The Centre Steer is an early Land Rover prototype automobile. One of the first to have been built, it is the same as the Series I 80, but with the steering wheel central, like that of a tractor. As the car itself has never been found, the only evidence it existed are photographs. This, and technical difficulties with a centrally located steering wheel, has lead some sceptics to believe that the "Centre Steer" is merely an urban legend. Land Rover was the name of one of the first British civilian all-terrain utility vehicles, first produced by Rover in 1947. ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... First model of Land Rover that went into production, early 1948. ... Steering is the term applied to the collection of components, linkages, etc. ... Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them (see rumor). ...

Centre Steer is the name given by enthusiasts to the prototype of the Land Rover 4x4 vehicle, so it was never an actual model. Developed in 1946 by the Rover Motor Co., the Land Rover was intended to be an agricultural vehicle based on the successful wartime Willys Jeep. 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Jeep® is an automobile marque (and registered trademark) of DaimlerChrysler. ...

Raw materials for car building were allocated by the government based on the company's export performance (as this earned much needed trade revenue for post-war Britain). Because of this the Land Rover was designed from the outset to be exported to the British Empire and Commonwealth. Rover viewed this 4x4 as a stopgap to get production running and so the company could return to building luxury cars. The Land Rover had to be developed and produced with minimal outlay. The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps The British Empire was the worlds first global power, a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with the global maritime empires of Portugal and Spain in the late 1400s. ... The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former colonies once governed by the United Kingdom as part of the British Empire. ... A luxury car is a relatively expensive car. ...

The first prototype was produced in 1947. Its most distinctive feature was the centrally-mounted steering wheel, with passenger seats on either side. This was done for three reasons: 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

1) The Land Rover was designed as a agricultural vehicle capable of performing jobs also done by tractors. Tractors had centrally mounted steering and this system would be familiar to farmers.

2) With the drive in the centre of the vehicle, the space on either side could be used as additional storage space for cargo if the passenger seats were removed. The space could also be used for the fitting of equipment such as generators and pumps powered by the vehicles Power Take Off (PTO) system from the main gearbox, which was under the seats.

3) The centre-steer layout removed the need to produce the vehicle in both right- and left-hand drive versions, saving money in production.

The vehicle shared the Jeep's 80 inch (2 m) wheelbase that would be carried over to the final production vehicle. It had more complex body panels, with a more curved front end and a Jeep-like rear body tub (the production vehicle used generally squarer, flatter panels for ease of production). In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the center of the front and rear wheels. ...

The Centre Steer used a Rover 1.3 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine of 42 horsepower (31 kW). This was coupled to a 4-speed manual gearbox from the Rover P3 saloon with a 2-speed transfer gearbox fitted to provide a lower set of 'crawler' gears. 4-wheel-drive was permanently engaged, with a Rover-built freewheel mechanism compensating for the different speeds encountered by each axle when cornering. This gearbox was carried over to the production vehicle of 1948, but the engine chosen was the larger 1.6 litre 50 horsepower (37 kW) engine. This article is about the V4 engine. ... The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... This is an article about manual transmission in general; for guidance on how to drive with a manual transmission, see Manual transmission driving technique. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Centre Steer was used to test the capabilities of the basic design and mechanical elements. Further pre-production vehicles quickly developed, with the central steering and complex body panels quickly being removed. However, the instruments and switches remained in the centre of the dashboard (and did so until 1971 and the introduction of the Series III Land Rover), so only the steering and pedal positions had to be altered for left- and right-hand drive versions. The PTO system was moved to the rear of the vehicle, and a new system for mounting equipment was devised. The gearbox-driven PTO system remained an option for certain applications.

The centre-steer vehicle was tested off-road and in industrial capacities as a tow vehicle around the Rover Solihull works, and pictures exist of the vehicle ploughing and driving a threshing machine on a farm.

The current whereabouts of the Centre Steer are unknown, or even if it still exists. Many believe it was broken up shortly after production of the final Series I design started in 1948. Others say it was rescued and remains in some isolated farmyard barn waiting to be discovered. The discovery of the Centre Steer remains a 'Holy Grail' to many Land Rover enthusiasts.