Here is a classic case of the stop-gap project which soon outgrew its parent. Before the Land Rover appeared, Rover had been building a comparatively tiny number of fine middle class cars. By the 1950s they were building plenty of more Land Rover 4x4s, and the cars were much a minor part of the business.
Immediately after the war, Rover found itself walking a gigantic former shadow factory complex at Solihull, and needed to fill it. (A shadow factory was an aero-engine factory established in the coursework of the rearmament of the 1930s.) Faced with material shortages, it could not build plenty of private cars, and chosen to fill the gaps with a newly-developed 4x4, which it would base unashamedly on the design of the already legendary Jeep from the USA.
Early Land Rovers shared the same 80 in/2,032 mm wheelbase as the Jeep, and the same basic four-wheel-drive layout. The Land Rover, however, was much more versatile than the Jeep, in that it was built in myriad different guises, shapes and derivatives, and it used aluminium body panels, which ensured that it was virtually rust-free. Apart from the fact that it was not quick or powerful, (though time and further development would solve those issues) the Land Rover could tackle any job, climb any slope, and ford every stream, which made it invaluable for farmers, contractors, surveyors, explorers, armies, public service companies in fact anyone with a necessity for four-wheel-drive traction, and the rugged construction which went with it.
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