The British Jeep
The Land Rover was introduced during the post World War Two years as the British answer to America’s famous Willys Jeep. In fact, the British Land Rover adopted most of it’s traits directly from the Jeep. Just like the Jeep, the Land-Rover was built for tough work. It was a vehicle that was built to do the tasks other vehicles could not. The design of the first Land Rover was the work of Maurice Wilks. Wilks had high praise for the Willys Jeep and in fact owned one.
After the end of World War II, a good number of Jeeps had been left behind in Britain. Interestingly enough, while the Willys Jeep was created as a military vehicle, Wilks looked at the possibilities of it being incorporated into farming and more. Along with being a director with British Rover, Wilks also owned a farm. The very ruggedness of the vehicle made it applicable to farm work.
While the Willys Jeep was the first of such a vehicle, it actually was the British who carried the concept even further. The first British Land Rover model (see specs below) was very similar to the Jeep. If you didn’t see the nameplate of the first Land Rover model you may have easily mistaken it for a Willys Jeep.
The early Land-Rover was a four wheel drive “go anywhere” vehicle. Series I through III were produced from 1948 to 1980. It took a few years for Britain to begin producing civilian cars in any number because of the steel shortage right at the end of the war. There was a prototype made in 1947 that never went into production. This prototype actually had the drivers seat and steering wheel in the center. The prototype of this sort never made it into production.
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