Air-Drive Ltd
Short-lived British converter that in 1970-71 built the Harrier — a Series IIA 109 Land Rover carrying a McConnel PA44 hydraulic backhoe at the rear and a Montabert breaker at the front, effectively a road-legal mini-digger years before the type existed. About ten were made and the company is long gone; nothing about the firm beyond its product has been established.
History
Air-Drive Limited developed the Harrier — type RJC in late 1970 and early 1971. The idea was to give small road-repair contractors and local authorities a single vehicle instead of a lorry and an excavator: McConnel's PA44 Power Arm, a compact hydraulic backhoe already sold for tractor and barge mounting, was fitted to the rear of a heavily strengthened Series IIA 109-inch chassis, with a French Montabert hand-held hydraulic concrete breaker carried at the front. Two hydraulic pumps ran off the gearbox, an eight-blade fan and oil cooler dealt with the heat, two deployable outriggers steadied the vehicle while digging, and a bank of power take-off levers worked the hydraulics.
The concept anticipated the mini-digger but could not take a market from the JCB, and only around ten Harriers were built. Air-Drive's own demonstrator and prototype, WPP 101J (chassis 27706819G, 2.25-litre diesel), appeared in the company's brochure and was the vehicle Rover tested for type approval. It and one unrestored example are the only two known to survive; WPP 101J was comprehensively restored by Rob Maude in 2016, ran at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed and is now in the Land Rover Heritage Collection.
The company itself has left almost no trace. The Land Rover Heritage Collection records that neither it nor the restorer Rob Maude could track down anyone with first-hand experience of what it calls 'the now defunct Air-Drive Limited', and no source consulted gives the firm's address, founding date, proprietors or the date it stopped trading. The record is therefore left at draft: what is well documented is the Harrier, not the maker.
Vehicles in this registry (1)
Sources & citations
- 'Dig this' Air-Drive special, exhibit WOR 02 (Harrier - type RJC developed 1970/71; McConnel PA44 Power Arm and Montabert breaker on a strengthened Series IIA 109; about 10 built with two known survivors; 'neither we nor Rob Maude have been able to track down anyone with first-hand experience of the now defunct Air-drive Limited'; WPP 101J restored 2016) ↗ — Land Rover Heritage Collection (accessed 2026-09-10)
- 1971 Land Rover Series 2a Air-Drive Harrier, Reg. No. WPP 101J, Chassis No. 27706819G (the Air-Drive Harrier prototype; company demonstrator; features in the Air-Drive brochure; tested by Rover for type approval) ↗ — Cheffins Machinery Sales (accessed 2026-09-10)
Maker record updated 2026-09-10T05:17:07.273Z · status: draft