LOOK, Chris rangie's 80 and article are now world famous
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LOOK, Chris rangie's 80 and article are now world famous
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Hi, I just wanted to say having stichted this article together for the LR Register 48 to 53's mag 'Full Grille'. Glad to see some of you liked it. I was great to see something of this quality come from back in Melborune especially as for the LROCV I used to write the 'Series 1 page for back in the early 1990's, but really all the credit needs to goto Chris for posting it here.
They love all this kind of crazy, 'Just by chance we found out' stuff in England and the UK. The Register has just got Paypal if you would like to join. Jump onto the S1 club forum and there is a thread there or just ask Willerby. I have been a member since 1992 and am currently on the committee and the editorial team so it won't ever all be just 'pommy stuff'
I have written for 'Full Grille' now on and off since about 1995 and we are certainly on a roll at the moment with the Arthur Goddard, Rover Assitant Chief Engineer, 1948 to 1956 interviews going really well and opening up a huge amount of new info. Everyone thought when Barton passed on the whole team had left. Not so.
One really cool part in all this was I called Land Rover's own Publicity Dept which covers history and told them who we had found. So to cut to the chase a week later I having a cup of tea with Spen King. Yes the real Spen King of the Range Rover in the 1960's and one of the only remaining senior people from those days as Spencer and Maurice Wilk's are his Uncles on his mothers side. So after all the chat about Arthur, who he remembered very well and Rover in the 1940's and 50's. He looks at me and says in a really good 'mock' aussie accent 'and me father was one of you lot'. Amazing what you find is ture. His father was born and bred in Melbounre just down the road from where I grew up. Spen's father went to England in his teens to boarding school and then to study law where he ended up in the same class as an equally young Spencer Wilks. So Small World.
Remember you read it here first...
hey Mike,
this is Great,
and the ad from Regent Motors! ........Priceless!
thanks heaps,
Chris
Great stuff, guys.
The advert mentioned that the chassis was galvanised. Did any of the production ones actually get a gal chassis, or was that decided against?
No it was decided against. The main prob with a gal chassis was they suddenly at the start of production in July 1948 had 8000 confirmed orders. Somethings had to go and Spencer Wilks reported to the board that they had to get production up to 500 vehicles a week to meet demand and invest money in proper production line facilities because of this. Arthur Goddard said to us in his interview that they initially would have been happy with 20 to 30 vehicles per week and he and the team designed the 80" on a shoe string budget with that in mindQuote:
Originally Posted by lane