Posted by Lonnie on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 at 5:52PM :
In Reply to: And you thought owning a Power Wagon was expensive... posted by Jonas on Monday, March 12, 2001 at 10:21PM :
I went to a site that had a history of the Rover. It appears that after WW2, the big wig at Rover was looking for a vehicle that had off road capability plus a pto for general farm use. If he had only known of the Power Wagon, the Rover might never had been designed!!
From the site
http://www.fourfold.org/LR_FAQ/FAQ.3.history.html
(England - At the end of WW2)
Maurice Wilks owned a 250-acre estate running down to the sea on the island of Anglesey, just off the North Wales coast. As Maurice liked to get involved in his farm as much as possible, he needed a versatile vehicle which could double as both a light tractor and road transport. At one stage, an ex-army Willys Jeep was brought into play to partly fulfil this role, but it must have been galling to the Rover car man that he had to depend upon a second-hand vehicle of overseas origin to do his bidding. For all its go-anywhere ability, the Jeep was really just a vehicle for traversing rough ground, without the useful power take-offs that a farmer expected from his tractor.
The story goes that, when asked by his brother what he would replace the Jeep with when it wore out, Maurice admitted he had no idea - there just wasn't anything else he could buy. It was promptly decided that they should design their own replacement.
|
Follow Ups:
This board is powered by the Mr. Fong Device from Cyberarmy.com |