History of the Renouned Series 1

Series 1, the birth of Land Rover...
The Land Rover Series 1 is the original. It is based on the World War II "Willis Jeep". The Rover company used there own parts to put something together that was suppoost to be a stop gap. Something to make quick money before concetrating on building "serious" cars again. But the design was so simple. It was just what the people needed.
It was aimed at those people overseas in the "colonies". But also the rural British farmers liked it very much. Remember this is still in the fourties, early fifties. This was a country just coming out of a war. Most farmers still relied on real horsepower to get the job done. And then Rover came up with this. This versatile tool that could be used on every normal workday, and did tons more work then a horse. It could be used to brig the children to school. It was used on Sundays for the weekly Sunday duties and so on.

It was simple in design, easy to maintain with the normal "farmers" tools. It could be repaired where ever it broke down. But most off all it was a very reliable little piece of machinery. So reliable in fact, that there are still many around nowadays. It is not fast, not powerfull and definitely not comfortable, but then its always a Land Rover.

In those days, nobody had ever really heard of marketing. A company just built what people wanted or demanded. People wanted more loading space and they wanted more powerfull engines. So the ROVER company made the Land Rover Series I.

Some technical info...
Built between 1948 - 1958
Available in 80 inch, 86 inch, 88 inch, 107 inch and 109 inch wheelbase

Engine Capacities
1595cc petrol - 4cyl 50bhp@4000rpm - 80lbs/ft@2000rpm
1997cc petrol - 4cyl 52bhp@4000rpm - 101lbs/ft@1500rpm
2052cc diesel - 4cyl 51bhp@3500rpm - 87lbs/ft@2000rpm

Speeds and Consumption
1.6ltr Petrol - 90 km/h, 12-16 l/100km
2.0ltr Petrol - 105 km/h, 11-15 l/100km
2.0ltr Deisel - 105 km/h, 11-14 l/100km

Other Features
The Series 1 featured full-time 4WD with a front free-wheel mechanism which could be locked by a "ring-pull" control. The head-lights were mounted behind the radiator grille (which made them hard to clean). The side-lights were mounted on the fire-wall or bulkhead.
The series 1 was produced as a pick-up, station wagon or hard top, but since all body parts were easily interchangable, many weird varieties were produced to suite personal needs. This is the real treasure of Land Rovers...No Land Rover is Alike!
1949: 80" Station-wagon model.
1949: First Land-Rovers used on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (SMHEA).
1949: Head-lights "through" the radiator grille.
1950: Selectable 2WD or 4WD - the free-wheel mechanism dropped.
1951: 2-litre engine. 80" station wagon discontinued.
1952: Exterior door-handles, new inverted-T radiator grill, side-lights on wings.
1953: 107" model introduced; SWB lengthened to 86".
1954: Station wagon reintroduced.
1955: 10-seater LWB station wagon introduced (the ultimate "Meccano" kit car?).
1956: Wheelbases increased by 2" (88" and 109"), except 107" SW.
1957: Optional 2-litre diesel engine. Fully-floating halfshafts on LWB.

Overall History and Unique Designs
Using similar dimensions to the World War II Jeep, the first Land Rovers had an 80" wheelbase. This 80" wheel base Land Rover was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show on the 30th April 1948 and was produced from 1948 to 1953. It used a 1.6 litre, 4-cylinder Rover engine from the P3 Rover car range. The engine was upgraded to a 2-litre version for the 1952 season. For 1954 the Land Rover was given a complete upgrade and in addition to many changes, which included the wheel base being extended by 6 inches, another model was introduced, the long wheel base Land Rover, on a wheel base of 107 inches. The 1948 to 1953 models where identified, once the new models had been announced, as the 80" models.
The 86" and 107" Land Rovers were only short lived, since in 1957 there was another wheel base extension of 2 inches in the front of the chassis to make way for the new 2-litre diesel engine. The Land Rover then became the 88" and 109" models. The 107" stayed in production to 1958 as the 5-door station wagon. This model was not available with the diesel engine. When the Series Two Land Rover was announced in 1958 all the earlier model Land Rover's, 80", 86", 107" and 109" were now known as Series One Land Rovers.
This "stop-gap" vehicle was much more successful than Rover could ever have expected. For 25 years they could sell more Land-Rovers, and later Range Rovers, than they could make. The aluminium bodywork became a hall-mark and explains why so many series ones are trundling around today. It is still used for most external panels of Range Rovers, Discoveries and Defenders.