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The
Vehicles
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We
have taken advice from others who have done similar trips, 4x4
specialists and taken into consideration the function of the
vehicles at their destination. The Land Rover Defender 110 is
a vehicle that most closely meets the needs of the HFA Health-posts
and has an out-standing record as an expedition vehicle. It
is easily adapted for a variety of tasks and terrains, is relatively
easy to fix without much technical support and is in widespread
use in southern Africa, making spare parts easy to acquire.
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Land
Rover - A history
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It all started in 1948 when the Wilks brothers looked for
a vehicle to bring Rover over the first after-war years The
Land Rover was designed by the Wilks brothers (at that time
Rover was owned by the Wilks family) who had a farm in Anglesey
where they drove around in their WW2 Willys Jeep. They realised
how useful this all purpose machine was ( in there own words
"as versatile as a horse but never gets tired").
The
very first prototype still had a lot of "borrowed"
parts but in the real production they were replaced by British
ones. The centre steering was still a testimony to the agricultural
tractors and was intended to eliminate the need to produce
left- and right-hand steering vehicles for different markets.
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A good
idea but it proved impractical in real world so it was dropped on
later vehicles. The chassis of the first prototype was an Willys
chassis, but on the first pilot-production vehicles it was already
made of 4 flat iron plates welded together thus eliminating the
need for expensive jigs. For similar reasons the panels were made
of flat aluminium (iron was still short). The vehicle was thought
of as a stop-gap to overcome the hard time until steel would be
available again and Rover could go back into car building.
By
1958 the stop gap was a huge success and the original design was
overhauled to become the series II
The Series II were short-lived models but they set the style for
Land Rover for nearly 3 decades. They were designed by David Bache,
Rover's car stylist. The available wheel bases were 88 and 109",
the engines were the 2052cc diesel or the 2286cc petrol, the early
88" came with the 1997 petrol. This set the platform for what
is now known as the Defender (110 and 90 represent the wheel base
length in inches exactly as in 1958)
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The
Defender quickly became synonym of today's go-anywhere vehicle.
Instantly recognisable as a 'classic' Land Rover it brought
better performance and a great suspension.
No other model still in production represents as much the
spirit of the early Land Rovers than the Defender. It's basic
design and ease of maintenance make it the perfect vehicle
for rural communities. In addition much of the spare parts
can be fabricated from scratch making it more practical for
isolated African villages where the nearest land rover dealer
is some way away…
This
110 defender above belongs to the legendary American explorer
Herbert Zipkin. He bought the car almost straight off the
line and immediately started on a successful journey through
Africa.
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