Last time we examined an early Land-Rover which, like the Willys Jeep before it, set the template for what a small off-roader should be: durable, straightforward and widely adaptable. It wasn’t until the 1970s that many other marques attempted the formula, but there had been one serious and very creditable home-grown effort in the 50s and 60s: the Austin Gipsy.
It’s obvious enough that by making the Gipsy, Austin hoped to capitalise on Land-Rover’s success and threaten its monopoly. Of all the British marques, it made sense that the challenger should be Austin because it had extensive recent experience of making a light off-roader, the Austin ¼-ton 4x4 Truck, or Champ.
The Champ was conceived as a British alternative to the Jeep, but unlike the Land-Rover it was designed to meet a British Army specification. Though excellent in action, its complex design was its downfall. It was expensive to build and sell, and it made on-the-go maintenance and repairs unhelpfully difficult.
The Champ was made in very limited numbers for the civilian market and, when the Gipsy superseded it in 1958, Austin had learnt its lesson. The Gipsy embraced every principle of Land-Rover design and in almost every regard it
