The area occupied by the present Land Rover factory previously consisted of Wharhall and Fordrough Farms. During the period 1936-38 the government realised the very real possibility of a War with Germany and set about the construction of factories designed to produce components for the military. Land was purchased and factories constructed.
The factories, known as 'Shadow Factories' built and then left empty until a time of need.
When war was declared in 1939 the Lode Lane factory began producing aircraft and tank engines.

'The Lode Lane factory built Bristol Hercules engines. These were used for Stirling's and Beaufighters and some Halifax's. Prior to this  some components were produced at Acocks Green.
Production was also started at their new works at Lode Lane, Solihull in January 1940; the Air Ministry met the total cost of the building. By the following October, the first completely Rover-built Hercules engine was tested.
Many Stirlings were built at Austin motors, Longbridge. A great deal of Stirling components were also made in the Solihull area.'
Thanks to Giuseppe Lombardi stirling.project@tesco.net for providing this information.
The Stirling Project would like to here from any individuals or companies connected with memory's of this period.

The factory became a fortified location and to this day the machine gun emplacements are still visible. The oldest parts of the Rover factory are the present day South Works.
Engines were built at Lode Lane and transported to large hangers at Elmdon were Stirling bombers were assembled.

A model of the Rover Factory as it appeared during the Second World War

Before the War the Rover Car Company based in Coventry had began producing bicycles and then  motor cars. After the War a decision was made to relocate to the then redundant Lode Lane site and in 1946 the company moved to Solihull.
With the changing conditions of the post war world and a government keen to encourage the export of motor vehicles Rover decided it needed a new product - a product which could be manufactured in substantial numbers and which would appeal to worldwide markets.
Two brothers, Maurice and Spencer Wilks, who were Rover's Chairman and Chief Engineer owned a farm and had purchased an ex-US army jeep. Driving it on the farm quickly convinced them that Rover could build a better four-wheel drive machine, using the same basic engineering ideas.
The Land Rover was conceived. The design concept was that it had to be simple to build, strong and easy to operate. It was developed especially for farmers and the developing Third World markets. To overcome the steel shortage and rationing, the body panels were made of aluminium, which was readily available.

The Land Rover was launched at the Amsterdam Motor show on the 30th April 1948 and was an immediate success. Orders poured in from all over the World.
The original UK launch price was £450 and during the first year 3048 vehicles were produced.  By 1950 production had risen to 16,000.

The 1948 prototype Land Rover

Worldwide, Solihull is known as the home of Land Rover