The quality of the initial production Discoveries wasn’t much better, either, with niggling faults in almost all areas, risking the early reputation of this, the first new model launched under the stand-along Land Rover brand. (The existing short- and long-wheelbase Land Rover and Range Rover were both the creations and products of Rover Cars, Land Rover not being founded as a stand-alone company until 1978.)
When the cash-starved Austin Rover Group – the guardians of Land Rover at the time – developed ‘Project Jay’ to become the Discovery to plug the yawning gap between the Land Rover Defender and Range Rover, it did so most ingeniously and on an extremely tight budget, heavily raiding the main Group’s parts bins in the process.
To help shave costs, for example, the Discovery robbed the headlights from Austin Rover’s Freight-Rover (Sherpa) light commercial vehicle, with the tail lamps borrowed from the Austin Maestro van and the side repeater flashers from a Metro. Column stalks were taken from the Rover 800, with window switches from the Austin Montego. The door handles were from ye olde Morris Marina (also used on Leyland’s Austin Allegro, Triumph TR7 and classic four-door Range Rover), attached to doors basically sourced from the costlier Range Rover, including the frames, plus side glass, as well that capable off-roader’s chassis.
This cunning use of the Austin Rover parts bin saved Land Rover both time and money in developing the ‘Project Jay’ Discovery, and enhanced the model’s overall profit margins, with most buyers blissfully unaware of the sundry mainstream components incorporated into the 4x4 (before the American SUV term became common British parlance too).