Land Rover’s basic design lives on

Recently, the first Land Rover imported into New Zealand received a great deal of publicity because its owner, Julian Paton, who is a heart researcher at the University of Auckland, took the 77-year-old vehicle, which is affectionately known as "20" because it was the 20th made, from Dunedin to Auckland.

On the way he raised funding for heart research. The campaign was called Drive 4 Hearts, with a target of $300,000.

One of the reasons the Land Rover is still in its original condition is because it was built of aluminium and it’s interesting why it and other features came about. The concept was based on the Willys Jeep, and the English-born Wilks brothers are credited with its design, first sketched on the sand at a beach in Wales in 1947.

Production began in 1948 and, while steel was rationed, there was a surplus of aluminium alloy left over from the manufacturing of war planes such as the Spitfire.

That is the reason why Land Rover "20" and other series one models are still going. They don’t rust and the original colour, a light green, was paint also a left over from painting the Spitfires and other planes.

In England they were called the farmer’s friend, as they were marketed as an agricultural vehicle and, of course, they equally found favour with the New Zealand farmers. The first were very basic, with a canvas canopy, half a door, a small carrying area and four-wheel-drive. It was New Zealand’s first "all -terrain vehicle" ( ATV ) and began the ATV revolution, although it had no competition for many years.

One of the first rivals was the Nissan Patrol, a few more horsepower but they rusted badly.

In the 1970s came the little Suzuki runabout, not much power, narrow track and unstable.

But other popular makes and models began to flood the market and a couple of weeks ago, 1440 Toyota Hilux vehicles assembled at Garston.

But there was a market for a cheaper small runabout on the farm. A Japanese three-wheel trike ceased production in 1987 because of their instability, but when a 4x4 200cc 4-wheeler came on the market, everyone wanted one.

Just about every farm has at least one and they can be found in many spheres outside the farm. Google says there are 100,000 throughout the country.

Now they are being challenged by the side-by-side and in many ways it has the basic footprint of the series one Land Rover. Seats 2, 4x4, doors optional, small carrying capacity. Is this a case of history repeating itself?