101 history
Back in the 1960s the British military decided it needed a new go-anywhere 4x4 gun tractor, to tow its new 105mm light gun, plus a tonne of ammunition in the rear. The gun itself would weigh five tons and fired shells weighing over 33lb apiece – at the rate of six a minute, with a range of over ten miles. Land Rover began designing a suitable vehicle and, after a few false starts, came up with the 101 Forward control, with a wheelbase of 101 inches, an overall length of 170.5in, height 90in and width 72.5in. its dimensions meant it would fit inside the Raf's andover military transport plane used in that era. its unladen weight was almost two tonnes.
But such a huge vehicle caused massive headaches at Rover, where the biggest engine available in the mid 1960s was a 3.0-litre saloon car engine that was woefully underpowered. The project would probably never have got off the ground but for the 3.5 V8 Rover bought from Buick in the late 1960s to power its saloon cars and the new Range Rover (to be launched in 1970). it turned out to be ideal for the 101.
Full-scale production didn't start until 1974 and continued until 1978. The Uk military wanted Land Rover to build a further 2000, spread over the next ten years, but such a low volume – just four vehicles a week – did not make economic sense and Solihull declined.
Of the 2667 ever built, most went to the Uk military and the majority were GS models, although some were equipped with ambulance or communications bodies by Marshalls of cambridge. Those fitted for radio had 24-volt electrical systems.
Most were also left-hand drive, as many were used by the British military abroad, in countries where most vehicles were LHD. Many went to Germany, for example, in readiness for a cold War that never actually happened. But some 101s did see active service, notably in 1982 in the Falklands War, where t he 4x4 capabilities of the vehicle – and the light gun – were used to full advantage in routing the argentinian invaders.
Some were also used in the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, but by then withdrawal of the vehicle had already begun and was complete by 1998.