Arthur Goddard (engineer)

Arthur Goddard
Arthur Goddard
Born	Arthur Goddard; 31 January 1921 (age 103)
Nationality	British, Australian
Education	Little Sutton C of E School, Bromborough
Occupation	Engineer
Known for	Development of the Land Rover

Arthur Goddard was born on 31 January 1921 the second son of John Newman Goddard. Arthur went to the Little Sutton C of E School in Bromborough. After schooling he completed a Mechanical Engineering Certificate at a college in Liverpool.

Rover

Arthur began working on testing WW2 aero engines for problems in operating at high altitude. He continued this field of work moving down to Coventry and working at Alvis in the Aero Engine research lab where they tested all kinds of War-time aircraft engines from both sides and all countries.

Towards the end of the war the Rover Company suddenly needed an Engineer with experience in the Rolls Royce Merlin engine for their own Meteor project based on the Merlin engine for use in tanks. Rover's head of Engine Development had crashed his motor cycle and broken both his legs and was laid up for quite a while. Arthur was interviewed by Maurice Wilks and got the job filling in. Once war had really ended in Europe in 1945, Maurice Wilks, eager to get back in the car game took Arthur straight off the Meteor project and put him onto Rover cars, and developing Rover’s new 4 and 6 cylinder IOE engines and then he moved onto vehicle testing in noise and vibration.

Land Rover

Arthur says the Land Rover project idea had been Maurice Wilks from finding out how useful his old Wartime Jeep was at light farming and small jobs about the place. Wilks had found the Jeep particularly useful during the hard winter of 1947 but also great on beach at Anglesea where the Wilks family had a holiday home. The idea for the Land Rover as a vehicle for Rover to manufacture was first thought up at Anglesea. The British Government was bringing in some strict rationing for steel supply for Car companies unless they concentrated very strongly on export. The Land Rover had huge potential on this front for Rover so the idea developed quickly. A team was made up of Engineers to get the ‘Land Rover’ project going of which Arthur was in charge of by Maurice Wilks. Arthur, had been working on Rover cars in the area of noise and vibration. He and the team had not much off road vehicle experience and very little farming experience. Not only was part of the brief to develop the idea but also to find out as much as they could about farming machinery and potential uses for the new vehicle which was hugely successful from its launch at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show. Arthur as Assistant Chief Engineer was in charge of the Land Rover's development until 1957 covering all areas of the vehicles development including the introduction of 86" and 107" models as well as the 88" and 109" models. After Arthur's departure from Rover his work on the Land Rover side of the company was taken on by Col. Jack Pogmore.

Girling

Arthur moved to Girling Brakes in 1957 to become Technical Director where he stayed until 1970. He then moved out to Australia as Managing Director of Automotive and Girling Australia, manufacturers of braking components for Australian vehicle manufacturers. Arthur's experience was sought in an Australian Government Enquiry in 1975 in regards to the standard of Australian manufactured vehicles brakes in comparison to those from vehicles manufactured in other countries, which lead to a change in the standard of braking for Australian vehicles. Through out his career he has worked with many leading Automotive engineers including, Spen King, Alec Issigonis and Giulio Alfieri.

He is currently Chief Engineer of his own family run business, Vehicle Components Pty Ltd in Brisbane, Australia that specialize in Off Road Trailer and Caravan hitches and suspension systems.

Rediscovery

Arthur's story was rediscovered by a chance meeting by Australian early Land Rover Enthusiasts in 2009, 61 years after the Land Rover was introduced. His recollections of the early days of the Land Rover has set straight many of the myths associated with the history of the early Land Rover.

Detailed recollections from Arthur were published in the club magazine of The Land Rover Register 1948 to 1953, Full Grille in May 2009 and lead to a visit back to the Land Rover Factory by Arthur in April 2010, 62 to years to the day on which the Land Rover was launched.

Arthur's career with the Land Rover was covered in the August 2010 Edition of Classic & Sports Car magazine.

A book was published in May 2011 on Arthur's career titled 'They Found Our Engineer' by Michael Bishop. The book covers his career, and subsequent rediscovery in Australia. A DVD was also release called 'Stop Gap' covering Arthur's visit to the Rover factory in 2010.

References

External links

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