Land Rover Series 101

The Land Rover series I, II, and III , or simply the Land-Rover are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though inspired by the World War II jeep, the Land Rover immediately distinguished itself from all other cars. From launch, it was the first mass-produced civilian four-wheel drive car with doors on it, and an available hard roof. Contrary to conventional car and truck chassis, it used a sturdier fully box-welded frame. Furthermore, due to post-war steel shortage, and aluminum surplus, Land Rovers received non-rusting aluminum alloy bodies, favoring their longevity. In 1992, Land Rover claimed that 70% of all the vehicles they had built were still in use.

Most series models feature leaf-spring suspension with selectable two or four-wheel drive (4WD), however series I's produced between 1948 and mid-1951 had constant 4WD via a freewheel mechanism, and the Stage 1 V8 version of the series III featured permanent 4WD. All three models could be started with a front hand crank and had the option of front & rear power takeoffs for accessories.

After adding a long wheelbase model in 1954, Land Rover also offered the world's first four / five door, 4WD off-road station wagon in 1956. Series Land Rovers and Defenders continually excelled in space utilization, offering (optional) three abreast seating in the seating rows with doors, and troop seating in the rear, resulting in up to seven seats in the SWB, and up to ten seats in the LWB models, exceeding the capacity of most minivans, when comparing vehicles of the same length.

SERIES I

Land Rover entered production in 1948 with what has later been termed the Series I. It was designed for farm and light industrial use, with a steel box-section chassis and an aluminum body.

Originally the Land Rover was a single model offering, which from 1948 until 1951 used an 80-inch wheelbase and a 1.6-litre petrol engine producing around 50 bhp. The four-speed gearbox from the Rover P3 was used, with a new two-speed transfer box. This incorporated an unusual four-wheel-drive system, with a freewheel unit (as used on several Rover cars of the time). This disengaged the front axle from the manual transmission on the overrun, allowing a form of non- permanent 4WD. A ring-pull mechanism in the driver's footwell allowed the freewheel to be locked to provide more traditional 4WD. This was a basic vehicle: tops for the doors and a roof (canvas or metal) were optional extras. In 1950, the lights moved from a position behind the grille to protruding through the grille.

From the beginning, it was realized that some buyers would want a Land Rover's abilities without the spartan interiors. In 1949, Land Rover launched a second body option called the "Station Wagon", fitted with a body built by Tickford, a coachbuilder known for their work with Rolls-Royce and Lagonda. The bodywork was wooden-framed and had seating for seven people. Tickford was well equipped in comparison with the standard Land Rover, having leather seats, a heater, a one-piece laminated windscreen, a tin-plate spare wheel cover, some interior trim and other options. The wooden construction made them expensive to build. 

In 1952 and 1953, a larger 2.0-litre petrol engine was fitted. This engine has Siamese bores, meaning that there are no water passages for cooling between the cylinders. During 1950, the unusual semi-permanent 4WD system was replaced with a more conventional setup, with drive to the front axle being taken through a simple dog clutch.

The 1954 model year brought major changes. The 80-inch wheelbase model was replaced by an 86-inch wheelbase model, and a 107-inch wheelbase "pickup" version was introduced. The extra wheelbase was added behind the cab area to provide additional load space. In mid-1954 the "spread bore" petrol engine was introduced (from engines 5710xxxx), allowing better cooling between the cylinders. The engine was modified again in 1955 (from engine 1706xxxxx), sometimes known as the 'later' spread bore.

September 1955 saw the introduction of the first five-door model, on the 107-inch chassis known as the "station wagon" with seating for up to ten people. The 86-inch station wagon was a three-door, seven-seater. The new station wagons were very different from the previous Tickford model, being built with simple metal panels and bolt-together construction instead of the complex wooden structure of the older Station Wagon. They were intended to be used both as commercial vehicles as people-carriers for transporting workmen to remote locations, as well as by private users. Like the Tickford version, they came with basic interior trim and equipment such as roof vents and interior lights.

The Station Wagons saw the first expansion of the Land Rover range. Station Wagons were fitted with a "Tropical Roof" which consisted of a second roof skin fitted on top of the vehicle. This kept the interior cool in hot weather and reduced condensation in cold weather. Vents fitted in the roof allowed added ventilation to the interior. While they were based on the same chassis and drivetrains as the standard vehicles, Station Wagons carried different chassis numbers, special badging, and were advertised in separate brochures. Unlike the original Station Wagon, the new in-house versions were highly popular.

In mid-1956 the wheelbases were extended by 2 inches to 88 inches and 109 inches, and the front chassis cross-member was moved an inch forward, to accommodate the new diesel engine, to be an option the following year. This change was made to all models with the exception of the 107 Station Wagon, which would never be fitted with a diesel engine, and would eventually be the last series I in production. These dimensions were to be used on all Land Rovers for the next 25 years.

In 1957 a brand new 2.0-litre diesel engine was introduced that, despite the similar capacity, was not related to the petrol engines used. The petrol engines of the time used the rather out-dated inlet-over-exhaust valve arrangement; the diesel used the more modern overhead valve layout. This diesel engine was one of the first high-speed diesels developed for road use, producing 52 hp at 4,000 rpm.

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 and 109 in 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 produced the familiar 'barrel side' waistline, with a 5 in  greater width to cover the vehicle's wider tracks, as well as 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 the first 1,500 or so short wheelbase (SWB) models retained the 52 hp 2.0-litre petrol engine from the series I. This larger petrol engine produced 72 hp 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.

SERIES IIa

The SII and the SIIA are very difficult to distinguish. There were some minor cosmetic changes. Body configurations available from the factory ranged from short-wheelbase soft-top to the top-of-the-line five-door station wagon. A 2.25-litre diesel was added to the engine line, which after 1967 included a 2.6-litre inline six-cylinder petrol engine for the long-wheelbase models, which also had servo-assisted brakes. 811 of these were NADA (or North American Dollar Area) trucks, which were the only long-wheelbase models made for the American and Canadian markets.

From February 1969, the headlamps moved into the wings on all models, and the sill panels were redesigned to be shallower a few months afterwards. Later still, the rear wheel arch profile was changed, possibly to accommodate 16in tires fitted with snow chains on 1-Ton 109" models.

The Series IIA is considered by many the most hardy Series model constructed. It is quite possibly also the type of classic Land Rover that features strongly in the general public's perception of the Land Rover, from its many appearances in popular films and television documentaries set in Africa throughout the 1960s, such as Born Free. In February 1968, just a few months after the Rover Company had been subsumed, under government pressure, into the Leyland Motor Corporation, the Land Rover celebrated its twentieth birthday, with total production to date just short of 600,000, of which more than 70% had been exported.[4] Certainly it was whilst the series IIA was in production that sales of utility Land Rovers reached their peak, in 1969–70, when sales of over 60,000 Land Rovers a year were recorded. (For comparison, the sales of the Defender have been around the 25,000 level since the 1990s.) As well as record sales, the Land Rover dominated many world markets- in Australia in the 1960s Land Rover held 90% of the 4×4 market. This figure was repeated in many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

By allen watkin from London, UK - Land Rover, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32034970

SERIES III

The Series III had the same body and engine options as the preceding IIa, including station wagons and the One-Ton versions. Little changed cosmetically from the IIA to the Series III. The series III is the most common series vehicle, with 440,000 of the type built from 1971 to 1985. The headlights were moved to the wings on late production IIA models from 1968/9 onward to comply with Australian, American and Dutch lighting regulations and remained in this position for the series III. The traditional metal grille, featured on the series I, II and IIA, was replaced with a plastic one for the series-III model. The 2.25-litre engine had its compression raised from 7:1 to 8:1, increasing the power slightly. During the Series-III production run from 1971 until 1985, the 1,000,000th Land Rover rolled off the production line in 1976.

The Series III saw many changes in the later part of its life as Land Rover updated the design to meet increased competition. This was the first model to feature synchromesh on all four gears, although some late H-suffix SIIA models (mainly the more expensive Station Wagons) had used the all-synchro box. In keeping with early 1970s trends in automotive interior design, both in safety and use of more advanced materials, the simple metal dashboard of earlier models was redesigned to accept a new molded plastic dash. The instrument cluster, which was previously centrally located, was moved to the driver's side. Long-wheelbase series-III vehicles had the Salisbury rear axle (the differential housing and axle case are one piece) as standard, although some late SIIA 109-inch vehicles had them too.

North American sales from the factory ceased in 1974. [6]

In 1980, the 2.25-litre petrol and diesel engines received five main bearing crankshafts to increase rigidity and the transmission, and axles and wheel hubs were strengthened. This was the culmination of a series of updates to the transmission that had been made since the 1960s to combat the all-too-common problem of the rear axle half-shafts breaking in heavy usage. This problem was partly due to the design of the shafts themselves. Due to the fully floating design of the rear wheel hubs, the half shafts can be removed very quickly without even having to jack the vehicle off the ground. The tendency for commercial operators to overload their vehicles exacerbated this flaw which blighted the Series Land Rovers in many of their export markets and established a reputation that continues in many markets to the present day. This is despite the 1982 re-design (mainly the increase of driving-splines from 10 to 24 to reduce stress) that all but solved the problem.

Also, new trim options were introduced to make the interior more comfortable if the buyer so wished (many farmers and commercial users preferred the original, non-trimmed interior).

These changes culminated in April 1982 with the introduction of the "County" spec. Station Wagon Land Rovers, available in both 88-inch and 109-inch types. These had all-new cloth seats, soundproofing kits, tinted glass and other "soft" options designed to appeal to the leisure owner/user.

Of more interest was the introduction of the High Capacity Pick Up to the 109-inch chassis. This was a pick-up truck load bay that offered 25% more cubic capacity than the standard pick-up style. The HCPU came with heavy-duty suspension and was popular with public utility companies and building contractors.

Santana

Santana Motor S.A. was a Spanish car manufacturer based in Linares, in the province of Jaén, Spain.

The company was founded as "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, SA" and originally manufactured agricultural equipment. The company was set up with a start up of just 3 million pesetas, following a drive by the Spanish government in 1954 who were offering start-up incentives to local businesses to encourage development in the Andalucia region of Southern Spain. The company decided to expand beyond its original products line and entered into talks with the Rover car company in 1956 in an attempt to get a licensing agreement to build Land Rover series models in their factory, in a similar way to the Minerva company in Belgium, Tempo in Germany and Morattab company in Iran, all built series Land Rovers under license. An agreement was reached in 1956 and production began in 1958 it was licensed to build Land Rover models. The Santana Motor company built series Land Rovers under license in CKD form (Complete Knocked Down kits); essentially parts were shipped over from the Land Rover factory in Solihull and the Land Rovers were built up from this 'kit' at the Santana factory in Spain.

From 1968 Santana began to develop its own versions of the Land Rover series models, developing new engines and new models and this close relationship with Land Rover led the company to change its name from "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, SA" to "Land Rover Santana, SA".

In 1962 the company became responsible for promoting the Santana and Land Rover brands in Central and South American Markets as well as Africa. CKD kits were also supplied to the Moroccan and Costa Rican markets by the company. Because of the harsh working lives vehicles endured in these environments, customer feedback on the range meant that Santana were often far more aware of each model's failings than the Land Rover company itself was. Because of the tight financial position in this period of British Leyland (which owned Land Rover), Santana were often better placed than Land Rover was to deal with these failings. This meant that Santana began to engineer its own solutions to common problems into the models it produced and thus Santana's models diverged from Land Rover's original products. Up to the late 1980s the Santana models – supposed to be quickly and cheaply built versions of Land Rover's original product - often ended up being quite different from Land Rover's own vehicles. For instance Santana models featured anatomical seats, disc-brakes, turbo diesel engines, taper-leaf springs, coil springs, and civilian-specification Forward Control versions before the Land Rover equivalents and there was even a civilian version of the Land Rover Lightweight called the "Ligero" which was never released by Land Rover.

The Santana Motor Company ended its agreement with Land Rover in 1983 but continued to develop its own range of vehicles which remained visually similar to Land Rover's series and