Here’s another unusual find from Corey Behrens’ Cohort feed. It’s the Ligero (lightweight in Spanish), Spain’s version of the classic Land Rover.
The Ligero’s origin dates to Spain’s Franco days, when foreign enterprises where encouraged to invest in Spain’s industry to avoid heavy tariffs. Early on, Santana Motors arranged with Rover to assemble the Series II from knock down kits. Production started in 1958, with ever increasing contents of Spanish sourced materials added as time went by. While most units went to military service, a line for civilian use was released in 1980; the Ligero.
There are quite a few ‘Spanish touches’ on the Ligero, as it’s noticeable in the photos. All Ligeros came with a canvas covering (a fiberglass top was optional), with headlights and other bits coming from SEATs (mostly the 127). Power was supplied by a 2.2L gas or diesel engine, the latter with an optional turbo version. Other mods included disc brakes, coil springs and anatomical seats. When were those goodies added? Hard to tell; online information is fairly scant on these, even in Spanish sources.
A grand total of 17,150 Land Rover-based Santana vehicles were built, though there isn’t a breakdown on how many were Ligeros. I would assume the figure to be rather low; though it seems just the ride for those who like their All-terrain vehicles rustic and in ‘brutalist’ guise.
Wow, I can’t say 4X4 in Spanish but I can say duro and feo!
Agreed it’s feo but also neat and unusual .
-Nate
Really, does look like a Lego-version Land Rover.
Looks magically off-brand. Love it
This looks an intriguing mix of regular Land Rover and not regular bits – the screen. bonnet, grille and (I guess) the chassis and engine look to be regular Land Rover; the doors, wings, rear quarters and roof are all not regular, and interesting to note, flat panels with no apparent curve or radii.
My first thought was that it was some sort of lightweight version – indeed, ligero translates as “light”, so perhaps this is a later take on the lightweight UK Land Rover?
the disc brakes and coil springs may well have come direct from the 1983 Land Rover 90, the first of the more modern (relatively speaking) Land Rovers.
According to the wikipedia entry the 88 ligero military version was offered starting 1969 and the civilian version since 1980 to 1985:
https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_Ligero
The car in the pictures seems to have a netherlands registration plate…surprising! Didn’t know they were ever sold out of Spain
This car is from 1983 and imported in the Netherlands in 2011.
http://www.rdw.nl
This really speaks to me as a 100% utilitarian design. Here in Minnesota one would absolutely need the hardtop during winter. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a better small 4×4 truck here at CC. The Unimog might be more capable but not as well rounded as the Ligero. Yellow also works very well with this design.
Great find! 👍
Here’s one with the hardtop in orange my favorite color. This one ticks every box for my ultimate efficient utilitarian 4×4.
The hard top is so cool. How can i get one for my 1980 LIgero? I got it in Sept 2022
More important than how do you say 4 by 4 in Spanish is why do we call it 4 by 4 in English when 4 by 4 = 16 and a standard 4 wheel drive without any additional torque vectoring (differential lock or brakes for traction control) is really 2 or 3 wheel drive depending on if one is spinning in front and/or one is spinning in the back. I always tell people my Dodge Caravan is a one wheel drive.
The Ligero was Spain’s take on the Lightweight Land Rover with the same intention of reducing weight for helicopter sling loading. The Santana did without the detachable body sides for simplicity but was also made as a long wheelbase model. Bothe the Lightweight and Ligero were overtaken by events as helicopter lift capacity increased to the point where a standard 109 Land Rover could be easily sling loaded or even carried inside larger choppers like the CH-47 Chinook.