Thread: How ever did the Land rover get invented?

Originally Posted by Wraithe

I must ask, how did the landrover get invented when the brits cant get a vacumm cleaner going to start with?..

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/X...leaner_dvd.mp4

But then again I have also seen one trying to start a Stihl concrete cutting machine...


Apprentice trying to bump off the still saw - YouTube

Found this a long time ago The Land Rover History: Timeline

Originally Posted by Rickoz

Found this a long time ago The Land Rover History: Timeline

The 4wd as we know it today, all developed from wars...

The Landy in 48' and the toyota and Nissan in 51'...

Toyo and nissan where contracts for the Korean campaign...Both based around the Willy's idea, also...

These ideas of vehicles came from years before hand, during steam traction vehicles and the necessity of travelling large vehicles and small across tracks originally for horses and carts.. Remember also the Cart/Sulky/Dray where very restricted by the fact most countries only had paths not roads, thus the railway concept was one of the solutions to get products and people to places. And as we know from history, the canal had its place too in some countries.. The romans probably made the biggest difference in Europe but outside of that, we had to start from scratch and the 4wd still has its place to get people and products to a destination unreachable by a car all year...

But looking at the videos, pull starting a vacumm cleaner, now that makes me wonder about the pommes...

As you say, four wheel drives came about mainly because of wars. They were introduced before the first World War, and were used in large numbers during that was, although light four wheel drives such as the landrover hardly existed.

Between the wars, the story became all half-tracks, with, for example, Citroen doing a number of African trips using half-tracks. In the mid twenties, the invention of CV joints, especially the Tracta joint by Gregoire, made driving front axles more satisfactory, paving the way for four wheel drives.

By the late thirties, half-tracks were getting less satisfactory, mainly because with increasing paved roads, the damage due to tracks became less acceptable, and speeds were able to be maintained that half-tracks had difficulty with. The British Army, and following them, the USA army, experimented with light utility vehicles based on the Austin Seven. This led to prototype four wheel drive versions from Bantam, the North American distributor of Austins. This in turn led to a competition involving Bantam, Willys and Ford. The Bantam design was the successful one, but was put into production by Ford and Willys using the Willys engine as the 'Jeep'.

At the end of WW2, with tens of thousands of ex-soldiers used to these Jeeps, Willys in the US continued making modified versions for the civilian market. With these unavailable in the sterling area, Rover designed what was effectively a copy of the Jeep, with all the improvements they could think of for civilian use, plus modifying the design to use available production methods and as many existing parts as possible, and the Landrover was born. Actually, it had very little in common with the Jeep except for dimensions, and the fact that both used the same general layout.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

As you say, four wheel drives came about mainly because of wars. They were introduced before the first World War, and were used in large numbers during that was, although light four wheel drives such as the landrover hardly existed.

Between the wars, the story became all half-tracks, with, for example, Citroen doing a number of African trips using half-tracks. In the mid twenties, the invention of CV joints, especially the Tracta joint by Gregoire, made driving front axles more satisfactory, paving the way for four wheel drives.

By the late thirties, half-tracks were getting less satisfactory, mainly because with increasing paved roads, the damage due to tracks became less acceptable, and speeds were able to be maintained that half-tracks had difficulty with. The British Army, and following them, the USA army, experimented with light utility vehicles based on the Austin Seven. This led to prototype four wheel drive versions from Bantam, the North American distributor of Austins. This in turn led to a competition involving Bantam, Willys and Ford. The Bantam design was the successful one, but was put into production by Ford and Willys using the Willys engine as the 'Jeep'.

At the end of WW2, with tens of thousands of ex-soldiers used to these Jeeps, Willys in the US continued making modified versions for the civilian market. With these unavailable in the sterling area, Rover designed what was effectively a copy of the Jeep, with all the improvements they could think of for civilian use, plus modifying the design to use available production methods and as many existing parts as possible, and the Landrover was born. Actually, it had very little in common with the Jeep except for dimensions, and the fact that both used the same general layout.

I recall reading somewhere the width of the Land Rover was somewhat dictated by the centuries old British Army 6 foot track. The width of a laden packhorse and as referred to early wagons, drays and the like. And troops in columns of two. Or is that a myth that appears after the series 1?

The Landrover (That's how it was spelt) was invented because Farmer Wilks' second hand WW2 Jeep kept breaking down and, as the owner of Rover, he thought he could make something better.

Originally Posted by travelrover

... Or is that a myth that appears after the series 1?

Myth I am afraid. For several reasons. The Landrover track was a direct copy of the Jeep, as were the other dimensions - except that to fit the Rover engine in, the chassis had to be widened, and added to the fact that the Rover chassis was a box structure and the side rails wider than the Jeeps pressed steel U-sections, the track had to be widened, from memory two inches, to allow a reasonable turning circle. (And the track was again increased with the introduction of the Series 2 in 1958, and again with the 110 in 1983.)

But the Jeep's track was copied from the Austin Seven, which may in turn have been influenced by the common track of light horsedrawn vehicles that it was intended to replace. And these in turn, I have seen it alleged, were copied from the standard track used by the Romans!

John

Originally Posted by Fifth Columnist

The Landrover (That's how it was spelt) was invented because Farmer Wilks' second hand WW2 Jeep kept breaking down and, as the owner of Rover, he thought he could make something better.

Not exactly - The Wilkes brothers were MD (Spencer) and engineering manager (Maurice) of the Rover company, not owners of the company. During the winter of 1947, Maurice's car was unable to traverse his long driveway due to snow and ice, so he borrowed a neighbour's disposals Jeep, buying it a short time later. He was impressed with its utility, and realised that with dollar area imports not possible, there was a market opening for one made in England. At the same time, the government started placing a number of restrictions on car manufacturers, which meant that Rover would not survive with its existing and planned products.

This led to to Maurice taking his Jeep to the factory, where it was stripped to the chassis and a concept vehicle built using the Jeep rolling chassis, fitted with a Rover engine and gearbox, and a completely new body made from light alloy. This was the fabled "Centre Steer" 'prototype'. There is no record of breakdowns of the Jeep.

Actually more of a concept vehicle, it was used mainly to demonstrate to the board the sort of thing that could be built, to get approval to proceed. The first actual prototypes, or actually part of a preproduction batch, were able to appear at the Amsterdam Motor Show in March 1948, unveiling the Landrover to the world. (Try developing a car from scratch in that time today!)

Originally Posted by Wraithe

I must ask, how did the landrover get invented when the brits cant get a vacumm cleaner going to start with?..

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/X...leaner_dvd.mp4

But then again I have also seen one trying to start a Stihl concrete cutting machine...


Apprentice trying to bump off the stihl saw - YouTube

Well you know how to start something.