Thread: White roof Curiosity ....

Series 2,2a and 3 Station wagons sold in Australia all had (I believe) safari ie: double skin roofs, they were more expensive to make and were therefore only fitted to the expensive wagons, Defenders were supposed to have a better roof insulation??? and air-con available and not need the safari roof.

I love all the rationale and as has been said before - all are possible.

1. Henry Ford said of the Model "T" you can have any colour you want as long as it's Black! (Although he probably spelt it color!)

2. Re Aeroplanes: Don Carry CEO of American Airlines left their aircraft unpainted except for the red and blue lines at window level because it reduced the weight of the aircraft by hundreds of pounds. The weight of the paint adds to the cost of fuel to every flight.

3. While in the UK and other markets Land Rovers were sold in various colours, in Australia it's my guess the reason for the various whites of the roof in almost all models over the years was something between Henry Ford's mass production reasons and cooling effect of whites under the Aussie sun. To test the theory, go into any new car yard on a sunny day and put your hand on the skin of a number of cars including a white one. The metal of the white car is always cooler than any other colour including silver. While they may look cool black cars are not cool on the inside and the air con has to work harder to make you comfortable in a black or dark coloured car.

Just out of interest, didn't the early 110/County still have the tropical roof as an option? I know that fibreglass ones were standard on Perentie hard tops.

Originally Posted by one_iota

The tropical roof is a great device...pity they dispensed with it in the County/Defender.

In the pursuit of fuel economy I guess it buggered up the aerodynamics

It was more to do with asthetics I believe. And Tropical Roof is the correct term. And yes, on Stn Wagons there were 4 opening vents in the main roof.