The Austin Champ was the civilian version of a British Army vehicle made by the Austin Motor Company. The army version was officially known as: Truck, 1/4 ton, CT, 4x4, cargo & FFW, Austin Mk.1 however the civilian name "Champ" was universally, if unofficially applied to the vehicle.
[] History
A British Army specification for a light truck was issued in the late 1940s, inspired by the jeep but able to perform in all theatres of operation of the British Army. It was considered important that a home-produced vehicle was produced in order to reduce the reliance on US vehicles and the foreign expenditure which that entailed. A project to design a "Car 4x4 5 cwt FV1800-Series" was launched in 1947, and the Nuffield organisation built three prototype designs known as the "Nuffield Gutty". Testing of these revealed serious shortcomings and the design was improved by a team at the government Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE) under the leadership of Charles William "Rex" Sewell. Of note is the fact that the suspension system of the vehicle was designed by Alec Issigonis, later famed for the design of the Mini. Prototypes of the improved vehicle were built by Wolesley Motors under the name "Wolseley Mudlark" and after further refinement, the design was formalised as FV1801(a). The Austin Motor Company was awarded the contract to produce 15,000 vehicles and a former aircraft factory at Cofton Hackett, on the edge of Austin's Longbridge complex in Birmingham was fitted out for the work. The first production vehicle was built on 1st September 1951. The formal title: "Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4x4, CT, Austin Mk.1" was assigned.(CT is a contraction of the word CombaT). A Rolls Royce-designed four cylinder engine of 2838cc was used, the smallest of the standardised B-Range engines. Approximately half of the contract were to be basic vehicles known as Cargo trucks and the remainder were to be fitted with high output generators and additional batteries in order to fit radio equipment. These were known as "Fitted For Wireless" (FFW) vehicles. Rolls Royce built engines for the early production vehicles but later vehicles were fitted with a virtually identical engine built under licence by Austin themselves. In order to obtain some commercial benefit from the contract, Austin were given permission to use the design for a simplified version to be sold as the Austin Champ. This version was mostly fitted with a modified Austin A90 engine and the great majority were exported.
In military service, they were given the designation FV1801 (FV = Fighting Vehicle), a few were used as ambulances, telephone line-laying vehicles or equipped with armour and a Vickers .303in medium machine gun, but the majority served as cargo /personnel carriers or were fitted with radios.
As the Champ entered service it became apparent that although the vehicle had an outstanding cross-country performance, it was too expensive (£1200 at 1951 prices), too complex, and had limited use outside of the narrow field combat role for which it had been designed. Consequently the contract with Austin was prematurely terminated. The Landrover had actually entered army service before the Champ (as early as 1949), was half the price and could do 80% of the tasks the Champ could do and ultimately replaced the Champ in all roles. The Champ served with the British Army in the UK, Africa, Germany, Cyprus, the Suez campaign and early vehicles were used in the Korean war. They were never popular compared to the Landrover and the last vehicles were sold off by 1967. The only other forces to use the Champ were the Royal Marines who had 30 and the Australian Army who bought 400 new and about the same number of ex-British Army ones.
[] Design
The engine was a 2.8-litre four-cylinder petrol unit designed by Rolls Royce and was the smallest of the standardised B-Range military engines. Rolls Royce produced engines early in the contract but did not have the capacity for volume production at the rate required, therefore Austin was licenced to build a virtually identical engine and Austin made engines were fitted in the majority of Champs built. The gearbox had five forward speeds. Final drive was from the gearbox to the rear differential which incorporated reverse gear, thereby allowing 5 reverse gears also, and then by a shaft to the front differential. A conventional separate transfer case was not possible due to the cruciform layout of the vehicle chassis which placed the junction of the cruciform where the transfer box would reside on a conventional ladder type chassis. The engine and all electricals were waterproofed so it could wade to a depth of 6 feet; a snorkel on the aircleaner could be raised during wading operations. The body was a simple four-seater tub based on the war-time jeep layout.
[] Specifications
* Engine:
o FV1801 (Military): Rolls Royce B40, either built by RR (4 digit engine numbers) or by Austin (5 digit engine numbers)
o Champ (civilian): Austin A90 engine or the B40
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