April 30, 1948: The 1st Land Rover Is Produced

April 30, 1948: The 1st Land Rover rolls off the assembly line, at the Rover Company's "shadow factory," a former aircraft engine manufacturing facility, in Solihull, near Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England.

The design for the original vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, Anglesey, an island off the northwest coast of Wales. He worked with his brother Spencer, who was the managing director of Rover. Maurice died in 1963, only 59 years old. (He should not be confused with Sir Maurice Wilkes, a computer pioneer.)

Maurice Wilks

It was one of the earliest of what would now be called sport-utility vehicles, or SUVs, and was clearly influenced by America's Jeep. In 1970, the more upscale Range Rover was created, and this proved more popular in America than the original.

Up until the 1978 founding of Land Rover Limited, the brand was usually spelled with a hyphen: "Land-Rover." Land Rover Ltd. was owned by British Leyland until 1986, when Rover Group was created. In 1994, German company BMW bought British Leyland. In 2000, BMW sold it to Ford Motor Company. In 2008, Ford sold it to Tata Motors, an Indian company. In 2012, they sold it to Jaguar, one of Britain's best-regarded companies in any industry.

*

April 30, 1948 was a Friday. MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and hockey coach Pierre Pagé were born. This was also the day the film State of the Union premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Stephen "Bud" Souchock wasn't a Yankee for long, but, on this day, the 1st baseman hit 2 home runs. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4. Ted Williams went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 7-2 at the Polo Grounds. Johnny Sain went the distance for the win, while Giant starter Ray Poat didn't get out of the 3rd inning.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Erv Palica went the distance for the win, while Phils starter Emil "Dutch" Leonard didn't get out of the 2nd inning. Johnny "Spider" Jorgenson went 3-for-6 with an RBI. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-5 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-7 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. It was just another day at the office for Stan Musial: Stan the Man went 5-for-6 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 10-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ralph Kiner went 3-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up a part of a doubleheader on August 11. The Indians won the opener, 7-5. Bob Lemon was the winning pitcher, helping his own cause by going 2-for-4, with Satchel Paige getting the save. The Browns won the nightcap, 12-4.

Over the 2 games, for the Tribe, shortstop and manager Lou Boudreau went 4-for-9 with 2 RBIs, Dale Mitchell went 6-for-10, Joe Gordon went 3-for-7 with a home run and 2 RBIs, Larry Doby went 2-for-8 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs, Jim Hegan went 3-for-6 with a walk.

For the Browns, Hank Arft went 5-for-9 with a walk and 6 RBIs, Dick Kokos went 5-for-8 with a walk and 3 RBIs, and Al Zarilla went 3-for-8 with a walk and an RBI.