Land Rovers

Series I, Series II, Series III, Ninety & One Ten Defender, Lightweight, Land Rover Discovery, Freelander, Forward Control

The Land Rover Series II

The Land Rover Series II


The successor to the successful Series I was the Series II, which saw a production run from 1958 to 1961. It came in 88 in (2,200 mm) and 109 in (2,800 mm) wheelbases (normally referred to as the 'SWB' and 'LWB'). This was the first Land Rover to receive the attention of Rover's styling department- Chief Stylist David Bache produed the familiar 'barrel side' waistline to cover the vehicle's wider track and the improved design of the truck cab variant, introducing the curved side windows and rounded roof still used on current Land Rovers. The Series II was the first vehicle to use the well-known 2.25 litre petrol engine, although early short wheelbase (SWB) models retained the 2.0 litre petrol engine from the Series I for the first 1,500 or so vehicles. This larger petrol engine produced 72 hp (54 kW) and was closely related to the 2.0 litre diesel unit still in use. This engine became the standard Land Rover unit until the mid-1980s when diesel engines became more popular.

The 109-inch (2,800 mm) Series II Station Wagon introduced a 12-seater option on top of the standard 10-seater layout. This was primarily to take advantage of UK tax laws, by which a vehicle with 12 seats or more was classed as a bus, and was exempt from Purchase Tax and Special Vehicle Tax. This made the 12-seater not only cheaper to buy than the 10-seater version, but also cheaper than the 7-seater 88-inch (2,200 mm) Station Wagon. The 12-seater layout remained a highly popular body style for decades, being retained on the later Series and Defender variants until 2002, when it was dropped. The unusual status of the 12-seater remained until the end—such vehicles were classed as minibuses and thus could use bus lanes and (if registered correctly) could be exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

There was some degree of over-lap between Series I and Series II production. Early UK-market Series II 88-inch (2,200 mm) vehicles were fitted with the old 2 litre petrol engine to use up existing stock (all export models received the new 2.25 litre engine from the beginning), and production of the Series I 107-inch (2,700 mm) Station Wagon continued until late 1959 due to continued demand from export markets and to allow the production of Series II components to reach full level.
 

Land Rover TimeLine

* 1948: Land Rover is designed by the Wilks Brothers and is manufactured by the Rover Car Company
* 1958: Series II launched
* 1961: Series IIA began production
* 1967: Rover becomes part of Leyland Motors Ltd, later British Leyland (BL) as Rover Triumph.
* 1970: Introduction of the Range Rover
* 1971: Series III launched.
* 1975: BL collapses and is nationalised, publication of the Ryder Report recommends that Land Rover be split from Rover and be treated as a separate company within BL and becomes part of the new commercial vehicle division called the Land Rover Leyland Group
* 1976: One millionth Land Rover leaves the production line.
* 1978: Land Rover Limited formed as a separate subsidiary of British Leyland[14]
* 1980: Rover car production ends at Solihull with the transfer of SD1 production to Cowley, Oxford; Solihull is now exclusively for Land Rover manufacture. 5-door Range Rover introduced.
* 1983: Land Rover 90 (Ninety)/110 (One-Ten)/127 (renamed Defender in 1990) introduced.
* 1986: BL plc becomes Rover Group plc; Project Llama started.
* 1988: Rover Group is privatised and becomes part of British Aerospace, and is now known simply as Rover.
* 1987: Range Rover is introduced to the U.S market March 16.
* 1989: Introduction of the Discovery
* 1994: Rover Group is taken over by BMW. Introduction of second-generation Range Rover. (The original Range Rover was continued under the name 'Range Rover Classic' until 1995)
* 1997: Land Rover introduces the Special Edition Discovery XD with AA Yellow paint, subdued wheels, SD type roof racks, and a few other off-road upgrades directly from the factory. Produced only for the North American market, the Special Vehicles Division of Land Rover created only 250 of these bright yellow SUV's. Official formation of the Camel Trophy Owners Club by co-founders Neill Browne, Pantelis Giamarellos and Peter Sweetser.
* 1997: Introduction of the Freelander
* 1998: Introduction of the second generation of Discovery
* 2000: BMW breaks up the Rover Group and sells Land Rover to Ford for £1.8 billion
* 2002: Introduction of third-generation Range Rover
* 2005: Land Rover 'founder' Rover, collapses under the ownership of MG Rover Group.
* 2004: Introduction of the third-generation Discovery/LR3
* 2005: Introduction of Range Rover Sport
* 2005: Adoption of the Jaguar AJ-V8 engine to replace the BMW M62 V8 in the Range Rover
* 2006: Announcement of a new 2.4 litre diesel engine, 6-speed gearbox, dash and forward facing rear seats for Defender. Introduction of second generation of Freelander (Freelander 2). Ford acquires the Rover trademark from BMW, who previously licensed its use to MG Rover Group.
* 8 May 2007: 4,000,000th Land Rover rolls off the production line, a Discovery 3 (LR3), donated to The Born Free Foundation.
* 12 June 2007: Announcement from the Ford Motor Company that it plans to sell Land Rover and also Jaguar Cars.
* August 2007: India's Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra as well as financial sponsors Cerberus Capital Management, TPG Capital and Apollo Management expressed their interest in purchasing Jaguar Cars and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company.
* 26 March 2008: Ford agreed to sell their Jaguar Land Rover operations to Tata Motors.
* 2 June 2008:Tata Motors finalised their purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

Land Rover Clubs (UK)

Association of Land Rover Clubs Ltd
Simone Birch, General Secretary, 1A Duncan Avenue, Huncote, Leics. LE9 3AN
Tel: 0116 286 7913
tonybirch@btopenworld.com
www.alrc.co.uk