This Page contains just The Series 1 Land Rovers (and some clones)
(For Others see the Main Land Rovers Page)This page contains (will contain) drawings of the Land Rover Series One, The Original Prototype and Tempo and Minerva Copies...
SERIES ONE Land-Rovers
Land Rover Prototype No. 1 (1947)
Very Early Series 1 - Mk 1 (1948-1951) with three front Bucket Seats
The Army took a relatively small number of these to try and seemed to like what they got, the first Land Rovers had a light green paint that was surplus and originally made for the inside of RAF aircraft cockpits. Only after this ran out did they change to the British Racing Green and similar NATO Gloss Green.
The early models had 5” headlamps mounted behind the Grill, then a 6 inch cut through the grill and finally a Lucas 7000 7” pair and a new shaped grill that looked like an inverted “T”.
For British Army use in Germany, a wire and spring driven “solid” painted trafficator was attempted before deciding on using the illuminated Lucas Semaphore signals as an add-on option. Side lights were however up under the front windscreen and could be obscured when shielded by the wing mirrors (when fitted) and/or if the spare wheel was moved from inside to onto the front bonnet. As soon as the first trials were completed, the Army came with their wish list, which included increasing the wheelbase to 81” to accommodate a Rolls Royce B40 engine.
The Headlights were improved and moved to show through cut outs in the still “full front area” wire grill, also the side lights were moved from under the front windscreen onto the front wings. Another improvement was the addition of a windscreen wiper and motor on the passenger side.
A WS No. 19, No. 22 or No. 62 could be fitted with either multpack vibrator PSUs or Dynamotor Convertors but soon drained the battery even when travelling at speed. An upgraded Generator and Battery Voltage Helped. By now the bolt on Illuminated Semaphore Signals, (originally used just in BAOR deployed vehicles) became standard, i.e. were retrospectively fitted to the UK based RHD versions up to 1955 then they were replaced by works fitted front wing mounted indicator lamps.
For Winston Churchill’s 80th Birthday, Land Rover gave him a Land Rover “UKE 80”
It had only two seats in the front, and a wider drivers seat and wide padded middle arm rest made especially for the aging Ex Prime Minister.
THE CLONES
The Germans made a licenced copy for their police and border guards in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A higher side wall on the rear “bucket” and Door panel height stopped crews falling out on rough terrain. It had the better lights and “designed in” indicators from the start, and also the space above the front wings was made into tool box bins for the jack, towing ropes, etc. Most were FFW versions (here with a British WS No. 62).
The Belgians also made a licenced copy for their own military and police use, and to sell to Holland and other countries. The front wings were sloped and to save tooling box folded and welded steel (The Land rover used pressed aluminium and bolted the side parts to the tops, and then motor Housing body...)
Hard Topped Series 1 Versions
Tickford made a Hard topped and heated version for both Senior Officers (to help sway the decision later to take the Land Rover over the Champ?) and also for the de-luxe post war civilian market. Most of these had to be exported due to the very high luxury and car purchase taxes, then the Tickford was classed as a saloon car and cost twice as much as a normal Land Rover. The arguments for getting the Army interested in accepting a few Tickford’s, were that the Officers version were to have a lockable solid walled vehicle to protect that suitcase full of secret plans, etc... Then anyone can cut through a canvas top, but do not even need to do that as the normal Land rovers and Champs had no locks on the doors. In fact to open the door of the Series One soft top, you needed to reach inside to use the inside-only door handle. Tickford was a coach builder, and so built on the Land-Rover chassis and for the bodywork, only took the front wings, grill and bonnet, and entirely made their own passenger “Saloon” body.
An 81” Rolls Royce Version with a Deep Bronze Green paint finish, outside door handles and removable hard top.
Land Rover saw this Hard top option as a potential additional income, and decided to make their own Original works fitted vehicles or as a retrospectively added on Bolt together “hard top” that included an all in one back door, plus two replacement front doors with an external handle (as used in Series 2 and 3) and lock options. Many of these were used for radio signalling, (FFW) and so not only the security against theft of radio equipment was seen as a benefit but also that the sound distance the operator could be overheard was greatly reduced.
An 88” Rover engined Version with a British Racing Green paint finish, outside Flush door handles and removable De-Luxe hard top.
Fire Service S1 Land Rovers
