Land Rover Enjoys Rich History

It’s always big news when a new automaker comes to town, especially one as prominent as Land Rover, the world’s first builder of upscale sport-utility vehicles.

Land Rover will be represented in the Spokane area by Land Rover Spokane, with a new showroom and test facility in Liberty Lake.

The new dealership will show two of its unique, aluminum-bodied vehicles at the auto show, the flagship Range Rover 4.6 and its smaller sibling, the Discovery.

The luxurious, full-size Range Rover is powered by either a 190-hp, 4-liter aluminum engine that creates 236 lb-ft of torque or a 4.6-liter engine that makes 225 hp and 280 lb-ft. Both are V-8s. Manual and automatic gearboxes are available and a wide range of comfort and convenience options are available.

The mid-size Discovery lacks not a bit for comfort and convenience, but is somewhat smaller and less powerful. Its engine is a 4-liter V-8 that puts out 182-hp and 233 lb-ft.

Both vehicle are fully off-road capable, featuring permanent four-wheel drive and locking center differentials.

Land Rover’s arrival here coincides with its 50th anniversary. Its parent company, The Rover Company, was founded in 1884 to build bicycles. In 1904, its focus shifted to the design and manufacture of motor vehicles.

It was fortuitous - perhaps even almost accidental - that in 1946, the company’s chairman, Maurice Wilks, took a drive in four-wheel drive vehicle which had been built for the U.S. Army.

Convinced that he could do a better job, Wilks and his brother, Spencer, set out to design a 4X4 that would be used by farmers in Britain and the then-developing Third World.

Steel was scarce in post-War Great Britain, so the Wilkses fashioned the body of their rig of aluminum and mounted it to a rigid boxed-steel ladder-type frame.

The resulting vehicle was light, durable and had a low center of gravity.

The crowds at the 1948 Amsterdam Auto show got the first look at the company’s debut production model, a two-seater with an 80-inch wheelbase and a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine.

That first Land Rover found success in ways the Wilkses hadn’t expected: It was bought not only by farmer, but by foresters, police, military forces and large landowners.

The Wilkses pioneered the kit industry by selling their cars in pieces - called complete knock down (or CDK) kits - to buyers in 30 countries. Land Rovers were even sold in the States until 1974, but were withdrawn in favor of focusing on proven markets.

But even in their absence, Land Rovers continued to win the hearts of Americans. Prominently featured in television and film as the choice of adventurers everywhere, the boxy, upright rigs earned the mystique available only to the unavailable.

The flagship Ranger Rover was introduced in 1970 and is the only motor vehicle ever to be displayed in the Louvre. Indeed, it was the first example of the now-ubiquitous luxury-oriented sport-utility vehicle - and it enjoyed the added advantage of being a true go-anywhere SUV.