The Series 2a forward control was simply an attempt to provide a Landrover with greater carrying capacity (It was rated at 2 tons compared to the 109 bonneted model at 3/4 ton) while using a minimum of new parts (Rover was only a small company).
It was a modest success, with a number of problems. The major problem was that while Rover saw it as a road vehicle with usefulness on soft ground such as building sites, buyers assumed it would go anywhere that their normal Landrover would go. This showed up an embarrassing tendency to lie down on its side, resulting from the much higher centre of gravity on the same track. And on the road, the 2.25 engine barely provided even the performance expected in the 1960s from commercial vehicles.
The 2b forward control solved many of the problems, with the six cylinder engine, and a wider track, but at the expense of commonality with other Landrovers. While it looked as if it was a sales success, the sales rate was below the cut-off numbers for a separate model laid down by the new owners of the company (Leyland) and production ceased in 1972.
There appear to have been 3,193 2a FCs and 2305 2b FCs built. They were never common in Australia, although it was not uncommon to see them about in the mid sixties when they first appeared. Almost all were bought by commercial enterprises who ran them into the ground, scrapped them, and found something else. As a result, they are quite uncommon today, and not many look for them, partly because they are generally impractical for private owners except perhaps as a motor home, but also because the parts that are different from the standard models tend to be hard to find - even the correct size tyres (9.00x16) are virtually unobtainable.
The completely unrelated 101FC is today much more common because it was sold only to the military, and was then sold by various armed forces to the civilian market in relatively large numbers at about the same time, while still in good condition.
John
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
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