Classic Cars with History: Land Rover Series 1 and its 65 years

And the old Jeep was going to serve as the basis for the chassis of the first Land Rover. The Series 1, also known as HUE 166, was already a prototype in 1947, when the idea of the model was more than mature. Towards the end of that year, the newly formed Land Rover authorised the construction of 50 pre-production models. The following year, at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show, the Land Rover Series 1 was presented to the world, and the journey of one of the two great brands (along with Jeep) that have dedicated much of their lives to building off-road vehicles began.

As you can see, the first Land Rover was only a working vehicle, very far from the almost playful off-roaders the company offers today. It had no comfort whatsoever and was capable of withstanding the harshest conditions, even better than those old wartime Jeep Willys, since, when examining their own Jeep, the Wilks concluded that it had design flaws that did not give the structure of the vehicle they wanted to design sufficient strength. The Wilks brothers built it thinking that it should literally be a cross between a tractor and a car. And boy, did they succeed.

Prototype number 3 was equipped like all the Series 1 vehicles that followed it, and it was the one they showed in Amsterdam. It featured permanent four-wheel drive and a power take-off at the rear, which could drive another engine or another machine used in farm work. With these two features, seen until then only on trucks, the Series 1 won over those who had initially been sceptical about the arrival of a British competitor to the Jeep.

The first Land Rover had to suffer through continuous problems with the supply of metal parts, especially for the bodywork. To make matters worse, the situation of British industry in the 1945–1950 period was utterly dire; there were not even tools or the necessary raw materials to build vehicles, so in the case of the first generation of the Land Rover, everything was made without even having the basic body dimensions. For this reason, no two first-series Land Rover vehicles are exactly alike.

The Wilks achieved their goal: almost two million of these vehicles were built and sold, and it is estimated that around 65% are still on the road somewhere in the world. A vehicle that turned out to be practically indestructible, although it was as uncomfortable as sitting on a stone with wheels.

From the Series 1 there were also some interesting derivatives, such as a slightly more luxurious version bodied by Tickford, who had bodied some Rolls-Royce and Lagonda cars. Also well known is the Station Wagon version with a double roof called the “safari roof” (simply a canvas placed over the vehicle’s roof) to keep the interior cool in summer and warm in winter.

In terms of engines, it did not innovate much, respecting the tradition of British engines of the time, mostly 1.6-litre units. Initially it was fitted with those same petrol engines of 1.6 litres producing 50 hp, later moving to 2 litres and to the first diesel in 1957, the year the Series 1 ceased production.

Source | Octane, Wikipedia