Discovery / Austin Maestro van Same vehicle
Steve Kirk
chassis, then all that was added was a body.
LRO info based
Mike Buckley
"Steve Kirk" <Stev...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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Thank you. Mike.
Wil
I believe that early Discovery prototypes were disguised using Maestro van
bodies. I think you may have your wires crossed - but will stand corrected
if you've proof.
Wil.
vince
wheel drives and in particular the new Land Rover Discovery. Only it wasn't
new, it was more a merging between the Maestro van and the Range Rover,
packaged neatly in a trendy body shell.
This article may have been the culprit - they were NOT talking leiterally -
also the maestro van was used to test components as mentioned earlier
beamends
"Steve Kirk" <Stev...@btinternet.com> wrote:
I think you've got a little confused - the "mules" for the Freelander were a Freelander chassis with a Meastro van body bolted on.
Richard
--
beamends
"Wil" <w...@lilac-cottage.co.uk> wrote:
That should be Freelander, not Discovery.
Richard
--
SMURF
that it didn't have a chassis as such but was monocoque construction.
So how did they bolt on a diferent body ?
--
......................................SMURF
sm...@lwb3.co.uk
www.lwb3.co.uk
Martin Lewis
news:9pi6fq$2jn$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that big deal with the Freelander
was
> that it didn't have a chassis as such but was monocoque construction.
>
> So how did they bolt on a diferent body ?
>
As far as I know, the Maestro vans were simply used to test driveline
components (axles, gearboxes etc), which were in development, on the road
and on the track at the test centre at Gaydon, before the prototype
Freelanders were built. They used to drive round the lanes near Gaydon all
the time a few years before the Freelander was launched. Then I presume once
they were happy with the driveline and/or had finalised the body design, the
prototypes were built and then they were used.
I'm sure there was article or something about the Maestro van mules in one
of the magazines a couple of years ago. Might have been LRO??
Martin
martin<at>web-rover.co.uk
www.web-rover.co.uk
Marc Draper
<m1...@hotmail.com> writes
>As far as I know, the Maestro vans were simply used to test driveline
>components (axles, gearboxes etc), which were in development, on the road
>and on the track at the test centre at Gaydon, before the prototype
>Freelanders were built. They used to drive round the lanes near Gaydon all
>the time a few years before the Freelander was launched. Then I presume once
>they were happy with the driveline and/or had finalised the body design, the
>prototypes were built and then they were used.
I think it is more likely that they just fitted longer springs to the
maestro vans so that it looked like they were testing drive line
components for a new 4x4.
By now we should all know that LANDROVER don't test anything they just
shovel it together and let the customers do all their R&D ;-)
--
Marc Draper
Matthew Riley
Discoverys were Maestro van parts, and had a large influence on the shape of
the rear end. Mating this back end with the front section and doors, which
were dictated by the shape of the Range Rover bulkhead and door frames,
resulted in that distinctive C pillar shape, to disguise the change in the
angle of the windows.
Matt Riley
Defender 90 200Tdi
vince <cyclops.consu...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
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Mike Buckley
"beamends" <beam...@btconnect.com> wrote in message
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Wasn't that also true of the Disco? Which is maybe where he got the original
confusion from?
Mike.
beamends
"SMURF" <sm...@lwb3.co.uk> wrote:
> Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that big deal with the Freelander was
> that it didn't have a chassis as such but was monocoque construction.
>
> So how did they bolt on a diferent body ?
>
> --
OK, "adapted the body panels to fit" rather than "bolt on".
Richard
--
beamends
"Mike Buckley" <mike.buckle...@btinternet.com> wrote:
Since the Discovery and Range Rover chassis are pretty much identical there would be no need - they would have just used a Range Rover.
Richard
--
Richard & Sara
floorpan which is part of the monocoque construction
Richard
"SMURF" <sm...@lwb3.co.uk> wrote in message
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Moving Vision
All Land Rover products since the first 1948 Series One have full
independent chassis with the unique exception of the Freelander
John Lubran
CC
> Do you remember a LR ad about 5 years ago that proudly proclaimed
something
> like " 80% of all Land Rovers ever made are still on the road"???
>
>
Yes, those are the bits that fall off your vehicle onto the road :-)
CC
trogman
Steve Kirk <Stev...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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and theres no similarity between the chassis the van has leaf spring rear
end with damper the freelander hasnt.
BrennAndy
Freelander floorpan and running gear so that they could test it on the road
without the press getting pics of the new car. They are not the same other
than those few built for testing.
schmoo
few months back
"BrennAndy" <bren...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Graham Wood
Maestro van if I remember correctly.
Graham
"BrennAndy" <bren...@aol.com> wrote in message
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david harrison
1. Early disco prototypes were actally RangeRovers - same wheelbase, very
similar chassis, very similar driveline so easy choice. When it came to
building prototypes, they were disguised with bolt on fibreglass panels to
make them look like something else. Real pain to work with - you had to
unbolt the damn things to open the bonnet or rear door.
2. Freelander was originally concieved as people carrier type vehicle by
Rover in the late 80's with the option of a four wheel drive version using
the (front drive) k series/PG1 powerunit with a xfer box & prop to the rear
wheels. This project (called "oden") was to be done jointly with Hyundai,
but they went down the pan and pulled out, so the whole thing was shelved.
A bit later, it was revived as a small landrover, based around the same
driveline. Mules were built by making a prototype underframe (including
bulkhead & inner wing structure to mount the suspension), hanging the
freelander suspension from it, mounting the powerunit & driveline and then
assembling a body based on maestro van panels around it.
They were horrible to drive - so noisy (No consideration given to
fundamental NVH, so there were lots of body booms & a low body cavity
resonant frequency) and an awful driving position.
Incidentally, the only Oden prototype built (wonder what happened to that -
it was a complete vehicle) had different axle ratio's front & rear, because
we couldn't buy a rear axle from anyone with the same ratio as fitted in the
PG1 front drive trans. Only about 3% different, but the viscous coupling
earned its salt !
Incidentally, if any one remembers seeing Rover 200;s driving near Gaydon
with what looked like very amateur, homemade caravan wind deflectors &
riding on the bumpstops, they were cars I was using to develope the engine
for Oden. The wind deflector was to get the aerodynamic drag up to the right
level, while the cars were ballasted to the same weight.
PS I don't work there any more...
"Steve Kirk" <Stev...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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rob....@hushmail.com
AND if anybody is interested, the Freelander/Maestro prototype, which is owned by The Dunsfold Trust, will be at the Kelmarsh Land Rover Show 21st to 23rd July 2017 along with a handful of other rare Land Rover gems!