Miguel Sánchez
France is a country with extensive rural areas. Due to this, in its automotive field there has always been a certain market niche reserved for utility vehicles with off-road capabilities. Proof of this are the Citroën 2CV and Renault 4. As tough as they are reliable when it comes to tackling their combined use on land and asphalt with a versatile approach. What's more, even today It is not difficult to find units of these models traveling along agricultural roads. Many times, with an efficiency capable of overshadowing several of the most modern designs.
So things, since angel but also unmatched France has a large scene of 4×4 preparers. Capable of transforming a sober utility vehicle into a machine with generous angles of attack, they have even taken their creations to tests as extreme as the Dakar. In addition, In the United Kingdom, this approach redoubles its commitment due to the complexity of its territory. With a multitude of agricultural and livestock farms exposed to an extremely humid climate as well as a sometimes complex relief full of forests.
With all this, it is not difficult to understand why companies like Roadless Traction have managed to survive for decades. Specialized since 1919 in the preparation of agricultural machinery, it has made thousands of conversions on tractors and trucks. Many of them coupling a 4×4 system although, in the most striking cases, even opting for caterpillar-type undercarriages. Thanks to this, even if the terrain is particularly slippery, your vehicles can always overcome obstacles in order to secure their work effectively.
Of course, sometimes even this is enough. And it is that, although the aforementioned systems achieve outstanding traction, they may not be suitable when the road surface is particularly abrupt. Something, on the other hand, very normal in rural areas of the United Kingdom. Characterized, among other things, by the proliferation of Off-Road specialties among which we find the Trial or the uphill climbs on muddy roads.
However, in the case of the one known as Forest Rover we are not facing something driven by competition. Far from it, we are talking about pure and hard daily performance at the service of the administration. But let's go in parts. This way, The first thing is to focus on how the Forestry Commission works. In charge of caring for the British forests, it has to quickly and easily access areas that are not only particularly isolated. But also totally unrelated to circulation.
For this reason, their vehicles face fording rivers as well as obstacles capable of facing a serious angle of attack with any type of suspension. At this point, based on various Series I and II Land Rovers the Forestry Commission itself prepared some special vehicles between 1958 and 1959. However, that was not enough. Especially if we take into account the need to have a good fleet of these models in the shortest possible time.
ROADLESS 109, THE MOST EXTREME VERSION OF THE BRITISH LAND ROVERS
Pinned by necessity, the British Forestry Administration contacted Roadless Traction to find a solution. Solution that came from the Roadless 109. Better known as the Forest Rover, this one completely changed its cushioning in order to achieve a much more generous ground clearance than that given by standard Land Rovers. In addition, it included impressive tractor wheels coupled to 4×4 traction.
In fact, Roadless Traction He had to completely reform the body of the vehicle in order to incorporate matching wheel arches. Something that, in the end, only makes the Roadless 109 recognizable as a derivative of the Land Rover if we look at the cabin or the grill.
Regarding the result, a simple glance at some of the promotional photographs speaks for itself. And it is that we see the Forest Rover overcoming steep obstacles with relative ease. Not surprisingly, after the initial design by the preparation company, the prototype was sent to Rover itself with the intention of subjecting it to all kinds of tests before launching it on the market in 1962.
Curiously, despite the good performance shown by the model, only a maximum of 21 units were manufactured according to the source consulted. Of course, tracing their history we see how some were in service for almost forty years both in rural areas of the United Kingdom and in tropical territories of its former colonies. Unfortunately, today there are only five complete Roadless 109s left and one in the phase of possible reconstruction. All this to continue being one of the most striking versions in the wide family of designs derived from Land Rover.
Roadless photos, Dunsfold Collection y tenants.
