Bridging the Gap
Having cost over half a million to create, Land Rover’s unique show stand is a steal at 20 grand
Why Land Rover’s unique show stand cost half a million to build and is now on ebay for 20 grand
If, like me, you spend far too much of your time scanning ebay looking for interesting things to do with Land Rovers, you might have seen the company’s impressive Mobile Exhibition Unit for sale recently. With an asking price of £20,000, which was later reduced to £14,000, you’d have needed deep pockets if you fancied bidding. But at that money it was also a bit of a bargain, given that it cost over half a million pounds to create!
It has a fascinating history, not least in terms of the pivotal role it played in the launch of the vehicle that was destined to become the company’s best-selling product by far. In the mid-1990s, Land Rover had created the CB40, later to be known as the Freelander. The goal was to build a cheaper, more car-like vehicle that would attract a completely new type of customer to the marque – people that didn’t want a Defender because it was too much of a utility vehicle, and didn’t want a Discovery or Range Rover because it was either too big, or too expensive. The Freelander was an instant and huge success.
But there were significant concerns at Land Rover leading up to the launch in the autumn of 1997. Would the new car be perceived as a real Land Rover? After all, it departed from the image of what a Land Rover was supposed to be in a number of very dramatic ways. It had a monocoque bodyshell rather than a separate chassis, independent suspension all-round mounted on separate front and rear sub-frames and a transverse-mounted engine. Sure, it had permanent four- wheel drive but it didn’t have a transfer gearbox or low-ratio for off-road use.
There were some in the company that were sufficiently concerned about it that they suggested the new vehicle should be branded Rover rather than Land Rover. This was a perfectly viable option, given that in those days the company encompassed the Rover car side was well as Land Rover. Roger Crathorne was running Land Rover’s demonstrations, exhibitions and training operation at the time, and even some of his team thought the new vehicle was not going to be good enough to be a Land Rover.
Roger takes up the story: “John Russell was our Commercial Director and he asked me to evaluate the new vehicle and give him my opinion as to whether it should be a Land Rover or not. I took two of the prototypes, one diesel and one petrol, for a three-day test which included a visit to our off-road proving ground at Eastnor Castle.
“I was very impressed with them, except for one thing, which was the fact that excessive braking was required to control them on steep descents, and I thought this could be a problem for owners, especially when faced with a failed hill climb. If the new vehicle was going to be a Land Rover then it needed to be able to perform off-road just as capably as the rest of Land Rover’s products.”
Roger duly reported his conclusions and also suggested that installing what he initially called Hill Retardation would make a huge difference. Roger’s idea was to use electric
“It was a real challenge to design and build in all sorts of ways”
motors to slow the vehicle, rather than the brakes, under certain off-road conditions. The idea was embraced by the engineering team although the eventual solution was to use the ABS system to generate electronically-controlled brake pulsing to control downhill speed, and this was eventually branded as Hill Descent Control. This innovation immediately gave the new Freelander all it needed to be able to keep up with the rest of Land Rover’s products off-road, although there were some at the time who condemned the new car as a bit of a soft-roader.
Roger was responsible for Land Rover’s mobile exhibition units, which attended a wide range of shows and events every year. In early 1995, plans came together to add a new flagship unit which would offer something that had never been done before. Roger’s vision was to create a show stand that was not just about dispensing hospitality to visitors while surrounded by parked demonstration vehicles. He had in mind something that had real presence that was geared towards displaying Land Rover vehicles, either statically or in motion, in such a way that they would dominate whatever showground they were in. But nobody knew if it would even be possible to build a mobile unit whose primary attribute would be that Land Rovers could be driven up ramps either side and over the top of the hospitality area, and displayed 20 feet up in the air.
Following exploratory discussions with potential manufacturers, all of which were held in conditions of the utmost secrecy, the contract to build the new stand, officially known as the Exhibition Bridge, but usually referred to as Big Rig Two, was awarded to Club Car Ltd, now known as Global V-tech Ltd, of Peterborough. Land Rover had a long association with Club Car and Roger’s initial ideas soon began to take shape and the designers and engineers concluded that it could indeed be done. The final product fulfilled all of Roger’s ambitions.
“It was a real challenge to design and build in all sorts of ways,” said Roger. “Obviously the whole thing needed to fold down into an artic trailer for transportation, and we had to commission a bespoke trailer chassis that had much lower ground clearance than normal, in order to ensure the finished unit would clear motorway bridges. The tractor unit was an ERF EC11 6x4 which was also specially modified to suit the trailer.
“The final design had two ramps that climbed at an angle of 22 degrees from the ground to a maximum height of over six metres, and the ramps were fitted with adjustable guide rails that meant they could be used to accommodate all of the company’s products. A huge, illuminated Land Rover sign adorned the front of the hospitality suite and was lowered hydraulically when the unit was packed away for transportation.”
The new unit was completed just in time for its inaugural use as the centrepiece at the UK dealer and global media launch of the Freelander in October and November 1997. “Big Rig Two was perfectly suited to the Freelander launch,” recalled Roger. “We were able to demonstrate and display the new vehicle in a very compelling and eye-catching way that immediately showed that it was a capable off-road machine and perfectly deserving of wearing the Land Rover badge,” said Roger.
“We set-up the demonstration unit in front of the hotel in Estepona where the journalists were staying,” Roger recalled. “As they stood in the hospitality area for the presentations on the new vehicle, one of my team was driving a Freelander backwards and forwards over the bridge above them, demonstrating in a very dramatic way that Freelander was as accomplished as the rest of our vehicles. I had the demonstration Freelander specially prepared with running gear painted like a barber-shop pole, so the media could see the drive train in action when they climbed up to the viewing gallery”.
Big Rig Two was in regular use for a number of years, appearing at agricultural shows and other events up and down the country, where it was used either for static displays with typically seven Defender, Freelander, Discovery or Range Rover vehicles parked up, over and down the bridge section, or for dynamic demonstrations similar to the way it was used at the Freelander launch. In March 1999, Roger and Barry Chapman of Club Car were granted a UK patent for the design of Big Rig Two.
“I think the last use of the unit by Land Rover was probably made in around 2004 or 2005,” said Roger. “Land Rover retailers were also able to hire it for their local events and quite a number did. There was nothing like it on the show circuit at the time and it was always an attraction wherever it went.”
Andrew Harrison-smith of Nene Overland Ltd, who is offering Big Rig Two for sale, takes up the story: “I first saw the exhibition unit when I visited the Burghley Horse Trials many years ago and I was very impressed with it. I then saw it for sale at an auction about three or four years ago but someone else snapped it up. I purchased it on ebay not long afterwards, and I planned to use it as a sort of mobile dealership or at a site in London, but that never happened and it was stored on our site at Thorney. So it has become a bit of a white elephant, really. Whoever buys it now will probably have to spend another 30 or 40 thousand pounds to get it up and running again. Unfortunately the huge illuminated Land Rover sign was not part of the initial auction sale, and we don’t know where it is, or whether it has survived.”
As this issue of LRM went to press, Big Rig Two was still available to buy and is probably the ultimate accessory for the Freelander 1 enthusiast. But if you do buy it, don’t forget that very early production Freelanders built to the basic specification were not equipped with ABS, and therefore did not have Hill Descent Control and Electronic Traction Control. So if you own one of these it will certainly be a bit of a rarity, and if it’s got one of those factory-registrations that seem to be all the rage right now you’ll have a very interesting vehicle. Just be careful before you drive it over Big Rig Two!