Rover needed a stop-gap solution to the slow post-war sales of its pre-war designs.

Chief Engineer Maurice Wilks' 'Land Rover' seemed to be the answer.

His design was as much a tractor as a car.

The centre-steer concept, built in the summer of 1947, had the steering wheel in the middle, mainly because Maurice had the farming community in mind when he was designing it.

The car was put to work ploughing, and Maurice designed front and rear power take-offs to run belt-driven machinery.

Rover quickly approved it for production, albeit without the central driving position, which proved impractical and costly to engineer.

The steel box-section chassis with its aluminium body was actually designed to get around the post-war scarcity of steel and make use of the plentiful, war-surplus Birmabright aluminium.

But it was also lightweight and rust-resistant, and the pioneering use of aluminium remains a feature of Land Rover vehicles to this day.

A single paint colour was offered: light gr...