BETTER THAN A LAND ROVER? | The Austin Champ

#AustinChamp #Military #LandRover
The Austin Champ was only built for four years and is full of delicious details. 60 years on, I find out just how capable this little 4x4 vehicle is in the main arena at Tanks, Trucks and Firepower 2019.

[@pegleg1514]

I've never heard of this vehicle before, but the more I read up on it, the more I fall in love with this fascinating example of British engineering. Greetings from Germany

[@OurTim]

Greetings! Honestly, the Champ remains one of my all time favourite vehicles, its a superb piece of engineering and design.

[@jonathanpardoe8722]

back in the 70s there were many Champs on the beaches , launching boats and retrieving them , There were Land rovers as well but they got stuck in the sand and it was always the Champs with the far superior traction that pulled the land rovers clear of an incoming tide . I remember a tug of war with a landrover and a champ on the beach and the champ pulled the back end off the Landy .

[@takeitonthechin3965]

My father has had his Austin champ for over 55 years. One of the first to ever be released from the army. It was over engineering at its best.

[@OurTim]

I am genuinely thinking about getting one...

[@takeitonthechin3965]

@@OurTim they are amazing. We have a family of these vehicles now. If you need advice before buying one, feel free to message me 👍

[@OurTim]

takeitonthechin watch this space!!

[@takeitonthechin3965]

@@OurTim I have just finished restoring one aswel.

[@takeitonthechin3965]

@@OurTim please feel free to join my Facebook site called Austin champ footage and photos.

[@nygelmiller5293]

What a review! What a vehicle!

[@OurTim]

Thank you so much!

[@pattyshaw925]

My Dad was posted to Castlemartin Army Camp in Pembrokeshire in the mid 1950's, and I remember being taken to School in an Austin Champ on a few occasions, it was a great thrill for a young boy, I loved the Champ

[@Thelivewire64]

My Dad used to rave about these. Finally got to see one up close a couple of days ago, suspension engine and all. Cool as!

[@OurTim]

If you have a chance to have a go in one, take it. It'll blow your mind!

[@perunut4656]

Great place to drive it!

[@allandesoer7672]

I had one in the late sixties, a radio version with its two speed generator, including a"19 set" in the back, as a daily transport, couldn't afford two cars, there were about six of us and went offroading them most weekends. Fantastic machines over rocks, mud and streams, when they got full of mud we used to drive into the nearest river or lake to give them a good wash.Only sold mine when the petrol went rocketing from 30 pence to 50 pence a gallon, I was using £5 a week just to go to work,out of a wage as a skilled man on £30 a week ! Mind you my local garage had a paraffin pump ( the good old days ) so many a time I would finish the week running on paraffin at 11 pence a gallon , smelt different but 10 gallons of paraffin was a lot cheaper than 2* petrol. Sulked for a week when I reluctantly sold it for £ 100 ! , still miss her , if only with the price of them now, but these days the ones I see are mollycoddled and never see the rocks and mud , that's cruelty to "Champs"

[@OurTim]

Wow, that’s a great story, thanks for sharing Look on the bright side… you had one and made some great memories at the time. Circumstances change and it could have been worse… you could have held on to it and see it slowly fall apart if you didn’t have the funds. Maybe its still out there. Still very reasonably priced in my opinion. If I had space, there’d be one in it. Come to one of my shows this year, I always see a Champ in the arena being driven as it was meant to!

[@AJ-qn6gd]

I’ve owned lots of different 4 wheel drives over 40 years and the Champ is by far the most comfortable off road, I’ve regretted selling mine from the very day it went.

[@OurTim]

Its an amazingly capable and comfortable machine. I have the upmost respect for it

[@elnafinn]

I had two of these at different times in the late 1960s and early 1970s A great ride but with the sidescreens fitted you could not see out of the sides as the polythene was so discolored .Massive great dynamo on it to charge up the 24 volt system I remember going to Battersea to RR Services who dealt in Champs and bought a new one out of the box for a tenner They had brand new axles and loads of other parts still in MOD boxes which I assume they bought up cheap from army .There was not a speck of rust on either of them and never had any trouble with the engines but had to have the front axle replaced on one of them I recollect I did not pay more than £100 each for them although that was a fair wodge of money back then Great engine note !!

[@AJ-qn6gd]

I remember going to RR services on Battersea bridge road in London I had a typed price list from them and a turn key engine in a crate was £140 ! It was cheaper than a set of side screens. I bought my Champ for £100 and sold it for £200 and put the money towards buying a series 2 Land Rover, that was a shock after the superb ride of the Champ.

[@rich_john]

Great video!!!!

[@lancepattinson4790]

great to hear your enthusiasm over the design - that was my grandad's work !

[@127cmore]

What an amazing experience, i love ❤️ it

[@nicksykes4575]

Drove one of these, probably a total of 200ft in the 90s, sat on the bonnet! I was loading and unloading it from my low-loader, it had a fibre-glass Sherman body wrapped around it. Drivers seat was bolted on top of the bonnet, stearing column came up through the bonnet between your knees pedals likewise. Gear-stick came up about 2&1/2ft, then angled forward about 80degrees over the top of the windshield ending just by your left elbow. Vision was through a narrow slot, bit like a real tank drivers periscope. The guy I delivered it to said it was a film prop from "A Bridge Too Far." All the movie data bases say the Shermans in ABTF were based on VW chassis, so either the data bases are wrong or the guy who bought it is.

[@OurTim]

I dare say it was the guy who bought it who was in the wrong but you can't always trust what you read!

[@geoffccrow2333]

My dad once drove me up final descent of small mountain. I remember sitting back in front passenger seat watching back wheel flicking huge rocks out while the engine was doing 1500 rpm. Effortless descent.

[@OurTim]

I can believe it too! Still on my list of cars to own...

[@royhirons2109]

Drove em in the army..diologue spot on...think there was a back axle prob..loved em

[@adwind3055]

Yes, Tim, it IS a magnificent car and incredibly reliable. I still have one (1953 version) and it starts better than my 2014 Jeep GC 😀

[@martiniv8924]

Cost a fortune to build , my father in law used to weld the Monique body shells up, he said and MOD inspector was on site full time inspecting the welds , plus my brother drove them in national service , they had competition’s off road that had to be tackled in reverse, through the gears, he loved them, except they flop over pretty easily off road

[@OurTim]

2.5x cost of a Land Rover... simple maths for any military, at any point in time. Competitions off road?! Amazing. And the MOD wondered why so many got abused and fell over. Hell of a machine. Even by today's standard. Would buy one if I had space and cash...

[@markpritchard]

I've just seen one that looks just like the one in this video, as i don't know much about them and i'm a Classic Land Rover person I just had to look it up and ended up on this video.

[@OurTim]

Awesome, hopefully you found my video useful and enjoyable!

[@greenlaner4942]

The champ had more modifications than anything else I ever worked on , I was a VMb for 15 years and was so difficult to work from. Very few had a RR engine. Reversing at speed was OK as long as you did't turn the wheel at all. It didn't actually have 5 reverse gears all it had was a transfer box.

[@royhirons2109]

Correct pal

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

Your memories playing tricks. They had a 5 speed gearbox. The conventional gearbox had 5 forward gears and no reverse the reverse and transfer gears were in the nose of the rear axle. Drive to the front axle was engaged or disengaged by a dog clutch in the nose of the front axle. Engines in military Champs were Rolls-Royce engines built by the Morris side of BMC. actually the. Austin side of the then newly merged BMC had very little to do with the Champ it was a Nuffield project except Civilian Champs got a 4 cylinder version of the Austin truck engine as used in petrol Austin Taxis

[@MagnusMaximusinWales]

Great vid. Would be good to see a Champ and a Land Rover of the same age compared head-to-head.

[@OurTim]

I’m working on that… 😉

[@giantputt7066]

I used to drive one at Netheravon in 1964/65

[@Edwardturner1938]

A kind of estern block design

[@marvwatkins7029]

5 reverse gears?! No wonder it cost over 2 Land Rovers! (Mussolini's troops would've liked the Champ.)

[@marvwatkins7029]

He should have had a better mike or talked before driving.

[@kopynd1]

if yi travel down a road thats 7 feet wide and a panzer tank is coming your way yi cant turn around, you will need 5 gears in reverse, brilliant me friend owned land rover 1 champ 10

[@OurTim]

Spoke with the owner recently, he didn’t realise I was going to do that so kept a straight face when I did! 😂

[@Pinzpilot101]

It is stupid to compare the Champ with the Landrover...they are totally different vehicles.......The Landrover is a load carrier that can carry people. The Champ is a people carrier that was never designed to carry loads. It should be compared with the Russian UAZ 469.

[@paulhunter123]

cant hear what he is saying

[@jimh3362]

Too noisy to listen to. Did not view/listen to the whole thing. Shame as I was interested................

[@OurTim]

Sorry it put you off. There is a plan to re-shoot this now I’ve invested in better kit

[@jimh3362]

I look forward to your re-shoot!