Land Rover IIa & IIb Forward Control
The Series IIa
The Land Rover Series II/IIa 109" did not have enough load capacity to satisfy some customers, so Land Rover developed a Forward Control (FC), or cab over engine, design for this market. The IIa Forward Control Land Rover contains the normal Series IIa 109" chassis and engine hidden under the truck style bodywork. A new sub-frame is bolted to the front of the chassis to carry the cab. The cab itself contains some new panels but makes considerable use of standard Series IIa panels. Land Rover saw this as a positive selling point for existing large volume customers.
The radiator is moved forwards and the fan is driven by its own mini prop-shaft complete with two universal joints. Most forward controls came with a drop-side tray fitted to the rear. This is supported by a sub-frame of U-channel girders and uprights fixed to the Land Rover chassis. The arrangement is very strong but also heavy. The engine is accessible via a cover which intrudes into the rear tray by a small amount. The load area is large enough to carry an 80" Series I. Standard tyre size is 9.00x16.
The vehicle was also available as a cab/chassis without the rear sub-frame or tray. In this form it was popular for camper-conversions, fire appliances and other special projects. Quite a few forward controls were fitted with a centrally mounted power take-off driven winch. This is a very sensible position for a winch as the weight is between the axles and the winch rope can be run out either forwards or backwards through pulleys and fairleads. Inside, the cab is almost all standard Land Rover Series IIa. Most FC's were fitted with the short pick-up style cab. Forward control steering can be a bit vague. The tray-bodied vehicle is also nose-heavy and can be a bit un-nerving when using the brakes, particularly down-hill, unless there is a bit of a load in the back (a general FC trait, and not just Land Rover ones!). The vehicle was also under-powered, as it was offered only with the 2.25 litre 4-cylinder petrol or diesel engines. The top speed of a diesel powered FC is around 40 mph. The total production run of the IIa FC is thought to have been around 3193.
Swiss Fire Vehicle
US car dealer Findlay Automotive Group have recently purchased this forward control vehicle. It was previously a Swiss Fire Vehicle. With only 14,500 miles recorded, they plan to revive the vehicle, and put it to good use as a promotional tool for their Land Rover Las Vegas dealership. It is a 1964 model with the 2.6 litre petrol motor. Serial # 30300089B.
Pictures © Land Rover Las Vegas:- www.lrlv.com
The Series IIb
Because of the problems with brakes, engine power and such, an improved Series IIb Forward Control was released in 1966. It was offered with the larger 2.6 litre 6-cylinder engine as an option. The most obvious external change was the moving of the headlights to a lower position and the sidelights to a higher position on the front panel. The wheel base grew to 110" as the axles were moved slightly on the springs. New axles with a wider track and heavy-duty ENV differentials were fitted. However there were simply too many compromises in the Series IIa/IIb Forward Control and it was never a great success. Most were used as work trucks; they worked hard and suffered accordingly. Consequently FC's are now quite rare, straight and complete ones especially so. The total production run of the IIb FC is thought to have been around 2305. IIb production ended in 1972, just in time to make space for the 101 FC to be produced.
Land Rover IIb FC Number 1.
IIb FC number 1 has the much less powerful 2.25 diesel engine fitted. The load capacity was 30cwt, and top speed around 40mph.
Series IIb FC - Pictures © Aaron Main.
The Marte FC
Information is sparse, but it is known that only around 30 of these vehicles were built by Marte. The base vehicle is believed to be the IIb forward control, totally re-bodied in aluminium for their intended role, with a 7 seat cabin. They were specified with the 2.6 litre, 84 HP, 6 cylinder petrol engine, and were supplied to the Fire Service in Austria. As with standard IIb FCs, the tyres are 9.00x16 cross-plies. The unladen weight is 2,340kg, whilst it's fully laden weight was 3,500kg. The vehicle pictured at the bottom of the group of three is fitted with a functioning pump.
Help us with our research!
If you can help us out with more information about the FC vehicle types mentioned here, or maybe pics of your FC, please do so. You can contact us at admin@lr-mad.co.uk.
Land Rover IIa / IIb FC pictures
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