Land Rover

Maurice Cary Ferdinand Wilks (1904—1963) was an automotive and aeronautical engineer, and by the time of his death in 1963, was the chairman of the Rover Company, a British car manufacturer. He was responsible for the inspiration and concept work that led to the development of the Land Rover off-road utility vehicle. In 1926 Wilks went to work for General Motors in the United States. After two years in the U.S., he returned to England to work for the Hillman Motor Car Company in Coventry. Wilks worked at Hillman for two years as a planning engineer until 1930, when he moved to the Rover Company as chief engineer, joining his brother, Spencer (Spencer Bernau Wilks), who was managing director at Rover at that time. During World War II, Wilks led Rover's team developing Frank Whittle's gas turbine aircraft engines. Shortly after the war, whilst at his farm in Anglesey, Wilks, who used an army surplus Willys Jeep for farm work, and his brother Spencer who was visiting him, were inspired to develop and produce a utility four-wheel-drive vehicle for farmers, and the name Land Rover was coined for it. By the summer of 1947 Rover had built a prototype Land Rover vehicle based on a Jeep chassis. In September 1947, the Rover company authorised the production of 50 pre-production models for evaluation purposes. Spencer Bernau Wilks (1891—1971) engineering director and co-founder of the Land Rover brand. The Rover Drawing Office was the company's engineering design section, all drawing boards and sliding rulers in those days. It was divided into sections dealing with the different major elements of car design, and it was five leaders of those sections who received Maurice Wilks's brief for the new vehicle: their names were Gordon Bashford, Joe Drinkwater, Tom Barton, Frank Shaw, and Sam Ostler. (charge of exterior design) Gordon Bashford's job was to design the new chassis frame, and he remembered many years later that one of his first tasks was to visit a military surplus dump somewhere in the Cotswolds and to buy four Jeeps so that the Rover design team could take them apart and discover what made them tick. Bashford decided to use box-section side members rather than the Jeep's channel-section members, which were notoriously prone to cracking. The box section would give vital extra strength, and Rover was already wedded to the idea of using the same principle for its forthcoming 1948 cars. Work on the engine fell to Joe Drinkwater. He had to adapt Rover's brand-new 4-cylinder engine, largely designed before the war by Chief Engine Designer Jack Swaine, to suit its new role in the proposed utility 4x4. In charge of transmissions was Tom Barton , a no-nonsense ex-railway engineer, and it was his job to draw up a two-speed transfer gearbox to bolt onto the existing Rover car gearbox and give the new vehicle crawler ratios for driving across rough terrain. On this he worked closely with Frank Shaw, head of the Transmissions team, who was also assigned to the 4x4 project. The fifth designer on Maurice Wilks's new team was Sam Ostler, whose job was to come up with the bodywork for the new vehicle. Arthur Goddard (born on 31 January 1921) worked at the Rover Company from 1945 to 1957 and was in charge of the Land Rovers engineering development from 1947 to 1957. Olaf Poppe Box-section frames required expensive press tools and jigs, and Maurice Wilks wanted the absolute minimum of new tooling to get the Land Rover into production. So Bashford consulted Chief Production Engineer Olaf Poppe , who devised a way of making the box-sections out of four flat pieces of steel. Any twist that occurred while welding one edge would, he reasoned, correct itself when the opposite edge was welded in turn. With the addition only of a simple jig (nicknamed the 'Christmas tree' because of its shape), Poppe's method was adopted for production. It worked so well that all short-wheelbase Land Rover chassis were made in this way until the demise of the Series III models in 1985.

Charles Spencer King (Spen King) - Director of engineering Идею оригинального Range Rover подсказал главный инженер автомобильной компании Rover по новым проектам, Чарльз Спенсер «Спен» Кинг (Charles Spencer “Spen” King) , который работал в основном над моделями Rover, а не над Land Rover (в то время это было полноприводное подразделение Rover).«Идея состояла в том, чтобы объединить комфорт и качество хода по твердому покрытию седана Rover с внедорожными возможностями Land Rover. — говорит Кинг. — В то время никто этого не делал. Я думал, что стоило попробовать, кроме того, Land Rover требовался новый продукт». Работа над первым прототипом Range Rover, тогда называвшимся «100-дюймовым универсалом», началась в 1966 г., частично под впечатлением от растущего рынка полноприводных автомобилей для отдыха в Северной Америке. «Он должен был стать премиум-автомобилем для отдыха, но не «люксовым» вариантом, — говорит бывший ведущий конструктор Джеф Миллер (Jeff Miller). — Также предполагалось, что в нем будет множество технических новинок. Спен был убежден, что в автомобиле должны были использоваться винтовые пружины на передней и задней подвеске для комфортного движения по трассе, чего не было ни в одном другом полноприводном автомобиле. Требовалась пружинная подвеска с очень длинным ходом для удобства при движении по бездорожью». Среди других технических нововведений были алюминиевый кузов (как у Land Rover), полностью алюминиевый двигатель и дисковые тормоза на всех колесах. До выхода с конвейера в Солихалле первого серийного автомобиля было произведено всего 10 прототипов. Само название Range Rover было придумано дизайнером Тони Пулом после того, как были отвергнуты другие названия, включая Panther и Leopard. Gordon Bashford- разработка шасси; Joe Drinkwater - двигатель; Charles Spencer King -Director of engineering Sam Ostler - дизайн автомобиля; Tom Barton - трансмиссия транспортного средства; Olaf Poppe - инженер – технолог; Robert Boyle - chief engineer at Rover, Chief Engineer at Morris Arthur Goddard - инженер-разработчик Johnny Cullen - водитель-испытатель

Arthur Goddard A team was made up of Engineers to get the ‘Land Rover’ project going. Overall Maurice Wilks was the technical director and Robert Boyle was chief engineer at Rover. Goddard was development engineer and put in charge of the overall Land Rover test and development programme in 1947. Through the late 40s and early 50s Goddard was in charge of a fleet of development vehicles that lead to the development Land Rover Defender range today. Goddard became Rovers assistant chief engineer of Rover cars and Land Rovers in 1952. Once the Land Rover Series 2 design was finished Goddard moved on from Rover in 1957 to become the technical director of Girling brakes. After he left Rover, Arthur's old job was so big as the company had grown it was split in two. He was replaced by Chris Goode on the Rover Cars engineering and by Jack Pogmore who was in charge of the Land Rovers engineering until 1962. Tom Barton one of the original team from 1947 was put in charge of the Land Rovers Engineering after Pogmore had been moved to an administration role. Arthur Goddard had been working on Rover cars in the area of noise and vibration as the Land Rover programme began and ran the development department. Part of the brief to develop the Land Rover idea but also to find out as much as they could about farming machinery and potential uses for the new vehicle, which was hugely successful from its launch at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show. Numerous photos exist of Goddard and his development driver Johnny Cullen testing the first pre production Land Rover.

Tom Barton Barton believed that the Land Rover was basically a sound design and that change for change's sake was pointless; that is largely why the 1960s and 1970s saw no great strides forward in the products. It doesn't matter whether Barton was the first person to argue that retaining leaf springs gave a ride that would make the driver back off before he broke the vehicle, but that anecdote summarizes his view very well. He was implacably opposed to coil-spring suspension for many years and had the gravest doubts about the Range Rover in its early years for that reason. But when prototypes in the mid-1970s demonstrated that coil springs worked extremely well on a Land Rover too (see Chapter 13), he conceded the point, and the first generation of coil-sprung models was developed on his watch.

David Ernest Bache (14 June 1925 – 26 November 1994) was a British car designer. For much of his career he worked with Rover. In 1958 the Land Rover was re-styled to get it above immerging copies from abroad and BMC. David Bache was given the job and the series 11 was born.

Explorer Col John Blashford-Snell John Blashford snell Le-Colonel-John-Blashford-Snell

Series I The production design of the Land Rover was ready by the end of 1947 This Series I Land Rover began its military career with the British Army in 1949 and had test in the Korean War. The Land Rover Series I went on to become the British Army's standard quarter-ton 4x4 light vehicle, But at same time Austin got a Champ 4x4 small fiend car at market as well. Transmission: Permanent four-wheel drive with freewheel, Primary gearbox with four forward speeds, Transfer gearbox with high and low ranges LAND ROVER SERIES I & II

1958 Series II introduced. Series IIA is introduced in 1961. To counter the planned introduction of a competitor vehicle from Austin, the Gipsy, Rover pulled together a series of updates to their existing models and asked their car stylist, David Bache, to design a new body for the Land Rover. The results were presented in April 1958 - ten years after the first Land Rover had been introduced - as the Series II model. Transmission: Selectable four-wheel drive, Primary gearbox with four forward speeds, Transfer gearbox with high and low ranges

Forward Control IIA IIB Demand for a robust load-carrying Land Rover grew during the 1950s, and was answered in 1962 with the launch of the Series IIA Forward Control vehicle. This distinctive vehicle was based on the Series II 109" chassis but had the cab positioned over the engine, resulting in a greatly increased load space. The IIA Forward Control was also fitted with heavy duty axles and larger tyres, helping to increase the ground clearance. The only body style produced was that of a pick-up. The only seating was in the cab, which could be open or closed. The cab was carried on a front sub-frame that was bolted onto the chassis. Overall, the IIA design proved economical and required only a few new parts. The front and rear sub-frame design was chosen for economic reasons, but it resulted in a much heavier vehicle. Considering that the Series II's 2.286l petrol engine was retained, the result was a very underpowered vehicle. This was partly addressed in 1966 with the advent of the Series IIB Forward Control. Transmission: Selectable four-wheel drive, Primary gearbox with four forward speeds,Transfer gearbox with high and low ranges

In 1971, the Series IIA was replaced by the Series III The most significant change was the replacement of the gearbox with a completely new gearbox that incorporated synchromesh on all forward gears. The ratios were also revised, with lower Reverse and 1st gears. The Low Range ratio was also reduced. Clutch design was also modified to include a diaphragm spring, resulting in smoother and quieter gear changes. Brakes were also improved, and a heavy duty Salisbury rear axle was fitted as standard to all 6 cylinder vehicles. From 1972, the Salisbury became a standard fitment on all 109" vehicles. The electrical system was also upgraded with the dynamo replaced by an alternator. Transmission: Selectable four-wheel drive, Primary gearbox with four forward speeds, Transfer gearbox with high and low ranges

Defender 4x4 В 1990 г. появилась "Серия V", получившая название Defender — "Защитник". Land Rover Defender 110 Single Cab - front axle