Aboveall, It's A… Jeep?

The Land Rover was a re-invention of the WW2 Jeep – and Philip Bashall is a big fan of those, too

EVERYONE has heard the story about how Maurice Wilks, chief engineer at Rover just after WW2, used an army surplus Jeep on his farm in North Wales, and how it was the inspiration for him and his brother Spencer to develop the Land Rover. Bits from another Jeep were used to construct the so-called Centre Steer, the forerunner of what would become the Land Rover.

So it’s not surprising that magazines occasionally like to compare a WW2 Jeep with a Series I. Not just magazines, either: you may remember how the Chris Evans-fronted relaunch of BBC TV’s Top Gear had a sequence filmed in Blackpool where they pitched a Jeep against a Series I. Dunsfold was asked to supply the Land Rover but we declined, and having seen what the telly people did to the vehicles, I’m very glad we did!

Like it or not, the reality is that the original Jeep will out-manoeuvre a Series I off-road. That’s partly because it’s lighter but also because it’s more flexible. Literally so – the chassis is made of an open C-section, rather than boxed-in like a Land Rover’s, so it has considerable torsional flexibility. That also means that Jeep chassis rarely rust, because water can’t get trapped inside.

You can imagine what a revelation the Jeep must have been for our boys during WW2. Before it came along, the British Army was relying on vintage Austin Seven radio cars and asthmatic Morris Eights. Then the Jeep appeared, and it was nippy, quick and easy to drive. OK, so it was left-hand drive and it didn’t have much weather protection, but as a tool for the battlefield it was brilliant.