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The Real Pioneers: Luxury SUVs
16 hours ago
Spen King is seen as the 'father' of the original Range Rover
I got to know Spen well, nephew of Land Rover founders Maurice and Spencer Wilks, in the decade or so before his death. In 2008, two years before he died, I asked whether there’d been any intention of making the original Range Rover ‘the first luxury 4×4’. He found that laughable.
‘Luxury! Certainly not!’ he replied, chuckling in amusement. He pointed to the vinyl seats and hose-out rubber matted floor of the 1970 original.
Initially it didn’t even have boot trim. The Queen, given an early vehicle for the royal seal of approval, was partly responsible for fitting it. The tools and jack were exposed. The Palace was worried a corgi may be injured. A moulded rubber skinned mat and a curtain over the tool area quickly solved the problem.
Rather, the real pioneer of the luxury SUV was Jeep. We will meet the Super Wagoneer shortly.
Jeep had 4×4 form, of course. In 1941, the famous wartime light military runabout became the first mass produced 4×4. It was commissioned by the US Army, designed by Pennsylvanian car maker Bantam and subsequently mass made during the war both by Willys – who would go on to own the brand – and by Ford. Eisenhower famously said the Jeep was crucial to winning the war.
"In 1946 Jeep produced the world’s first mass produced civilian 4x4, the CJ-2A – the ‘Peace Jeep’ that was based closely on the original open- top military model"
The first Land Rover, conceived by Spen King’s uncle Maurice, was a partial copy of Wilks’ own army surplus Jeep. Early prototypes even used Jeep chassis. The Series I Land Rover had an 80-inch wheelbase, just like the Jeep.
In 1946 Jeep produced the world’s first mass produced civilian 4×4, the CJ-2A – the ‘Peace Jeep’ that was based closely on the original open- top military model. It was aimed at farmers and rural workers, just like the Series I Land Rover that followed two years later. Its smallness, lightness, agility and wind-in-the-hair zeal also made it fun to drive. Enzo Ferrari called it America’s only true sports car.
A bigger Station Wagon version followed, available in two- or four-wheel drive guise. It sold on its go-anywhere versatility but was used mostly on-road. The SUV had been born.
“As increasingly affluent American car buyers wanted more, so Jeep offered it. In 1965, it launched the Super Wagoneer. There was nothing on (or off) the road remotely like it”
In the booming 1950s, American motorists were demanding more features, more power and more style. Jeep’s response was the Wagoneer of 1962. It had all the comfort and convenience of a mainstream station wagon, including the first use of an automatic gearbox on a 4×4. There was a torquey six-cylinder engine, independent front suspension and nice upholstery. Plus, it was big and spacious, had carry-all station wagon practicality, and there was lots of ground clearance. It was an appealing blend of off-roader and premium wagon, perfect for hunting, fishing and for outdoorsmen who also liked a dash of car-style comfort.
And it was this car that spawned the world’s first true luxury 4×4. As increasingly affluent American car buyers wanted more, so Jeep offered it. In 1965, it launched the Super Wagoneer. There was nothing on (or off) the road remotely like it. Here was a big 4×4 wagon pimped with a 327 cubic inch (5.4-litre) V8, GM Turbo Hydramatic auto transmission including floor-mounted shifter, carpet, plentiful chrome trim and big comfy front bucket seats rather than the usual bench. There was posh trim, a powered tailgate window, powered steering and powered brakes. Plus, there was air conditioning, a full-length centre console, tilt adjustable steering wheel and a vinyl roof. A bigger 350 cubic inch (5.7-litre) V8 came later. The wealthy could now head to the wilderness in their Wagoneers in almost limitless luxury.
Alas, few did. Pioneering a new breed of car is always a risk, and sadly for Jeep this was one leap too far. The Super Wagoneer was a luxury 4×4 priced like a luxury car. At $6000, it cost about the same as a Cadillac DeVille or Lincoln Continental, America’s luxury sedan benchmarks. The Yanks weren’t quite ready for such a novel mix of comfort and countryside. Production lasted barely two years, and total sales were fewer than 1500 units.
Did Land Rover miss a trick by failing to offer stick-on wood?
The mainstream Wagoneer soldiered successfully onwards. The SJ series would stay in production for 29 years, the longest run in American auto history for a largely unchanged vehicle using an unchanged platform. It was renamed the Grand Wagoneer in 1984.
While the Super Wagoneer struggled in the showroom, about 4000 miles to the east of Jeep’s headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, another struggle was taking place. In Rover Car’s headquarters in Solihull, Warwickshire, the engineering chief for new vehicles was grappling to convince fellow engineers of his plans for a bold new vehicle.
Spen King thought that Rover’s increasingly successful off-road subsidiary, Land Rover, needed a second vehicle. As it had only one model, albeit available in numerous utilitarian variants, this was far from radical thinking.
King’s vision was a new type of car equally good on-road as off: a 4×4 that mixed the comfort of the Rover P6 saloon with the capability of a Land Rover. It would be pricier and more upmarket than the Land Rover, aimed at a more moneyed and gentrified clientele. America, where the 4×4 wagon sector was booming, was seen as an obvious and important market.
Alas, Land Rover’s chief engineer Tom Barton didn’t like it. King’s new car would have four-wheel coil suspension and disc brakes. These were less durable and harder to repair in far-flung places than the time-honoured Land Rover leaf springs and drum brakes, thought Barton, a former railway engineer. The new car prioritised comfort, a very foreign concept to any self-respecting Land Rover diehard. Indeed, Barton thought a 4×4 should never be comfortable cross country. Owners would thrash it and break it.
Fortunately for the British motor industry, for Great Britain PLC and for what would become JLR, King got his way. To placate Barton, he did agree to the Land Rover-style hose-out interior. That was clearly a mistake. The up-speccing began soon after sales commenced, including carpet for the transmission tunnel, rear wash/wipe and improved trim.
Rival vehicles benchmarked during Range Rover development were mostly American 4x4s. These included the Ford Bronco, whose front coil spring suspension was initially copied, the International Scout and vast International Travelall (both made by International Harvester) and the Jeep Wagoneer. None provided any inspiration for the Range Rover. It was, King confirmed, a very different vehicle.
"As King promised, it really was good both on-road and off-road, and considerably better at both than the contemporary Wagoneer or, for that matter, any other American 4x4"
It would take more than a decade for the vehicle now known as the Range Rover Classic to acquire leather upholstery, wood veneer and automatic transmission, the usual accoutrements of British luxury cars. And it would take another 30 years for the Range Rover to become a proper luxury vehicle.
The third-generation model, the 2002 L322, was the first to compete with top-end Mercedes and BMW saloons in comfort, quality and refinement. It was the first Range Rover to be bought instead of a conventional luxury saloon, rather than as an adjunct to one; the first to be sold at luxury car prices, too.
The original Range Rover succeeded partly because of its true all-terrain capability. As King promised, it really was good both on-road and off-road, and considerably better at both than the contemporary Wagoneer or, for that matter, any other American 4×4. Its design – packaging and proportions by King, style added by Rover design chief David Bache – would also prove a masterpiece in simplicity, stance and form.
The Range Rover soon left its utilitarian roots behind
It was also quintessentially British, a blend of Downton poshness and downtown appeal. No other nation could have given the world the Range Rover, and careful development has ensured no other nation has been able to match it, from the copycat Chinese to the German giants, from the US Big Three to those rarefied fellow Brits, Bentley and Rolls-Royce.
The pioneering Jeep Super Wagoneer is now a virtual unknown, a largely overlooked chapter in Jeep’s own storied history. While it is forgotten even in America, the Range Rover is celebrated around the world. It would become the most consequential British car of the past 60 years, a luxury SUV that has influenced almost every car maker on the planet.
Just don’t call it the first.
