DEVELOPING LAND ROVER

Twenty five years is a long time too long when the marketplace is moving as fast as it did in that period. Even back then, leaf springs were very dated technology. And as for split windscreens with centre parking wipers, beyond a joke, really, even on a utility vehicle. But Land Rover were just a part of British Leyland’s huge empire in the early 70s and BL’s profits were invested in the car making side of the business. Development stagnated, leaving Land Rover utilities struggling against Japanese competition. Sales weren’t bad, but everyone realized they couldn’t hold up much longer an industrial disaster in the making. The 1937, SD5 Series IV project which would have delivered radically redesigned Land Rover utilities cancelled. By now BL was in such deep trouble that business failure on a massive scale was likely so in 19974, the government subsidized the company. Not surprisingly, it was being spent wisely. This resulted in the 1975 Ryder Report, which called for serious investment in Land Rover products. At last

The Ryder cash was applied to Land Rover utilities in two main chunks. Stage 1 planted a V8 in the series III 109 inch. Simple logic production capacity of Land Rover’s traditional engine was stretched to the point where it was possible to build more Land Rover than engines, so production of 88 and 109s was running below capacity. There was spare V8 engine production capacity so using the V8 increased production and made money.