Austin Gipsy Mk2 LWB 4x4

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The Austin Motor Company enjoyed a modicum of success with the military-spec Champ. It was complex and expensive to build, so its commercial suitability was limited, especially as it did 8mpg on a good day, but the Army ordered plenty of them and it gave the company a great deal of experience with off-road vehicles.

Austin decided to take Land Rover on ‘head to head’ with something a bit more straightforward. The ability to design from scratch led to some innovative design features for the new car which was named the ‘Gipsy’ (spelt with an ‘i’ and not a ‘y’). The suspension was fully independent and used Alex Moulton-designed ‘Flexitor’ rubber springing coupled to trailing arms. These were discovered on a military trailer which was under test at MIRA, the system requiring no lubrication and being particularly suited to repeated bumps.

The chassis was a simple ladder affair, made from oval section rather than square, with an all-steel body adding to the rigidity of the whole structure, making the car particularly tough and strong. It was initially available with a 90” wheelbase, a longer 111” being introduced in 1962.

Powered by a rugged 2.2-litre 4-cylinder Austin A70 engine, it could also be ordered with a similarly sized diesel unit, both coupled to a 4-speed gearbox with transfer box to lower the ratios and bring the front wheels into play. Rather more comfortable than the cart-sprung Land Rover, the Flexitor springs gave it a reputation for rather vague steering, eventually making way for more conventional semi-elliptic springs later in its production run.

In total 21,208 Gipsy cars left the works, the model being dropped only because of the British Leyland merger which brought the hugely successful Land Rover under the same roof.

This Mk2 LWB petrol-engined example dates from April 1962 and is one of a batch of vehicles ordered by the Home Office for use in the event of a national emergency such as a nuclear war (a very real threat at the time, this being the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis). Assigned to the Auxiliary Fire Service, it led a very easy life, spending most of its time in storage with regular maintenance to ensure that it was always ready to spring into immediate action should catastrophe strike the nation.

Along with many other such civil defence vehicles, it was finally pensioned off and sold at the BCA Measham auction in April 1997 at which point it was catalogued as having just 2,307 miles on the clock. Since then it has had just three further keepers and has only racked up very few additional miles, mainly attending vintage vehicle shows where it always attracts plenty of interest (the exact mileage is unknown as the clock has been changed or re-set at some point and currently shows c.750 miles).

Supplied with a good amount of documentation including workshop manuals and sales brochures, it also retains its original (transferable) London registration number and has an agreed insurance valuation of £7,000.