The Land Master is a civilian all-terrain utility vehicle produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a competitor to the Land Rover. Many of its features were incorporated into the Land Rover Defender introduced some years later.
It was tested by the British Army and was actually used by the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. Money was promised by the Ministry of Defence but the deal fell through. Eventually, the rights to the Land Master were sold to a company called C.K. Farnworth of Crumlin, Caerphilly, Wales.
The prototype vehicles were made at Trelavour Road Garage, St Dennis, Cornwall, and were based on Dodge pickup truck parts. The chassis was made of tubular steel so that when it went over bumps and steep angles, dirt on top of the chassis rails would fall off, unlike Land Rovers of the time.
Surviving vehicles are very rare, at least one Land Master is still on the road in use in Kent, England, and another is kept by the original builders at St. Dennis.
Engines available included a 3.8 L Perkins diesel I4 rated at 82 bhp (61 kW; 83 PS), a 4.0 L Perkins diesel V6 rated at 101 bhp (75 kW; 102 PS), or a 5.9 L Chrysler petrol V8 rated at 170 bhp (127 kW; 172 PS).
Famous quotes containing the words land and/or master:
“On board ship there are many sources of joy of which the land knows nothing. You may flirt and dance at sixty; and if you are awkward in the turn of a valse, you may put it down to the motion of the ship. You need wear no gloves, and may drink your soda-and-brandy without being ashamed of it.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“A man ceases to be a beginner in any given science and becomes a master in that science when he has learned that ... he is going to be a beginner all his life.”
—R.G. (Robin George)