Thirty years on coils, a milestone for Land Rover

A current production 110 – lots of changes but still true to the 1983 original

This month thirty years ago sales were well underway of the new Land Rover, the 110 riding on coil springs. Introduced at the Geneva motor show in March, it was the culmination of Land Rover's often lethargic efforts to update their product line, by this time well and truly feeling the bite of Japanese competition. Although the new vehicle looked much the same as its predecessor, it introduced several key improvements, particularly coil springs at all corners and the permanent 4WD system, taken from the Range Rover. The short wheelbase 90 followed in 1984. These two vehicles set the style and general direction of what became the Defender and soldiers on now and into the future.