Austin Champ Price Guide

The Austin Champ was a military utility vehicle produced from 1951 to 1956 for the British Army. It was designed to replace the wartime Jeep in British service and was engineered to an extraordinarily high standard. Unfortunately, this also made it ruinously expensive and ultimately unsuccessful against the simpler, cheaper Land Rover.

The Car

The Champ used a Rolls-Royce B40 2.8-litre four-cylinder engine driving all four wheels through a five-speed gearbox with selectable two or four-wheel drive. The specification was lavish by military standards: fully independent suspension, waterproof ignition, and the ability to wade through water up to the bonnet line. Around 13,000 were built. The problem was cost: the Champ was roughly twice the price of a Land Rover, and the Army concluded that it could buy two Land Rovers for the same money and get more utility from them.

Buying

The Champ has a devoted following among military vehicle collectors. The Rolls-Royce engine is robust and distinctive. Parts are sourced through the military vehicle specialist network. The Champ’s over-engineering is both its charm and the reason it failed. It was too good (and too expensive) for the role it was designed to fill. The K2 was Austin’s wartime military vehicle, preceding the Champ in military service.