The Trantor tractor has Land Rover origins:

The Trantor tractors origins can be found with the original Land Rover.
The Willys Jeep influenced the development of the Land Rover, and the Land Rover was a strong influence upon the design of the Trantor tractor.
When Rover decided what the design brief for the original Land Rover should be, it began:
"to design a vehicle rather similar to a Willys Jeep - even more useful to the farmer, a proper farm machine, not just another jeep..........
much more versatile...........,
much more use as a power source............,
able to drive things.........,
to have power take-offs everywhere....,
and to have all sorts of bolt-on accessories, to be used instead of a tractor at times.......
to be able to do everything!"
So Land Rover had decided to produce a vehicle which was quicker than any existing tractor, but to have as many uses (if not more) to the farmer.
The Trantor tractor uses the same basic brief, but approaches it from a different perspective.

Land Rover - A farmer's vehicle?

Ken and Julie Slavins' fourth edition of their book published by G.T. Foulis, is an interesting and well-researched review of Land Rover's history, which includes a photograph of the 1947 Land Rover 'centre steer' prototype with central driving position (driver in the middle not to one side) and no doors.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the assertion that the Land Rover was intended to be a farmers work and transport vehicle for, as Autocar magazine reported in 1948, "Land Rover is a mobile power station, will tow or do a variety of useful work on the land over rough ground.
It can drive a large circular saw and cut up timber for firewood.
It can be used with trailers to transport loads (2-3 Ton) over ploughed fields or other hard going.
As a mobile power source it takes the power to the job.
Through the power take off, it can be harnessed to drive a threshing machine, an elevator or a chaff-cutter.
It can draw a plough, and most other farm implements".
Motor Magazine also reported, "There is no doubt also that in its design the Rover company has applied a wide knowledge and experience not only of vehicle manufacture but of agricultural and industrial requirements."
Additionally, they called the Land Rover "a portable source of power, and an alternative to the light tractor".

Tractors and Land Rovers are different.

An obvious statement, you might say.
But this is exactly what Land Rover were initially aiming to create: a light vehicle for general farm work and transportation, even going as far as having a central steering wheel (like a tractor) on the early prototypes.
But light tractors across the world were doing many of the jobs the Land Rover was designed for, and so the main differences could be distilled down to four main areas:
Seating - Land Rovers have two seats or more, but typical light tractors have only one.
4 wheel drive and suspension - Light tractors tend to be 2 wheel drive, and have no suspension.
Built in load-carrying capability - Most Land Rovers have some built-in load carrying capability, but usually a trailer is used for medium size farm transport tasks.
Speed - Land Rovers can pull a trailer of 2 to 3 tons on-road at up to 60 mph, but tractors of under 65 hp tend to pull trailers with up to 8 tons of load almost anywhere at 10 to 15 mph.

Tractor and Land Rover Development

Of course, the weight in 2007 of most European ploughing-first tractors is about 5-8 tons and the horse power is usually over 100hp.
All of them have safety cabins by law with one seat in the middle, no suspension on axles, so that 5 or 6 furrow, reversible mouldboard ploughs can be used efficiently.
In the last 50 years, European tractors have become vastly more sophisticated in order to conduct more output per man.
Land Rovers, on the other hand, have been developed toward Discoverys and Range Rovers and the agricultural aspect has been diluted to almost nil.

Useful Statistics

In 1972, the first statistical study of vehicles and tractors on British farms was presented at Manchester University as an M.Sc. thesis by Stuart Taylor, who showed why transport on British farms, largely by tractors and Land Rovers at that time, was such an important element in achieving high farm productivity.
Taylor, of course, looked at large British farms which, by the standards of the bigger countries, are still quite small.
In the early seventies there were many farmers using Land Rovers which worked alongside and in support of farm management systems based largely around smallish farm tractors.
Whilst the tractors were powerful enough, the users of Land Rovers regularly criticised the lower power of the diesel engine.

By 1983-84, however, things had begun to change, for the farmers bought the 90" and 110" Land Rover with much improved diesel engines for about £10,000.
Early Land Rovers were frequently modified by farmers so as to improve the power and efficiency of the Land Rover diesel engines and, in consequence (before 1984), had become much less popular in farming.
The new Land Rover however reversed this sales trend and farmers began to consider them again, for light work with trailers and horseboxes, where 3 ton trailers presented few repair problems and a reasonable level of economy.

Developing Land Rovers For Farmers

From its farm and central drive farming origins, it is sensible that Land Rovers have a power-take-off (p.t.o.).
Tractors have a p.t.o. because European farmers find many farm uses for them.
The Land Rover used to have a power take off and a simple 3 point linkage.
On tractors, both are much used so the Land Rover could support tractors and conduct some of the lighter and faster power-take-off and linkage work of tractors.
Farm managers could then, it was thought, have a command and support (to tractors and ag-implements) vehicle.
This idea was not lost on farmers nor on those Land Rover users who were especially interested in spreading, spraying, fencing and mowing grass.
Keen farmers tried to explain their needs to a Land Rover executive management, which had become hide-bound and conservative.
Since these managers were unable or unwilling to listen to key customers, e.g. their demands for a bigger diesel engine, it soon became clear that farmer-focused vehicle development, in which the Land Rovers would do some farm work, was not part, and would never again become part of Land Rover thinking.

AgRover - The Farmers Real Land Rover (1985)

Realising this fact and spotting a potential market, Steve Castellani and Roger Stephenson found the new 90 and 110 models were a good basis for farmers real needs.
Steve therefore decided to design an ag-version of the Land Rover which had a powerful power-take-off with accompanying independent clutch and a category 1, farming-focused, 3 point linkage (to control the mower etc.) along with higher clearance axles and demountable body, so that customers would have a useful vehicle for light p.t.o. and linkage work.
The AgRover vehicles began from the receipt of a complete 110 Land Rover pick-up, and modifications were made by adding and by removing parts.
Land Rover were not now active in this market segment (a working Land Rover for farming tasks) and they were approached to evaluate the AgRover and provide an "opportunity" to throw less away.
"AgRover" designs and detailed engineered parts were provided for the scrutiny and approval of the experienced engineers at Rover.
Castellani's Land Rover conversion to "AgRover" was thus assessed by Rover who conveyed the impression that it would be necessary, to consecrate and sanctify the additions made by the bright young AgRover designer, which were fitted to the Land Rover to make it ag-worthy!

The AgRover was much appreciated by its customers but was essentially killed off by lack of interest and lack of support from those at Land Rover, on whom the product depended for about 70% of its parts.

Land Rover and tractor combined?

In the period before AgRover and working elsewhere, Stuart Taylor created a vehicle based around his statistics, which he called a "TRANTOR" (TRANsport tracTOR).
In a farming context, early Land Rover's were speedy 4x4 pick-up trucks working alongside slow tractors.
As Land Rover became more sophisticated, as passenger vehicles and Range Rovers became the ever more luxury side of passenger carrying, their product designs moved up-market in the passenger-carrying direction.
The real work and transportation tasks of people and goods are normally conducted in rural environments by light or heavy farm tractors.
The work and transport equipment is fitted to the tractor by means of trailers, (on the hitch), sprayers, (on the linkage), and also using the p.t.o. in a stationary (e.g. pumping water) or moving role (rotovating).
Taylor's first Trantor vehicle aimed, to come between the Land Rover and the tractor and was designed to carry people and goods and conduct most of the work of both.
The statistics he collected clearly showed that a vehicle-like tractor appeared to be required, and so he and his colleagues, built and sold 17 development prototypes into big Land Rover and tractor markets in Africa, Middle East and Europe.
Whilst properly recognising that there were large numbers of tractors used only on roads in the U.K. by Water Boards and County Councils, for example, Taylor and team underestimated the significance, to the buying public, of anything really new.
Some of the European tractor industry's well developed features, (independent power take-offs, linkage strength, lift capacity, cabin noise and power-steering etc.) were not present on the early Trantors.
Trantors, however, had braking to all wheels, balanced braking to farm trailers, and suspension on the towing hitch and 3 point linkage, so as to carry implements at normal road speeds over rough farming country!

The Series 1 and Series 2 Trantor Tractor.

Taylor developed his prototypes into the first production run of the Series 1 Trantor.
Customers appreciated the Series 1 Trantor machines because they easily conducted all the duties of a Land Rover, towed much bigger trailers, had a linkage (which by 1980 had become unavailable on Land Rovers) and a more useful power-take-off.
Stuart Taylor learnt some valuable lessons from Trantor buyers, and the early customers helped him with the second production run of a wider range of Series 2 Trantors with 2 and 4 wheel drive, and some large six cylinder, Perkins 6.354 engines as part of an advanced haulage specification.
He exhibited a 96 hp. diesel powered, 4 wheel drive Series 2 Trantor with an independent power take off, (giving about 65 hp. to operate farm machinery or spreading, spraying and mowing equipment) and a category 2 3 point linkage, at the Smithfield Show.
British farm customers were thus able, to purchase (in 1985) either a specially converted 4x4 Land Rover (AgRover) with a high quality 45 hp. independent p.t.o. and simple linkage (category 1) which would pull a 3 to 4 ton trailer at normal truck road speeds or they could buy a 4 wheel drive Trantor with 65 hp. p.t.o., a category 2 linkage, which would haul over 10 tons at normal truck road speeds.
Both the AgRover and all the Trantors have 3 front seats and extra space behind the cab.

Farmers were thus able to choose between the very lightweight Land Rover in AgRover form at 2 tons and the Trantor at 3.2 tons.
But while the trailer pulling ability of the Land Rover was not increased by the additional AgRover specification, the Trantor increased the haulage capacity to 10 tons and this increase in load weight was significant because British farmers and Vegetable Growers need to move bales, fertiliser, and goods, just as sugar, tobacco and cotton growers in the tropics need to move the crop to the processing centre!
Whilst the features of both vehicles are clearly important to farmer users, so is ground clearance.
The AgRover and Trantor had similar ground clearances.
Part of the AgRover's specification, which was even less appreciated by Land Rover than the 3 point linkage and central P.T.O., were the high clearance axles which AgRover's designer created in order to help customers achieve their fieldwork objectives.

So the Land Rover, The AgRover, and the Trantor were each looking at the smaller, faster farm transport vehicle problem from differing angles.
The AgRover is a Land Rover with additional features, which enable it to be a work and transport vehicle and not just a transport vehicle.
It adds a small linkage and smallish p.t.o. and has the same haulage capacity as the Land Rover.
The Trantor solves the problem by being less focused towards passenger carrying (in the cabin) and more focused on the size of the trailer to be hauled, the size of agricultural equipment on the linkage, the greater power of the independently-clutched, pto and having sufficient traction for the lighter weight soil-engaging work tasks.

Text adapted from information supplied by www.trantortractors.com

Trantor Vehicles Ltd - a potted history

1971: Graham Edwards and Stuart Taylor (the inventor) begin to develop ideas for a high-speed tractor.
1972: Taylor Engineering Developments Ltd begins the design phase of developing their high speed transport tractor (Trantor).
1974: Lonrho Exports, a trading company with interest in Africa, makes a £200,000 contribution to Trantor development costs.
1976: A Leyland-powered Trantor was launched at the Royal Show.
1978: Trantor Mk1 - the first fast tractor - introduced to the public.
1986: Four wheel drive Trantor Mk2 Launched.
1987: UK production of Trantor stops due to high build cost - new production centres come under scrutiny.
1989: Company name changes to H.S.T. Developments Ltd.
Graham Edwards becomes a major shareholder in the company.
1991: 500 customers had owned Trantors and the concept and vehicle became accepted as an innovative tractor in the U.K. market.
1997: Design work starts on a new range of transport-first tractors with supply sources in the Asia-Pacific region.
2003: Company name changes to Trantor Vehicles Ltd.
2004: TVL signs a licence deal with Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) to build the Trantor in their facility in India.
2005: HMT Trantor launched.
 

HMT Trantor:

The HMT Trantor is a versatile tractor developed for the first time in India in technical collaboration with Trantor Vehicles Limited.
This high speed tractor, while performing all normal operations in the field, can run at maximum speed of 65 kilometres per hour on road.
It is equipped with synchromesh gears, front and rear suspension, cabin and other features for operator's comfort.

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