Charles Spencer King 1925-2010

29th June 2010

Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King, a renowned British engineer most famous for being the father of the Range Rover, has died. He passed away last weekend as a result of injuries he sustained in a collision between his bicycle and a van a fortnight earlier.

King’s idea, “to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover,” was his most famous. The 1970 Range Rover was the result, and has gone on to become one of the most iconic off-roaders on sale today.

But the Range Rover was just one of his contributions to the UK’s motoring history. He began his career at Rolls Royce, but soon moved across to Rover. At the time, his uncles, Spencer and Maurice Wilks, were running Rover. They’d also jointly founded Land Rover in 1948.

Before the Range Rover project, King led the team which created the Rover 2000, Triumph Stag, Triumph TR6 and Triumph TR7. He also had a big influence on the Metro after the Range Rover launched.

In his later career, he pioneered Rover’s ECV (energy conservation vehicle) concepts which used technology like lightweight materials, efficient aerodynamics and specially-developed engines – all things manufacturers are striving to adopt today. He retired in 1985.

Auto Express has put together a feature celebrating Range Rovers around the world which is published tomorrow. During the research, many of the owners we spoke to were concerned for his well-being, and we’d like to join them in sending our condolences to the friends and family of this groundbreaking engineer.