1957 Land Rover Defender Military

The Austin Champ was a British Army vehicle made by the Austin Motor Company. A British Army specification for a light truck was issued in the late 1940s, inspired by the jeep but able to perform in all theatres of operation of the British Army. It was considered important that a British-made vehicle was produced in order to reduce the reliance on US vehicles and the foreign expenditure that entailed.

The Austin Motor Company was awarded the contract to produce 15,000 vehicles and a former aircraft factory at Cofton Hackett, on the edge of Austin's Longbridge complex in Birmingham, was fitted out for the work. The Rolls-Royce-designed B40 four-cylinder engine of 2838 cc was fitted, the smallest of the standardised B-Range engines. This military version was designated model WN1 by Austin.
The majority served as cargo/personnel carriers or were fitted with radios. A version armed with a single, dashboard-mounted Browning .30 cal machine-gun was in limited use as late as 1967.
As the Champ entered service it became apparent that although it had an outstanding cross-country performance, it was too expensive (£1200 at 1951 prices), too complex and had limited use outside of the narrow field combat role for which it had been designed. Consequently the contract with Austin was amended and finally prematurely terminated some 4,000 vehicles short of the 15,000 originally contracted.
Ultimately the Land Rover replaced the Champ in all roles. The Champ served with the British Army in the UK, Africa, Germany, Cyprus, Libya and the Suez Campaign, and early vehicles were sent for troop trials at the end of the Korean War.
. The Austin that you are looking at today is absolutely original barn find, imported from Europe as a fully functional vehicle. At this time everything on this vehicle works as it should: all lights, all gauges, motor, gearboxes. It is an absolute pleasure to drive. It drives extremely easy without a shake or a shimmy. It smokes very slightly at startup….but then disappears. It starts first time, every time. This truck is designed to go in reverse as fast as forward, unusual indeed. There are no major or minor rust issues. Surface patina is all that you will see.