Australian Car Guide

The Land Rover 107" Station Wagon is a vehicle that is almost a prototype in itself in certain ways. Rover had been producing the 86" and 107" models since mid-way through 1953 as an improved new model to the original and discontinued 80" wheel base model. The 86" reintroduced the station wagon to the Land Rover line up in the form of a SWB hard top Land Rover with improved rear seating and windows as well as a neat rear door and luxury trim. Easy to produce as it used existing parts this was a much more practical option for the Rover company at the time than the coach built 80" station wagon model that lasted only 3 years in production. The idea for the long station wagon must have arrived on the scene at around the same time as the 86" station wagon, however one major set back was in the way for a long station wagon - the chassis.

The chassis of a standard 107" is an extension of the design of the short wheel base models in that the main chassis rails rise up to support the rear body but also to give the rear axle space for the off road ground clearance and articulation. The idea for the 107" station wagon being a people carrier was obviously intended for the vehicle to have 5 doors. With this chassis, the way it rises after the cabin simply wasn't made to accommodate a second row of seats at the same height as the front of the cab that the station wagon would need. This called for a bit of a re-think. A chassis could be made to allow for the second row of seats, however to keep the spring hangers on the main chassis rail was not an option as the rise for clearing the axle would come further back than the 107" wheel base allowed. The answer was to set the spring hangers outwards to allow the vehicle to fit together in its 107" format.

The new chassis obviously took a little bit of development work and prototypes were up and running by 1955. The vehicle was released onto the market in the 1956 season. The chassis of the 107" station wagon did cause a further re-think for the future of the model. In a mass production sense there isn't much point in having a vehicle model that needs two completely different chassis produced. In time, the style of chassis that the 107" station wagon has was to become the chassis for all long wheel base Land Rovers; because of its nature it could made into the station wagon and was not too difficult to turn into a normal pick up Land Rover and certainly not vice versa. Not in the Series One era though. The 107" and 109" pick up models always retained their own earlier style of chassis and the 107" station wagons had the different chassis. The only exceptions to this were in prototypes. I believe prototype 109/1 has a 107" style chassis even though it was made to be a pick up. Certainly there is evidence that they knew they were wasting resorces producing two separate chassis. /4WD.html

While all this was going on through 1956 into 1957, work on the up and coming 1958 Series 2 model was going at great pace, with its introduction, and replacement of the earlier models being the ultimate change and update. The Series 2 long wheel bases all shared the same style of chassis. The 107" station wagon was also never made into a 109" model. When the 107" models wheel base grew two inches to become the 109's for fitting of the new 2 litre diesel engine, the station wagon kept its 107" wheel base. The diesel was only released on the UK market for 1957 and over 95% of production of the 107" station wagons were exported out of England. It was probably considered, not worth extending the wheel base of this model. It had also just been released so was also probably not seen worth confusing the customers too much.

When the 107" station wagon was released in 1956 it was a model along side the 86" and 107" models. With the introduction of the 88" and 109" models in late 1956, the 107" station wagon inherited its minor changes in the bulkhead inner pressing and steel grille panel. A 1956 station wagon is noticeably different in the body cappings on B pillar to later model 107" station wagons. Note the body cappings of the earlier station wagon (top) whch have a piece that sits across the B pillar. The later station wagons (lower) do not have this piece of capping on the B pillar. The 107" station wagon TWD 713 was Rover's press vehicle and used for test drive articles in 1956.

Pictures of the early (grey), and of the late (red, with 1990s wheels) station wagons were taken at Billing by Michael Bishop ['00].

The station wagon pictured right belongs to a member of the Land-Rover Register of Victoria (see [Victorian clubs]). It still performs as well as most modern four wheel drives. Note the double-skinned tropical roof and the alpine lights (windows) on the curve of the roof-line for the benefit of rear passengers.

Another 107 station wagon that is still active, now fitted with a Holden 202 motor.

Rod Steele spotted the 107" pictured right. He reports that the original 2L motor has been replaced with a later 2.25L unit. It may not look much here, but it is a definite collector's item.

This one has lost its tropical roof and you can just make out the four air-vents on the roof panel between the reinforcing ribs.

The 107" station-wagon continued in production after the Series-II Land-Rover was introduced, until sufficient factory-capacity became available to build a 109" station wagon.

Left: A restored 1957 107" station wagon at Billing '98
- L.A11ison

Go to the 107, S1, Series Land Rover pages