Centre Steer

The Centre Steer is the name enthusiasts give to the single prototype of the Land Rover four wheel drive vehicle, built by the Rover Motor Company at Solihull in 1947. Rover meant the Land Rover as a stopgap agricultural vehicle, inspired by the wartime Willys Jeep, that could be exported to earn the steel allocation needed to return to luxury cars. Its most distinctive feature was a steering wheel mounted in the middle with a passenger seat on each side, which mirrored a tractor, freed the sides for stowage or a power take-off driven pump or generator, and avoided building left and right hand drive versions. It had the Jeep wheelbase of 80 inches, a Rover 1.6 litre four cylinder petrol engine of 50 horsepower, a Rover P3 gearbox and a Jeep transfer box. The design team judged the layout awkward, and the production Land Rover of 1948 had conventional steering. Whether the prototype survives is not known.