If the 1940s Rover technical boss hadn't been a farmer, there would be no Land Rover today.
* In pictures: 60 years of the Land Rover
Land Rover 1 - 1948 - This is one of the original Land Rovers, known by hardcore enthusiasts, simply, as 'Huey'
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It was Maurice Wilks who, when trekking the land on his Anglesey farm, came up with the idea of a tough machine to rejuvenate war-weary car sales. He and his brother, Rover MD Spencer, brainstormed and sketched the outline of a vehicle in the sand on a beach.
1947. A post-war Britain still suffering rationing, particularly for steel. The brothers' solution? Use aluminium for the body panels, fabricate off-cuts for the chassis. It owed a lot to a certain American manufacturer - they used a Jeep chassis with a Rover engine for development - but quickly had a production-ready vehicle.
Exports rapidly boomed for the Solihull maker, far breaking any aspirations it may have had
Launched at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show, this so-called stop-gap vehicle rather, you could say, exceeded their expectations. It soon outsold Rover's cars and, by the end of the year, was being exported to 70 countries. By 1949, it was being shipped to the US.
But what was it? Simply, a cheap to produce, all-purpose machine for civilian land workers. The box-section chassis was strong, but straightforward - just four flat pieces of steel welded together. It was four-wheel-drive, of course, and used a 1.6-litre engine that produced 50bhp.
Land Rover Station Wagon - 1953 - the first step in the Land Rover's 'civilianisation' was this enclosed SW model
A 2.0-litre engine soon followed, as did, in 1953, a stretch in wheelbase, from the original 80 inches, up to 86 inches. These were among the first in continual improvements to the concept that remain underway to this day.
That's right - the Defender that you can buy right now is essentially the same machine as this original! It's not identical, of course; even by 1950, they were changing the headlamps and four-wheel-drive system. But, genetically, it is the very same vehicle that has kept the Solihull factory busy since February 1948.
Land Rover - 1977 - This 88-inch model was among the millionth Land Rovers to be produced
By 1959, they'd made 250,000 of them. The millionth, an 88-inch Station Wagon, came in 1976. Today, production hovers around a million and three-quarters, with an expanded Land Rover itself selling over 225,000 vehicles per year. All from a sketch in the sand.
That sketch is, of course, no more. Nor, indeed, are the original blueprints for the Land Rover. But, as our gallery here shows, its impact worldwide is immense. There isn't a single activity you can use a Land Rover for, that one hasn't been used to do!
Land Rover LRX - 2008 - Here is the future of Land Rover: 60mpg, diesel hybrid powertrain, 120g/km of CO2. The company hopes it will be just as much of a trend-setter as 'Huey' was in 1948
And, thanks to forward-thinking all those decades ago, many Land Rovers remain in active use today. They're unbreakable, they're simple, and aluminium bodywork means they're never likely to rust away. A higher proportion of Land Rovers remain on our roads than almost any other make.
The brand celebrates its 60th year in the hands of Tata, and under attack from the anti-SUV lobby, but confident that it has the ideas to weather the storm and prosper - as seen, most recently, by the 60mpg LRX concept, a diesel-hybrid with the CO2 emissions of a MINI Cooper. Forward-thinking? Only natural, for a company with such a history.
* In pictures: 60 years of the Land Rover
