|
The Range Rover Classic is a 4x4 luxury SUV series built by British car maker Land Rover from 1970 to 1996. It was available only in a 2-door body style until 1981, after which a 4-door became available, but 2 doors were manufactured until January 1994 It was the first generation of vehicles produced under the Range Rover name. For most of its history it was known simply as the "Range Rover"; Land Rover coined the term "Range Rover Classic" for the brief period the model was built alongside its P38A successor, and applied the name retroactively to all first-generation Range Rovers.〔Official Land Rover documentation collections for both 1970-1985 (LHP1, v1.1) and 1986-1994 (LHP2, v1.1) Range Rover refers to the vehicles as "Range Rover Classics", despite not being called that when originally built.〕 ==Concept and design== Although only intended to be a post-war stopgap, the Rover Company's Land Rover 4x4 that was launched in 1948 proved to be a worldwide success; within two years, it was vastly outselling the company's usual product of semi-luxury cars. The Land Rover had been designed to be cheap, simple to manufacture and suitable for hard work in rural terrain. It was a basic vehicle with minimal concessions toward comfort. On early vehicles, the canvas hood, passenger seats and even doors were optional extras. From the beginning Rover realized that a market existed for a Land Rover that was off-road capable but more comfortable and civilized. In 1949, the Land Rover station wagon was released with a coach-built wood-framed body by Tickford. While an improvement on the standard vehicle (the Tickford had seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features), its hand-built nature kept prices high. Less than 700 were sold before sales ceased in 1951. In 1954, Land Rover launched its second type of Land Rover station wagon, this time built by the company itself. The new version was much more successful but was aimed at the commercial user who needed an off-road people-carrier rather than the buyer requiring car-like comfort in an off-roader. The station wagon was based on the commercial variant of the Land Rover but with seats fitted to the load space and windows cut into the sides. While available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the station wagon retained the base vehicle's tough and capable but firm suspension as well as its mediocre road performance. By the late 1950s, Rover became convinced that a market existed for a vehicle combining the toughness and ability of the Land Rover with the comfort of a Rover saloon car. In 1958, the first of the "Road Rover" series were built. These were a series of development cars built by the engineering department consisting of Land Rover chassis and running gear clothed in a functional but car-like estate car body. The Road Rover was aimed at markets such as Africa and Australia where ordinary motorists faced long journeys on unmade roads where a vehicle with four-wheel drive and tough suspension was a benefit. By the 1960s, Rover was becoming aware of the development of the sports utility vehicle (SUV) in North America. SUVs such as the International Harvester Scout and the Ford Bronco offered a different blend of off- and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further. The final element of what would become the Range Rover concept was provided by the president of Rover's USA operations who, frustrated by the lack of suitable vehicles from Britain to compete with the new crop of SUVs, sent Rover a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8 engine which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production. Rover acknowledged the emergence of this new market for recreational off-roaders, and, in 1967, with Charles Spencer King in charge, began the "100-inch Station Wagon" program to develop a radical car to compete. King quickly defined the basic layout of the new vehicle, realizing that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. (King is said to have been convinced by coil springs while driving a Rover P6 across rough scrubland on part of the Solihull factory site that was being redeveloped, but Rover also bought a Ford Bronco which featured such a suspension system in the early stages of the 100-inch SW program). Spencer King was also convinced that a permanent four-wheel drive transmission was needed both to provide adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive. This required a totally new transmission unit to be developed, but Rover spread development costs between the 100-inch SW project and one working on what would become the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The adoption by Rover of the Buick alloy V8 engine had provided the perfect powerplant for the new 4x4, being powerful, light and sturdy. Various modifications were made to the design to suit use in the Range Rover, such as fitting different carburetors that maintained fuel supply at extreme angles and making a provision for the engine to use a starting handle in emergencies. The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as "A Car For All Reasons". In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of , a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Range Rover Classic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|