LAND ROVER - History of the Legendary Car Brand

The history of Land Rover began in the difficult times of the post-war period. Back in 1945, the world was substantially different from the current times. The war brought many changes: it altered the colours on the map of the world and left strong nations in ruins. Great Britain was totally exhausted and people lived in difficult economic conditions. The British industry that used to profit during the war period stopped producing goods due to the lack of orders.

The British government ratified the plan of restoring economic prosperity with the car industry as one of the pillars of the economic development. Contrary to our times, car manufacturers had to face many obstacles that are hardly conceivable at present, e.g. rationing of steel supplies, which were allocated according to the number of manufactured cars for export to profit from foreign sales as much as possible.

The LAND ROVER brand was founded by Maurice and Spencer Wilks, brothers who also created the first model of the car. It came out of the need to create a simple but reliable and useful car for the post-war period. As Maurice Wilks owned a plot with a farm, he himself was in need of a multi-purpose vehicle that he could drive both on roads and in off–road areas or even use it as a light tractor. Thus it was him who came with the LAND ROVER idea.

The first solution was based on a military Jeep and proved itself even in very tough conditions. However, the Wilks brothers wanted to create a car of their own conception. Due to the persisting lack of steel they decided to construct their cars from aluminium alloy used for building aircrafts during the War. For one thing, this material was more easily available, but it was also lighter and more corrosion-resistant. The only problem was its ductility in tough conditions, so the most difficult task was to make the chassis.

Nevertheless, their efforts had resulted in an excellent technical solution that became the foundation stone for LAND ROVER cars for the next 50 years. They started to work on the prototype in spring 1947 and finished the car in the summer. The LAND ROVER they created exactly matched the idea of a multi-purpose vehicle that Maurice Wilks needed. Exceptional effort, new innovative ideas and exhaustless energy of the Wilks brothers were the main attributes that lead to the creation of the new LAND ROVER brand.