Thread: Landrover Styling - over fifty years

Another view of grille on County.

What about the footwell vents? I seem to remember that my S2A had them but my S3 didn't. But I suppose that doesn't count as external styling, or maybe they were after market.

Goodness Gracious Me what about the Ambassador

The Hindustan Ambassador is a [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile"]car[/ame] manufactured by [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Motors"]Hindustan Motors[/ame] of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"]India[/ame]. It has been in production since 1958 without much modifications or changes and is based on the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Oxford"]Morris Oxford[/ame] III model first made by the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Motor_Company"]Morris Motor Company[/ame] at Cowley, Oxford in the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom"]United Kingdom[/ame] from 1956 to 1959.
Despite of its British origins, the Ambassador is considered as a definitive Indian car and is fondly called "The king of Indian roads". The automobile is manufactured by Hindustan Motors at its [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarpara"]Uttarpara[/ame] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory"]plant[/ame][1] near [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata"]Kolkata[/ame], [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal"]West Bengal[/ame].It is the most popular car in India and is perceived to be best suited to the harsh Indian terrain due to its very good suspension. Its iconic status was helped by the fact that it was the preferred means of conveyance of India's political leadership, including the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_India"]Prime Minister of India[/ame], before they moved on[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]] to other [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_cars"]luxury cars[/ame] and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUV"]SUVs[/ame]. In 2002, then-Indian PM [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atal_Bihari_Vajpayee"]Atal Bihari Vajpayee[/ame] started traveling in an armored [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_7_Series"]BMW 7i[/ame] vehicle for security purposes. However, some prominent Indian politicians, such as [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Gandhi"]Sonia Gandhi[/ame], continue with their preference for the Hindustan Ambassador.[2]

The CV2 Citroen had a long production run from 1938 to 1986 ?????? and it had very few minor changes in that time.
The WW2 jeep was still in production with the French totally unchanged in any way except for 24 electrics to 1972
The CJ3B jeep is still inproduction in India with most versions greatly improved from the american spec ones..........but I think a version with the original hurricane F head motor is still advailable and so is little changed from 1952.
Aussie 2a Army Landys had twin fuel tanks under the seat with a dipper stick to measure fuel level under the seat too.
The fillers were on the sides of the body.

My first 2a had twin tanks and the filler was under the seat. Pat

1. I don't think that I would include minor items such as fuel tank and filler location or even the protruding grille as "styling". And footwell vents were after market.

2. Citroen 2CV, although announced in 1938 was completely redesigned postwar, and did not go on sale until 1948, so its production run was actually less than 40 years.

3. Hindustan Ambassador would seem to be another candidate, as well as the Morgan four wheelers. The difference compared to Landrover is that neither of these have been sold worldwide in substantial numbers. The Ambassador may have sold in substantial numbers (I can't find any numbers), but almost only in India, and Morgans have never sold more than a few, albeit worldwide, but Landrover have sold quite substantial numbers, particularly in the sixties and early seventies, and the total over the last fifty years would have been far larger than either of these.

John

The Series 1 fuel tanks were accessed from under the seats and these may have been carried over to some of the very early Series 2 vehicles. Most S2s had the fuel filler fitted to the side behind the driver door unless they had been heavily modified as a specialist vehicle. (eg. S2a gunbuggy used S1 tanks.)
I was under the impression that the early Defenders were available with or without optional air conditioning and this protrusion of the grille was added to house the a/c condenser radiator which (if fitted) was mounted in front of the radiator.
Door hinges are a give-a-way as to the age of the vehicle (S2a to S3) as was, during the later Series runs, the different bonnets available a give-a-way to the perceived attempts of bringing 'class distinction' to the vehicle.
Somewhere along the line there has been a tyre size change (6.50x16 to 7.50x16s and of course their later metric equivalents).
Regards
Glen

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The obvious one is the VW beetle (1938 - 2003, but in fact they made major changes to it, even introducing a curved windscreen (1973), which changed the whole shape of the body.

John

I think you are being a bit biased here. I think it can easily be said that the VW changed as little as the LR. Very few (if any) parts from a 1948 Land rover would fit a 1973 model - I can think of the diff centres (front only for a 109) and transfer case (although gearing and some other internals were different).
It could be arguing that moving the radiator 1' forward changed the "whole shape of the body" as well.

As mentioned, the air conditioned county models had a protruding grille and no vents - so the puma owners need to learn their LR history if they thionk that is new.