 Australia Magazine’, to discover. They are doing a review of ‘They Found Our Engineer’ and were very keen to interview Arthur as well.

A Land Rover press image of the DC100 with ‘Huey’

So what does Arthur think of the new concept Defender the DC100?

I was impressed. It isn’t as crude as the vehicles I did, but we didn’t have the time or the presses they do now. We had to work with what was in the factory, which was why manufacturing and engineering worked so closely.

I visited the Land Rover factory in the UK last year and had a look at the new models.

They make a whole range now, of course. They still manufacture the original one, but they also make ones for taking the kids to school in – we never thought anyone would buy a 4X4 to take kids to school in!

They showed me a design drawing of the original Land Rover I was responsible for, and the one from today. They laid one on top of the other, and there was very little difference – everything correlated; the steering wheel, the wheels. It had hardly changed at all, except that everything on the current model is modern, of course.

Arthur is never short of a dull word and you can read an extract of his interview at the 4×4 Australia web page. The DC100 is being shown in LA this week.

Accessorize you Land Rover.

The optional Power Take Off for the early Land Rover

Accessories and Optional Extras have been an important part of the motor industry since it began. The Land Rover was no different to any other vehicle in that it came to life with a number of options, except that to make it the ‘Versatile Vehicle’ many of these options centred on specific tasks that the vehicle could perform.

The Land Rover started with almost everything as an option. Doors, spare wheel, passenger seats, canvas hood, engine governor, power take off, were part of the basic options that the vehicle started with. Within a few months of the vehicles summer launch the weather proofing options became standard fitment but the list of factory options and approved accessories began to grow quickly. After all, the vehicle was a huge hit with its 8000 pre launch orders which attracted attention. As Arthur said to us ‘Nothing attracts new friend better than success, with the Land Rover we had plenty’. People wanted to be part of that success be it as a supplier or a customer.

Options.

Part of the Land Rovers launch in 1948 was to show its versatility with the first model other than the standard model shown in the Land Rover Mobile Welder. The vehicle had a Lincoln 150 Amp Welding unit run from the centre Power Take off. Not far behind were the Land Rover Fire Engine and Tickford Station Wagon.

By October 1948, a year after the Land Rover name was coined, the engineers had been playing with the Land Rover concept and pre production vehicles for at least a year and despite being delighted with its success they also knew its short comings. No pun intended but the 80”wheelbaseLandRover was too small. So one of the first accessories available from an outside manufacturer was the approved Land Rover trailer by J Brockhouse and Co.

The prototype Land Rover trailer being tested in 1948

Arthur says they started looking at ‘approved trailers’ very quickly once production was underway, as a way to quickly increase the load carrying capacity of the Land Rover. A simple quick solution, but behind that idea is the basic plan for a larger load carrying Land Rover.

We were lucky to be able to piece together the design of the first long wheel base Land Rover prototype from clues Arthur’s gave to us and looking a touch closer at the old photos.

The prototype long wheel base that dates from 1949

What we are really looking at here in the approved trailer and the prototype long wheel base Land Rover is a perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention. Which is how all our vehicles and their accessories come about. I will be looking more into approved Land Rover accessories in future blog posts.

Thanks

Michael

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Flying the Flag.

By Michael Bishop

One thing that is always said about the Land Rover is that the vehicle is fit for any occasion. One can not make any assumption about the person driving a Land Rover. They could own a vast estate or simply just work on the estate. It is quite an achievement for a vehicle to have earnt this status, and the Land Rover is a practical vehicle for anyone and everyone.

The Rover cars of the pre-war and post war were a very prominent make of quality motor vehicles, so when it came to supplying the very new Land Rovers to VIP customers there wasn’t a question as to Rovers quality or position in the British Motor Industry. So the Land Rover and VIP customers arrived on the scene very quickly.

King George VI in his first 1948 Land Rover

The first prominent person to receive a new Land Rover was King George VI and the vehicle was used by His Majesty for review purpose very quickly. Other members of the Royal family follow soon after along with other prominent people who were being photographed getting in and out of Land Rovers.

The Queen just before her coronation with the Duke of Edinburgh driving in there everyday Land Rover in around late 52 early 53.

A Rover for the Farmer?

Certainly while all this was going on in the upper end of society in 1948 the Land Rover was being advertised in the papers as the perfect vehicle for ‘the Farmer, Country man and General Industrial use’, which does seem a touch at odds with the image being painted of famous people like Sir Winston Churchill riding in the a Land Rover, that is supposed to have bales of hay and hand tools in the back of it! How did a vehicle of this type quickly gain such a celebrity status?

Churchill saluting his admirers at the 1948 Kent show in the Land Rover.

A few years before the events of late 1947 and 48 when the Land Rover came to life the War time newspapers had many pictures and photos of prominent people riding about in Jeeps and other military machinery. Just a few years after the end of the war, the UK still with heavy rationing of almost everything, and a nice shiny new Land Rover was a great symbol. As much as the British admired the US Army Jeep for its qualities as soon as a British vehicle came along to take that position of ‘universal respect and admiration’ the Land Rovers place in the breadth of society in the UK and obviously through out the new British Commonwealth as well, was guaranteed.

By the mid 1950s the Land Rover had made it to Hollywood with Marilyn Monroe.

The Land Rover and Society.

Rover obviously had some cleaver people in their marketing dept. As Arthur had mentioned to us they knew who wanted a Land Rover and a comfortable one very early on which lead to the Tickford bodied Land Rover Station wagon being launched in October 1948 at Earls Court.

The prototype Land Rover ‘Tickford’ Station Wagon in 1948 before the Earls Court Show. The concept of the comfortable off roader was a very early one.

Not long after this in early 1949 this ad for a Land Rover appeared in Country Life. The text hasn’t changed much in that the ad talks about the huge variety of work the vehicle can perform around the farm. But the image tells another story. We see the man, leading his horse out of the nice new Rice horse box in front of a large stately looking home with the Land Rover. It is an image to appeal to those who have been successful and have the money available to enjoy their spare time and may need a Land Rover. Rover were acutely aware of the paths and opportunities the Land Rover was finding itself in and were ready to build on that area of its success.

The Land Rover Advertisement from ‘Country Life’ in 1949.

All coming together.

We have had a look, almost a snap shot at a variety of areas and times over the past few months that have really made the Land Rover brand what it is today and the early slogan still lives true with ‘The Worlds Most Versatile Vehicle’. Once the expeditions and other military forces globally took on the Land Rover its place in history was cast in stone. If you missed Arthur Goddard’s interview with Phil Smith on ABC Brisbane radio, Phil pointed out to the listeners that iconic image of the mid 1950s of the young Queen Elizabeth travelling the world after the coronation and being seen by so many for the first time from the back of the Royal Tour Land Rovers. I’m not sure in there are any stats on how many people saw the Queen at that time, but it would be a great to try and find out. Some friends in Melbourne recently lined to streets to catch a glimpse of the Queen, on tour and managed to catch a picture of her in her Range Rover.

The Queen in her Range Rover in Melbourne October 2011. This picture inspired this blog post.

Gethin Bradley, Rovers mid 1950s PR man we have spoken to a lot lately had also said to me he always made sure the British Gran Prix had a fleet on Land Rovers available for the drivers to be seen it for the simple reason that people liked it and related to it. Back to slogans thought I was talking to some mates about old Land Rover slogans and one felt the not so old ‘Best 4 x 4 x Far’ was the greatest slogan for Land Rover to date. Certainly, it does go along way to quickly describe the past 60 plus years!

Michael

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If a picture tells a 1000 words…

By Michael Bishop

Everyone loves those old promotional movies of Land Rovers through the decades, doing this and that along with the huge variety of special attachments and implements used. I had been thinking of talking about the old films and adds for a while but was finally inspired by the Land Rover USA’s facebook page who asked its followers to post there favourite videos online, which was followed with great enthusiasm.

The ‘Rover Tradition’ film in 3 parts covering the companies history to the late 50s film on the Pathe web page.

I have been using these old films and advertisements for research purpose. Some of the films follow how the old Rover Company operated in there design and development and their test labs in the late 50s and early 60s. It’s a though you can walk through Solihull from those days in the lead up to the original Range Rover program.

For those that can’t recall those days, these promotional films must seem quite incredible in the modern world, that they went to so much trouble to make these short films. In the 50s and 60s television in many parts of the world was very new and not everyone had a TV set. Home video tapes were as much a futuristic dream as they are a distant memory today!.

Another Pathe News film about the Motor Industry Research Association and some footage made in Arthurs time of Land Rovers being tested on his Belgian Pavé. I used this film in research for ‘They Found Our Engineer’.

Rather than explain the reasons as to why and where these movies were produced and shown, I thought it would be best to get that from Rover and Land Rovers 1950s PR man who we met a few weeks back, Gethin Bradley.

Gethin says,

In those days, even going back to between the wars, most companies made documentaries Companies like Castrol and Shell did marvellous coverage of motor sport They were used by clubs of all kinds and at schools.

Rover favoured Pathe because with luck they put it out with newsreel service to cinemas, who usually showed support films to their feature film.

There were also small cinemas in major towns that specialised in newsreels etc often linked to Pathe. Young farmers clubs were a particular target for us (Land Rover).

Thanks to Gethin for that insight to Rovers and Land Rovers marketing ideas from the 1950s. Many will remember the old local cinema being set up in a local hall or even outside for the summer. Bigger towns that had a theater which showed the latest films and cartoons. They also showed the latest news reals and short Pathe films.

The Land Rover Series 2 stars in ‘All in a Days Work‘.

My dad worked at a local cinema outside Melbourne when he was a teenager and often enjoyed the Pathe news films from all over the Commonwealth more than the feature film! To take a broad look in many ways things havn’t changed in motoring PR. Todays youtube channels are often targeting young people and the young at heart. Education on many companies and their products through short films is just as Gethin and his team were in the 1950s with the Pathe films and Rover and Land Rover. Here is a link to Land Rovers youtube channel.

The ‘Film Rover’, the 1950s mobile cinema based on a Land Rover Series 1 107″ Station Wagon.

My favourite historic Land Rover films can be found at

British Pathe’s web pages. Use the search ‘Rover’ is the best way to work through the huge list of old Rover and Land Rover related films.

Youtube. Roverhaul has a great amount of old material.

The Land Rover Registers ‘Full Grille’ channel on youtube has a few hard to find historic items

The Range Rover Evoque.

A few people have asked if I knew of any plans for Land Rover to prove the Evoque with an off road expedition. Land Rover had done expeditions in the 50s as we know. Range Rover did in the 70s with the Darien Gap expedition and Discovery and Freelander did with the Camel Trophy in the 90s.

The Range Rover Evoque at Land Rover Experience Eastnor.

I haven’t heard a peep on anything other than the Evoque is a huge success for the company, which is great. Proving the Evoque can go off road is though now available through Land Rover Experience. I was at Eastnor the other day and grabbed a photo of this Evoque ready to take customers for a drive through the estate. The Evoques traction control works with merely a quarter turn of the driving wheels and the word is its capability is outstanding. Getting back to youtube and videos there are some great development and testing videos of the Evoque on Land Rovers youtube page.

I hope you enjoyed the read.

Michael

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The History of Land Rover Number One, HUE 166. Part 2.

By Michael Bishop.

We have explored a number of engineering programs, concepts and ideas from the 1940s 80” Land Rover to the DC100 over the past month. The one obvious thing through is all the paths of the many projects lead back to the first Land Rover, which we all now understand is HUE 166 or Huey.

Huey near new, with a first development canvas truck cab held with small studs. A hi res copy reveals the test clearance holes cut in the rear body.

Fine engineering detail is a specialist subject, but is equally important to how the Land Rover vehicles name and the brand have grown. Also is it important as we continue to move around the decades and programs a bit further that we have a crystal clear link back to how and where the Land Rover started, and by the time Huey first appeared in March 1948 any idea central steering was dead and buried.

One of those original small studs for the canvas truck cab still on Huey today!

It is an important point that Huey is correctly identified over the Centre Steer and Mock Up in the Engineering time line for a couple of reasons. Firstly to give us a complete understanding of how the original idea developed and what it evolved into. As well as how the Land Rover evolved from that point onwards. Going back to the old drawings we had a look at in September and the right hand dialogue boxes on the drawings any modifications have a change number beginning with an ‘L’.

Cullen and Goddard testing Huey hard. Note the replacement rear body so no mud or water would fly onto those testing through the cuts in the bodywork.

This number is the reference to the change in specification from the beginning, which was Huey. These numbers for the Land Rover run right through to at least the early 1980s and get well into 5 figures. The interesting fact in these continuous list of specification changes over the decades is that they come in at times when the drawing was made or altered and not when the change was made in production or even when new model was introduced, Series 1 2 or 3 as far as the engineers saw there was just one Land Rover.

For example the S2 floor cross member drawing printed in ‘They Found Our Engineer’ has the dialogue box of modifications to the part running from July 1957 to June 1981!

Hueys Charm.

Aside from this fine detail of the development history of the engineering that we can look into that made Land Rover what it is today there is the other side to Huey that many of us love as well.

The photo of Huey with the ’1′ on the front cross member was used as a base for the drawing on the cover of the first owners manual.

Once Hueys direct development days were over the vehicle was given a tidy up and many of the parts updated. The doors, windscreen and grille panel were updated to production spec. Mechanically the radiator, and transfer box and transfer controls were changed to production pattern which was fairly normal for the pre production vehicles. Also the whole front axle was replaced. This was most likely due to holes being cut into the casing to see the way the oil flowed in the front differential, which being from the Rover car, wasn’t originally designed to spin the opposite way so fast!!

We can tell when Huey was updated from the consistency of age between the production parts added, which is around September/October 1948. Aside from that Huey was just as she was the day she was built. No doubt as she returned to the Service Dept for servicing, a close look was made to items for long term wear and tear by the engineers and technicians.

From the Farm to a life of Publicity.

Huey moved just 15 miles down the road near Kenilworth, just near Blackdown Manor to one of Maurice Wilks neighbours. Huey was now registered and worked the farm for nearly 5 years until the 02/07/1954 when she was dispatched back in to Rover at Solihull. Huey’s next role was to become an Legend. By the mid 50s the Land Rover was very well established world wide and Huey first appeared in the Rover publicity film ‘Bread in the Bone’ from her place in the Birmingham Museum which began to touch on the Land Rovers history.

Huey in the mid 50s in one of Rovers PR films

Arthur Goddard on ABC Brisbane Radio.

We managed to get an interview for Arthur on the 1954 Royal Tour Land Rovers with Phil Smith on ABC Brisbane Saturday Breakfast the Saturday the 22/10/2011. It shows what a small but enthusiastic world we live in that Phillip emailed the Land Rover Owners Club Sydney in the middle of the week asking if anyone knew much about the old Royal Tour Land Rovers as he wanted to add there story to his broadcast. The emails passed down the line quickly to Alex Massey and myself. A quick email back to Phil with Arthur’s contact details and it is all good.

Arthur with his ABC radio host

Check out Phil’s blog here and if you wish to stream his program go to. Should be great listening and hopefully Philip will get something new out of AG. 0715 Brisbane time.

ABC Brisbane online stream (Note. Since the broadcast aired, an MP3 link to listen to Arthur has been placed on the lower left hand side of Phil’s blog page)

Enjoy

Michael

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The History of Land Rover Number One, HUE 166. Part 1.

By Michael Bishop.

We are lucky to have Land Rover number 1 to enjoy and admire. You can find HUE 166 usually at BMIHT Gaydon just inside the museum entrance. The fortunate registration number that gives Huey its name was added in March 1949 when the vehicle was used by a Warwickshire farmer just down the road from Maurice Wilks home, Blackdown manor.

Huey at BMIHT Gaydon

Rover already had a collection of its own historic vehicles from earlier times and I’m sure Hueys destiny was always eventually to be there. By the time that Huey retired from its testing days in early 1949, Land Rovers were already a phenomenal hit. With well over 10,000 vehicles ordered and the initial development plans for the future well under way. However even though Huey is ‘Number 1’ the vehicle does sometimes get confused with the centre steer and the first production Land Rover, as Huey is the first ‘Pre Production’ Land Rover from the first batch of vehicles sanctioned in October 1947.

Huey with Land Rover at Frankfurt this year

The Four Number ‘One’s from 1947 and 1948.

I know that sounds a bit crazy but is every bit true as it is confusing. To put this into context, every so often someone will be quoted that ‘The First Land Rover had Centre Steering’. So you take look at Huey and make the quick assumption that given that it is right hand drive that it is the first Production Land Rover; or once they realize it’s the first Pre Production Land Rover they think that the vehicle may have started off with Centre Steering as has been heavily modified, but I can assure you Huey hasn’t been majorly modified like that. The real problem is that in mentioning ‘Land Rover number 1’ you could be referring to the ‘Centre Steer’, the Mock Up with the first test chassis, Pre-Production number 1, or the First production Land Rover? All four have been many times described as the first Land Rover!!

These Vehicles Explained.

The Centre Steer was the concept vehicle that came from the original idea of Rover to produce an off road vehicle. Though it was built from a Jeep using a Rover Car engine and a rover made Jeep-like aluminium body. The vehicle actually just pre dates the first official use of the Land Rover name. Before the Land Rover the Rover board simply called it a ‘Jeep like vehicle’ and the drawing office called it the ‘J-Model’ in September 1947. The photos of the Centre Steer went on to be used for the Land Rover first brochure; however the reality is that it was a concept vehicle, for what became the original Land Rover program.

The Centre Steer Concept vehicle

The Land Rover Mock Up was explored here a touch some weeks ago. We knew of the mock up from the chassis image on the back page of the first sales brochure, but it took a very good search in the drawing office to find evidence of the vehicle. The evidence finally turned up earlier this year! This was because as it was just a Mock Up and many of the parts were redrawn and became production parts. With a few remaining drawings found and the evidence of its name, the remains of the vehicle is simply just lining below the surface of the real Land Rover parts. But also being just a test bed for ideas, as things changed and evolved, so did the Mock Up. So it wasn’t really ever a complete working vehicle as such, though the Land Rover name was being used in association with it from October 1947.

The Mock Up vehicle as used in the original sales brochure

Land Rover Pre-Production number 1 (HUE 166). The Rover board was very keen to get the program moving and sanctioned an initial 25 Pre Production build vehicles in late 1947. The plans for the chassis and main parts of the Land Rover took a while to get ‘right’, but once they did the Pre -Production vehicles very quickly took there rightful place as the first Land Rovers. Huey first appeared in photos on the 13th of March 1948 and a touch later with a number 1 clearly painted on the front cross member and an unpainted rear body. Arthur told us how they had cut holes in the original to test clearance gaps for the parts in the real world.

They early days of Hueys test program withe the cut holes in the rear body along side the driver seat.

Land Rover Production Number One, R860001. This vehicle still exists but is in a bit of a sorry state having bore the brunt of all that North Yorkshire can throw at it. The very early production cars are still very interesting and carry a lot of development parts. This vehicle was brought out for all to see in 1998 at the Land Rover 50th Anniversary. This vehicle spent its first years at Rover, and was sold off in early 1950 once being registered JUE 477 and is still unrestored.

1948 Production Land Rover number 1 as found in the 1990s

Hueys post development life

We will take a further look at Hueys history in another blog post. Huey is the undisputed Land Rover number 1. The Centre Steer and Mock Up were merely the engineers means to work their way to producing the first Land Rover. But to start off this story I just needed to put the vehicle into context so we don’t get any further misunderstanding of the ‘Land Rover No1’ name. Huey is remarkable for such a vehicle and quite original. A number of updated production parts were fitted when Huey went off and joined the farm, which are mostly still fitted today. But that is what Development vehicles do. Develop; and to understand the Land Rovers made after 1948, best understand the beginning as well as you can.

I was lucky to be able to drive Huey during BBC Coast filming in 2010 for the episode ‘Wales, Border to Border’

Mr Adrian Cowell

I told you a few weeks back of the reunion event at Solihull for the three Oxford and Cambridge Expeditions from the 1950s. A key member in all three expeditions, Mr Adrian Cowell, was able to make it to England for the event. I went on to have a great chat to him about publishing and how it has changed in the past decade from when he first published his first book in the 1950s. He was very keen to publish a few more books of his own. So it was a great shock to hear today from Steve Kerrs, who had helped organise the event at Solihull, that sadly Adrian had died last weekend.

Adrian Cowell in the middle of the photo, lent on the left hand side of the light blue ‘Cambridge’ Land Rover, with his former team mates, at Solihull in September 2011.

Adrian’s work from the days of the 1950s really hadn’t stopped. Half way through the Oxford and Cambridge South American Expedition, Adrian had chosen to leave the expedition and continue to study the inner regions of Brazil to become an expert on many areas and regions of the county. Adrian’s most famous work is a series of five films titled “The Decade of Destruction”, which documents the environmental issues that took place in the Amazon during the 1980s which he won a BAFTA for. You can read a bit more on Adrian’s work in South America, which continued on from the last of the 1950s Oxford and Cambridge Expeditions in the link below. I just wish to extend our gratitude to Adrian for his work on the Oxford and Cambridge Expeditions from all in the Land Rover enthusiast community.

Adrian Cowell Dies.
Renowned British Film maker has died, aged 77.

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Comfortable 4×4 concepts.

By Michael Bishop.

Land Rover Prototype MSW1 or Mulliners Station Wagon 1 from 1954 and based on the Land Rover ‘Station Car’ design from this time

To put the Defenders development line further into context from the mid 1960s ‘One Double One’ concept drawing we had a look at last week, we need to take a look at bit more of a look at the idea of the comfortable off road vehicle and how that concept evolved. By the mid 1950s a few concepts had been running around, mainly the first concept of the Road Rover as well as a 107” Land Rover with a Mulliners body, much like the Land Rover Station Car, but keeping its Land Rover styling at the front. The Road Rover came very close to production at the board level where the vehicle received approval, however Arthur and a few of his colleagues said the vehicle simply wasn’t ready and they had so much else going on at this time that it just didn’t happen. The concept really needed a lot more input from the Land Rover and car development teams than was available. The Road Rover came back again with a second version in the late 1950s but once again it just didn’t work out and was still just a two wheel drive vehicle.

The Series 2 Road Rover from the late 50s

Rovers Car Engineers 

The car side of Rover was extremely busy with its own areas and when Arthur left for Girling, his job was split in two with the car side to his job was given to Chris Goode and the Land Rover side to Jack Pogmore. By the early 60s the Rover P5 was well established and the advanced Rover P6 car was launched in 1963. Spen King was heavily involved in the P6 development program and this car is still quite a unique design today with a de dion rear suspension and in the front, large low rate coil springs, running horizontally north-south on a rocker arm and gave exceptionally good ride. The P6 had a very positive influence at Rover. Here are a few links to read about the Rover P6 development and a review of the car today.

Range Rover Prototype No 1

As the 60s rolled on the idea for the comfortable off road vehicle came back to the fore front for the car team and Spen King. The Range Rover concept was another revolutionary design by the Rover car side of engineering, using low rate coil springs to give the vehicle saloon car comfort, great articulation, which along with using driven solid axles, front and rear, to give the design the four wheel drive capability of the Land Rover. However this suspension design choice wasn’t popular with the Land Rover side and its then current head Tom Barton who felt that off road vehicles should only have leaf springs. The Range Rover 40th anniversary pages give an insight to the strength of feeling at the time. Just go to the ‘history in detail’ tab at the bottom of the page and the ’100-inch Station Wagon’ heading.

What is interesting here is that in splitting the Assistant Chief Engineer job into a Car side and a Land Rover side, once Arthur had moved on really enforced the quite separate yet parallel sides to Rovers engineering in the 1960s. What we see here are that such strong opinions were coming from the Land Rover side of engineering, that off road vehicles were ideal at that point, and maybe should not be developed! This was a very strong view, and a clue to how the Land Rover went on to stay with the familiar design and bodywork for so long.

The early Range Rover

The original Range Rover went onto be a huge success that influenced 4×4 designs for years to come, including the Land Rover which we will explore further sometime soon.

Australian Range Rover number 1, ‘Another story’.

I mentioned in ‘They Found Our Engineer’ when I first went to meet Spen King, that I knew his work quite well as I had found the first Australian Range Rover, learnt quite a lot about them, but this was ‘another story’ and not part of the book. So it is time to share that story now.

When I was in coming home from school on the trams in Melbourne, I noticed all the vehicles of any interest. Close to our house was one slightly rough but regularly used Range Rover on an early 70s Victorian registration plate. I saw it close up one day in a local car park near home and the registration label said 1973 Range Rover, so I didn’t think much more about it for a while. In the time being I met Ian Duddy who is a huge fan of early Range Rovers, who got me more heavily interested in them from his 1972 model, a very early car for Australia. So while I was first travelling to England and looking up all the old files at BMIHT Gaydon on the early Land Rovers, I also noted down the first Range Rovers for Ian and 35600022A (Right hand drive export number 22) was the first official Australian car and an easy chassis number to remember.

The first Australian Range Rover new, was well known at the time. She was initially registered in Sydney, then later re-registered in Melbourne which is probably how she mistakenly became a ’73 model’.

Back in Melbourne a number of years later, my brother Chris and I decided to tune up my sisters Rover P6 TC 2000 car she had. She loved the design of the car and I enjoyed working on it, knowing a little of the P6s part in the Rover story.  The P6 is very nice to drive, so Chris and I took it on my larger test lap for road testing vehicles which I didn’t use so much. Whilst on the lap, I noticed up one street, that old Range Rover I had seen while at school looking very sorry for herself. So we stopped just to check with the owner and make sure she wasn’t going to the scrap man. The owner was delighted we had asked and was happy to sell her. They had loved the vehicle for years and she had been kept very well mechanically. So a deal was struck and we took her home. I was still thinking she was a 1973 model until I got home and lifted the bonnet to find 35600022A, that first Australian car!! It had been registered as a 1973 model instead of 1971 for some unknown reason. It’s incredible what you can find on the side of the road.

Australian Range Rover No 1 with her bonnet up on display at the Range Rover 40th in Melbourne last year.

Thanks

Michael

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