Once all the main details of the Land-Rover had been
finalized, production started on The Land-Rover (It wasn't known as the Series One until the Series Two came out.) The Land-Rover was launched at the Amsterdam Motor show April 30th, 1948. The response from the press was sensational and the new model was met with huge praise. It was
labeled as "... an alternative to the light tractor..." This was mainly due to the vast amount of parts that could be attached to the back and used much in the same fashion as a tractor. These included a
muck spreader (Powered from the Power Take-Off or PTO), plough, potato harvester and a
roller, a very usefull machine to say the least.
The Land-Rover was launched at £450 (exceedingly good value at the time). This was because it was not liable to purchase tax, it wasn't a
passenger car - especially since passenger seats cost extra!!
However all was not well for Rover, who were told by the Government at the time that they would not be given the amount of steel they had
requested, as Steel was still rationed after WW2. The Government would only allocate enough Steel for 1,000 models whereas Land-Rover wanted enough for 5,000
models, in their opinion; not good.
Fortunately, some senior people at Rover managed to
persuade the government to allow production to continue at planned levels. In actual fact 1st year production was 8,000, 3,000 more than expected!
Since this time 98% of all new Land-Rovers rolling off the production line have an owner waiting to collect
it, a successful investment .
The first variant was the Station wagon which had passenger seats. Unfortunately this meant it was liable to purchase tax - adding £200 to the price. It was therefore an expensive model at £960.
In 1954 the length of the Land-Rover was increased to add more space for the driver, passengers and load. This also gave Land-Rover the opportunity to improve the drivers area, with such improvements as door trims, headlining and a floor covering (De'
Luxe model only) .
Land-Rover once again attracted new customers when they introduced the Diesel variant (again lengthened). This was a particular
favorite with farmers and companies who ran all of their other machinery on diesel.
However, after 10 years of production and 200,000 models (Rover saloons had sold just 100,000) it was obvious to all that the Land-Rover wasn't a stop-gap model anymore.
The public wanted a change, so Land-Rover responded.........in steps the series
two!
The Series 1 Land-Rover (1948-1958)
Short Wheelbase sizes:
80" : 1948-54
86" : 1954-56
88" : 1956-58
Long Wheelbase sizes:
107" : 1954-56
109" : 1956-58
Engines (Petrol) :
1600cc (Old Rover P3 engine) : 1948-52
1997cc(Bored out 1600cc) : 1952-58 (Improved version 1954)
Engines (Diesel) :
2052cc (This is what forced a stretch in wheelbase sizes) : 1956-58
(From Left to right)
Front of a late Series 1; Back of the same Series 1; Side view of a 107 Long Wheelbase
(LWB)
Variants