TIMELINE: Key dates for Jaguar and Land Rover

(Reuters) - Ford (F.N) agreed to sell its UK-based Jaguar and Land Rover brands to India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) for more than $2 billion, said a source familiar with the matter on Tuesday. Following is a summary of the history of the two marques:

1885 - The Rover brand starts life as a bicycle -- Starley & Sutton Co's Rover Safety Bicycle, which replaces the unstable penny farthing bicycles of its day.

1903 - Rover starts work on its first motor car, led by designer Edmund Lewis who joined from Daimler.

1922 - Motorcyclist William Lyons forms the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool, northern England, building sidecars for motorcycles.

1927 - Lyons enters car-making, crafting a two-seater body for the Austin Seven car. The Jaguar name is first used on a car in 1935, and is given to the entire company in 1945.

1947 - Maurice Wilkes, technical director for Rover Cars, starts designing a British agricultural vehicle based on American army 4x4s.

April, 1948 - The first Land Rover launches at the Amsterdam Motor Show. Production in 1948 of 8,000 doubles the year after.

1949 - the British Army puts in its first Land Rover order.

1966 - Jaguar merges with the British Motor Corporation.

1967 - Rover becomes part of Leyland Motors, which the following year merges with British Motor Corp to become British Leyland.

1970 - Land Rover launches the Range Rover, with independent suspension and a new V8 engine.

1975 - British Leyland part nationalized.

Aug, 1984 - The Conservative government privatizes Jaguar.

1988 - The Conservative government sells Rover Group to British Aerospace at a knockdown price of 150 million pounds, overlooking a rival offer from Ford.

Nov, 1989 - Ford approaches Jaguar with an offer, which eventually leads to a deal.

1994 - Germany's BMW buys Rover Group from British Aerospace for 800 million pounds and assumes another 900 million in debt.