Invicta Land Rover Club
Land Rover History

Over the decades, Land Rovers have proven to be an ideal platform for specialist conversions. This page lists a selection of these conversions. Due to their specialist nature, most were only manufactured in small quantities or never left the prototype stage.

Special Rovers

 
Land Rovers and Range Rovers were particularly popular choices for fire engine and ambulance conversions. The Land Rover was a good base for an off-road appliance, whilst the Range Rover offered speed and size for airfield operations.

Initially Land Rover sold its own fire appliance based upon the Series I 80", but realised that it was not well equipped to produce a good range of fire appliances. Therefore a number of specialist manufacturers were licensed to produce fire appliance and ambulance conversions. Of these manufacturers, Carmichael & Sons are of particular note, and are famous for their 4x4 and 6x6 Range Rover conversions. These proved particularly popular as airfield emergency vehicles.

More Details About These Rovers Here

Rail Rover's

Another conversion that was tried on a number of occasions, was the rail conversion. One of the first "Rail Rovers" used flanged railway wheels in-place of the road wheels. This was intended for inspection and light shunting. Trials showed that shunting was in-practical due to the size of the rolling stock compared to the Land Rover. The flanged wheels had a rubber composite tyre that tended to develop flats, resulting in an uncomfortable ride. Hence, this project was dropped.

Cuthbertson Conversion

The Cuthbertson tracked Land Rover took a standard Land Rover and fitted demountable tracks to it. This greatly lowers the ground pressure, to 1.9 lbs/sq", and allows the Land Rover to traverse swampy ground. This one is fitted to an 88" 24V FFR Series One Land Rover but there were also Cuthbertson conversions of Series Two long and short wheel base Land Rovers. It is believed that 15 units were made by Cuthbertson of Biggar Scotland, including three prototypes, and that the last one was built in 1972 which would be into the Series Three Land Rover era.

Each track is carried by four skinny, rubber-tyred road wheels. Drive sprockets replace the Land Rover's normal road wheels. The four tracks are mounted on a sturdy subframe to take the stresses which would otherwise be placed on the Land Rover's wheel hubs.

The tracked Land Rover's steering is like that of a normal car but the effort to turn the tracks comes from a hydraulic power-steering pump driven off the front of the crankshaft. As can be seen from the floor this allows even more opportunities for the Land Rover to leak oil. The steering can only be turned when the Cuthbertson is in motion.

The Hover Rover

Even weirder was this experimental 'Hover Rover'. This was a Vickers conversion, developed in parallel with the first big hovercrafts. Technically a 'cushion craft', the Hover Rover was developed to minimise ground pressures. The main problem was that it required two engines, reducing the payload capacity. Although the hover cushion supported much of this extra weight, it was still a problem for conventional road operation.

The primary application that was trialled was that of crop sprayer. Unfortunately the air from the cushion scattered the spray uncontrollably. The Hover Rover was never developed any further, although for a few years Vickers used it as a promotion device for their larger hovercrafts.

Forest Rover

Around the end of the 1950s the Hounslow company Roadless Traction focused its attention on the Land Rover.
The Forestry Commission was having some difficulty with its use of conventional Land Rovers, which were prone to getting stuck on rutted forest tracks and were hampered by fallen trees in cross-country use.
The Machinery Research Officer for the Forestry Commission, Colonel Shaw, suggested that tractor-type 25 X 70cm/ 10 X 28in wheels should be fitted to the Land Rover.
A prototype was built and evaluated in the Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire, England.
The machine had potential but required further development in order to be viable.
A 109 inch wheelbase Land Rover was despatched to Roadless for a redesigned and properly engineered conversion to be effected.
 

Mobile Cinema Rover

The Series II 109" and Series III 109" vehicles were particularly popular with Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations for use in Africa. Vehicles could tour around remote villages, providing services that would only normally be found in cities. Such services were typically medical in nature, although a popular service was that of Mobile Cinema. This was ideal for use by government education departments, and also included public address and recording facilities.

Various Special Rovers