ROVER’S ORIGINAL

After the Second World War, Rover was very much on the back foot. Its staid pre-war saloons weren’t selling and owing to the strict rationing of steel post war the launch of a new car that could sell in volume would be difficult. Rover simply couldn’t get the materials.

That was until engineer Maurice Wilks had a brainwave. He’d been using an ex-US Army Jeep as a beast of burden on his Anglesey farm and felt that there would be a market among farmers for a similar machine. Using an aluminium body and Rover mechanicals, he felt, he could do better. Aluminium was a natural choice; There was a surplus of aluminium after the war and his machine incorporated front and rear power takeoffs to enable it to power belt-driven farm machinery too. Put into production in 1948, there was just one Land Rover – on an 80-inch wheelbase using the 1.6-litre engine from the P3 75 saloon. To enable simplicity of build, the farmers it was aimed at could order it in the following choice of colours: Green.

But Land Rover knew that its simple tractor – where even a roof was a cost option – wouldn’t be for everyone. The following year it launched the Tickford-bodied Station Wagon. This came with leather seats, a heater, an interior light and other options targeted at nicety – a Range Rover 20 years ahead, almost. The