Land Rover Series (I/II/III) History

The Land Rover was conceived in 1947 by Rover's chief engineer Maurice Wilks, reputedly sketched in the sand at Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey, as a simple, go-anywhere farm vehicle inspired by the wartime Jeep. The first production model — the Series I — was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show on 30 April 1948, with an 80-inch wheelbase, a 1.6-litre petrol engine, aluminium-alloy body panels (chosen because steel was scarce post-war), and permanent four-wheel drive.

Across the Series I (1948–1958), Series II and IIA (1958–1971), and Series III (1971–1985), the vehicle grew in wheelbase and engine choice while keeping its boxy, body-on-frame utility character. It became a global workhorse for farmers, militaries, aid agencies, and explorers, and effectively defined the rugged-4x4 idea that the whole marque was built on.

The Series ended in 1985, but its direct descendant — the coil-sprung Ninety and One-Ten introduced in 1983, later renamed Defender — carried the lineage forward, and the two ran in parallel for a couple of years during the changeover.