Cars - Land Rover Range Rover Classic

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	Cars - Land Rover Range Rover Classic

Range Rover Classic is the name given by the automobile manufacturer Land Rover to Range Rover built from 1994 to 1996; however, this term is also in both popular and enthusiast usage to describe the same vehicle produced from 1970 to 1996. It is widely considered to be the vehicle that single-handedly created the SUV market, being perhaps the first mass-produced luxury off-road vehicle.

Design

While it was designed under the Rover aegis as an upmarket version of the Land Rover of its time, the Range Rover was a radical break from its nominal "little brother", sharing almost nothing in either components or design. The chassis was suspended by coil springs, and because of the Range Rover's hefty weight, hydraulic disc brakes were fitted on all four wheels, rather than the then-common drum brakes.

Transmission-wise the Range Rover used permanent four-wheel drive, rather than the switchable rear-wheel/four-wheel drive on the Series vehicles (this became the norm for all Land Rover vehicles), and had a lever for switching ratios on the transfer box (called "high/low box") for off-road use. Overdrive for use with third and fourth gears was an option on the early four-speed manual boxes. The engine was originally a detuned (135 bhp) version of the legendary Buick-derived 3528cc Rover V8 engine.

Like all Land Rover vehicles, most of the Range Rover's bodywork skin is constructed from lightweight aluminium, save for both upper and rear sections of the rear tailgate, and the bonnet on earlier models.

History

Early history

Rover had been experimenting with producing a "big brother" to the Land Rover as far back as the 1950s, with the Rover P4-based two-wheel-drive Road Rover project. This was shelved in 1958, and the idea laid dormant until 1966, when engineers Spencer King and Gordon Bashford set to work on a new luxury off-roader.

In 1967, the first Range Rover prototype was built, with the classic Range Rover shape clearly discernible but for a different front grille and headlight configuration. The design of the Range Rover was finalised in 1969. Twenty-six Velar engineering development vehicles were built between 1969 and 1970 and were road registered with the number plates YVB 151H through YVB 177H.

It is commonly thought that "VELAR" is an acronym for Vee Eight Land Rover, however the name is derived from the Italian 'Velare' meaning to veil or to cover. Range Rover development engineer, Geof Miller, used the name as a decoy for registering pre-production Range Rovers. The Velar company was registered in London and produced forty pre-production vehicles that were built between 1967 and 1970.

1970-1980

In June 1970, the Range Rover was introduced to the public, to much critical acclaim. It appeared that Rover had succeeded in their goal of a car equally capable both on and off road -- arguably, better than any four-wheel drive vehicle of its era in both environments. Road performance (a top speed of 95mph and acceleration from a standstill to 60mph in less than 15 seconds) was as good or better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was staggering owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. Notable off-road feats were winning the 4-wheel drive class in the first Paris-Dakar Rally in 1979 (a feat repeated in 1981), and being two of the first vehicles (along with a Series IIA) to traverse both American continents north-to-south through the Darién Gap from 1971–1972.

Little changed in the decade after its introduction, save for the addition of power steering in 1973 and very minor cosmetic changes such as moving the side mirrors from the wings to the front doors. In 1980, the suspension was changed to reduce ground clearance by 20mm. While such a change might have been noticable in heavy off-road use, this served to reduce the colossal body roll that early Range Rovers suffered.

1981-1985

One of the first significant changes came in 1981, with the introduction of the four-door body. Until then, Range Rovers only had two doors, which made access to the rear seats rather difficult. These doors were also extremely large and heavy -- with people of lighter build, they require a whole-hearted "slam" to close properly, and removal is usually considered to be at least a two-man job. The four-door version solved both these problems, and was received well by the public; initially offered alongside the two-door, the four-door became popular enough that the two-door was soon discontinued altogether.

In 1982, the Range Rover was given automatic transmission as an optional extra (initially a 3-speed Chrysler box, but uprated to a 4-speed ZF in 1985). The other major transmission upgrade in the Range Rover's lifetime was the switch from the four-speed LT95 manual gearbox to the five-speed LT77 in 1983.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Land Rover Range Rover Classic ]

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