The record
J. A. Cuthbertson Ltd of Biggar in Lanarkshire were, by their own account, Scotland's largest snowplough manufacturers, makers of the Hi-lift plough for lorries and tractors, and in 1962 they offered a Land Rover version: a snowplough approved by the Rover Company for use with its vehicle, aimed squarely at farmers, estates and councils. It is a different product from the same firm's tracked Land Rover conversion, which this registry records separately.
The design is a V. Two blades meet at a nose ahead of the vehicle, so that the plough splits a drift and throws the snow to both sides well clear of the road; Cuthbertson claimed stability through drifted snow at 25 mph, which for a Land Rover of the day was high-speed clearance. The construction is all-welded steel with every part renewable, 7 ft 6 in across the blades and 2 ft 6 in deep, weighing 460 lb. It mounts on pivoting support arms that heel on the chassis, with upper tie rods to the body — the brochure drawings show the tie rod, the pivot point and the heel — and the whole thing fits in five minutes with no structural alteration to the Land Rover. Under the heading Land Rover extras required, the leaflet says: nil.
The brochure, printed in February 1962 in a run of 4,500 and received by the Automobile Association's technical library that April, shows the plough on a Series II. This record puts it on a 109-inch canvas-tilt Series II, with the 2.25-litre petrol four. How many were sold is not recorded.
