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Austin Gypsy


washerboy
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The Gypsy was based (very loosely) on the Champ - but shed many of the military Champ's (admittedly expensive) best features, notably the Rolls Royce B40 engine and torsion bar suspension. The military Champ was not a success as despite being a complex specialist design, it was enormously expensive, and very thirsty. (A few civilian Champs were also made with an Austin engine).

The Gypsy had a more sophisticated suspension than the leaf sprung LandRover based (as many Austin models including the Mini were) on rubber springing, but the soft suspension and relatively good ride led to damage by being driven too fast over rough ground. (It was difficult to drive a leaf sprung LandRover too fast as the ride was so hard).

The Gypsy was all steel and consequently didn't have the corrosion resistance of the LandRover - which is probably the main reason few are now seen. The Austin engine was underpowered for the heavy vehicle - the diesel variant even more so.

Compared to a LandRover it was heavier, thirstier, (even) slower and corroded much more, but it did have a better ride. Later models had leaf springs and lost the good ride.

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the old gypsy will probably out live the disco pictured

Land rovers only last a long time because everything including the chassis can be bought new to replace the old stuff so it is not really fair to compare them with other cars/trucks as apart from US old Jeeps they are the only ones that everything can be changed for new parts.

Edited by four-wheel-drive
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