[1] In 1940 William Robotham who led a chassis design and development division at Clan Foundry, Belper, and Henry Spurrier a director Leyland Motors, began investigating the use of Rolls-Royce aero engines as tank power-plants.

[4] The Kestrel presented a number of advantages, it was not in great demand by the Royal Air Force and it occupied less space than the Liberty, although bench tests showed it would fall short of their desire power requirements.

[4] The next engine investigated by Robotham and Spurrier was a modified version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin, which had the same displacement as the Liberty, due to its different bore and stroke it was more compact.

[6] After the war, Rover wanted to develop a range of heavy duty engines using common parts, so they devised the Meteorite by removing four cylinders from the Meteor.

[10] Like the Meteor, originally the Meteorite ran on petrol, but when fitted with CAV indirect-injection equipment and with a higher compression ratio it was converted into a diesel engine.

[14] After Rover compiled a report that detailed serious neglect of the engines, including being driven too fast and sometimes being operated without any oil or coolant, a rigorous maintenance schedule was introduced and reliability was restored.