teletech Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Superb photos, but, as usual, NO registrations showing on any of the CVRTs!! The Falklands Scorpions and Scimitars have always interested me, mostly because they're probably still out there somewhere - the Scorps having been converted to Sabres and then sold by Withams. I suppose the only way to find out which ones went to the Falklands is to trawl through every Scorpion record and hope for the best. If lived nearer Bovvy, I'd been down there a shot! I fellow I know has a Sabre (02 FD 92, hull tag SPA673 I think) he thinks was a Scorpion in the Falklands. Am I correct in assuming if this is verified it would be more valuable restored to a Scorpion? We are in the states so getting to Bovington is a challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I fellow I know has a Sabre (02 FD 92, hull tag SPA673 I think) he thinks was a Scorpion in the Falklands. Am I correct in assuming if this is verified it would be more valuable restored to a Scorpion? We are in the states so getting to Bovington is a challenge. SPA673 is a spartan hull number. It should be SCO and a number around 300 maybe. You can send a freedom of information request from anywhere. Value is what someone will pay for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teletech Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 SPA673 is a spartan hull number. It should be SCO and a number around 300 maybe. You can send a freedom of information request from anywhere. Value is what someone will pay for it! Thanks Chris, my mistake. I'm sure the reg # is correct but I must have gotten the photo of the hull tag mixed up with another vehicle since he had six total I was documenting and they are in very rough shape. It was more a question pondering if if would be better to restore it to it's original configuration or leave it a Sabre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Waite Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 About 50 sec. in - is that a Bedford ready to go ? The Bedford coming ashore belonged to 4th Assault Squadron off HMS Fearless I was BARV Driver on the day and for the War Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Waite Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 There is a lot of speculative issues raised so lets look at the facts. There were almost every type of vehicle taken South the largest being the Centurion BARV, Scorpion, Scimitar, CEVT, Snowtrac, BV202 the main vehicle taken over land, Landrovers all types radio vehicles etc, Bedford trucks inc canvas fuelers etc, Landrover 101 used for gunners, Eager Beaver and many more. The quote suggesting we had Unimogs not right they belonged to the Argi's and were liberated after The wheeled vehicles were not moved overland but some (radio landrovers) were taken by sea. The sad loss of F4 would see some go down on their way. RIP Lads! The Yomp was necessary because of the land it was and is a problem even for the BV's hence why the Argi's never moved their Panhard Armour out of Stanley. The Bedford Truck seen in the video was 4th Assault Squadron's off HMS Fearless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Waite Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Here is another picture showing the beachhead Visible are:- BARV Eager Beaver X 2 Loader Sankey trailer being pulled by what? Sea Kings X 2 R In the picture you have the vehicles of 4th Assault Squadron 1 x Eager Beaver 1 x Mitchigan track layer My BARV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Waite Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 I did hear that a Centurion BARV became stuck in the mud, and later it was pulled out into deep water to conceal it. After the conflict it was recovered. There is a poor picture published somewhere showing the stuck vehicle. The BARV did brakedown but it remained on the beach in the position seen in the photo for the war Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sickpup Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I can be pretty sure my FFR Lightweight went down to the Falklands as it was based on Hermes but its unknown if it went ashore. In fact Hermes may have had as many as 6 Lightweights onboard when it went down south. I have heard from an ex-ships driver on Hermes that there may have been as many as 50 Lightweights onboard, he believed they were used as ballast and loaned to the Royal Marines as required when on operations but this may have stopped when it ceased being used as a Commando carrier. An Ex-submariner cook I know who also served on Hermes during the Falkland conflict believed there were many Land Rovers onboard but didn't know how many or for what purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10FM68 Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 This from Ben Fogle's "Land Rover - The Story Of Car That Conquered The World" - William Collins 2016 Chapter 4... "The British government knew that the Land Rover would be invaluable to success in the Southern Ocean, and more than 600 emergency Series III Land Rovers had been ordered by the government. They were commissioned to a reduced spec called CL meaning Commercial. They were loaded aboard one of the merchant ships, Atlantic Conveyor, which got hit by an Argentine Exocet missile. All 600 Series IIIs ended up on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The impact of their loss cannot be overstated: indeed it introduced "yomping" into the English language, necessitating soldiers to take to foot where once they would have travelled by wheel". So there you have it. It's in black and white, in a book, so it must be true!! 10 68 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 This from Ben Fogle's "Land Rover - The Story Of Car That Conquered The World" - William Collins 2016 Chapter 4... "The British government knew that the Land Rover would be invaluable to success in the Southern Ocean, and more than 600 emergency Series III Land Rovers had been ordered by the government. They were commissioned to a reduced spec called CL meaning Commercial. Wonder who spun him that yarn! With the time frame I doubt they could have supplied 600 in the given time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH57 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Plus even for the Atlantic Conveyor 600 Land Rovers is quite a load. I wonder if there are any statistics from the world of shipping to say the maximum number of Land Rovers carried on one ship is...??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Johns Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) Wonder who spun him that yarn! With the time frame I doubt they could have supplied 600 in the given time. Exactly, back then Landrover would have struggled to supply 60 Landrovers at short notice, let alone 600!! Edited January 26, 2017 by Nick Johns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Atlantic Conveyor - On the 2nd of May, she arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, SOURCE http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/the-atlantic-conveyor/ So - I would say she was fully loaded and was deep-sea , max. shaft revs - guestimate 25th April I well remember when she had 'rushed' conversion done at Swan Hunter , I can't say for certain but cargo was probably loaded on the Tyne. What I do recall was all trades on unlimited overtime , zero demarcation - and many years later welder/platers still grumping they were still owed ££ I hardly doubt if there would be any problem getting holds filled with as many Land Rover CL's as they needed , even local small town sub-franchise (Wilsons Motors , Bishop Auckland) Leyland dealerships 20 miles away had at least 10 parked on the forecourt - brand new , not sales fast movers. There were at least another 5 or 6 such dealerships in the NE I can think of. Newcastle-upon-Tyne had at least two franchise dealers & IIRC there was another at Lemmington 5 miles west - so that is another 50 to 60 brand new LR's. Solihull could have 'requisitioned ' and SOLD outright for their dealers - probably 2000 + brand new from showrooms & yards from all over UK. Franchisees must have been at war to get their stock "Shang Hied" ,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utt61 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 ... SOURCE http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/the-atlantic-conveyor/ ... Thank you for posting that link, it makes fascinating reading. My goodness, it brings back memories, some good, some not so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchlesswdg3 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 There was (still is???) a Series 1 Land Rover on the Falklands with a very distinguished history, being, I believe, the only Land Rover (as at 1975) to have been used in Antarctica. It was purchased very secondhand from a Porsche race team in UK in 1972 and landed on Stonington Island on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1973. It was not really very practical with crevasses confining it to use on the rocky island itself and it was shipped out and left in the Falklands in 1975. Must see if I can find a photo of it. Wonder if it lives, still, though life on the Falklands is very hard on Landies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) The Falklands Island Co. & natives were instructed just prior to invasion to hide in the 'camp' (hinterland) all their Land Rovers. They did and the Argentinians never found them , they must have used gorse, bracken , and the odd sheep fleece as camouflage. I have read this story of lots of LR's being lost on the Atlantic Conveyor (it has been around since the conflict) . However - I think this is the first story version I have read that they were civilian source new CL's. Could be true - but thay could also have taken all the franchise dealer warranted used motors , new fan belt , exhaust system , battery and put through a pre-delivery. Once parked in the lower holds - the battery disconected. If the MOD wished for 10% or 20% + FFR's , they would have had stored plenty (hundreds) of new conversion kits GS to FFR , this could have been done by TA & Regular Royal signals. I have all the paperwork for this dated 1962, IIRC the suggested time was under 5 hours. A GS Lightweight could have been converted quicker. The tubs packed with batteries far more than ever needed along with charging sets , and if they didn't have sufficient LoL - they could have purchased a few Honda. Actually I don't buy this story for veracity - because after the fall of the Shah of Iran , Solihull was left with frustrated middle-east contracts that Maggie T stopped the export of . The lines were loaded , the British forces received hundreds of unexpected and unwanted LR's. So many thay did not know what to do with them (most of them are --HG-- ) , most were garaged and used by TA Regiments all over the UK . The Regulars received lots of them sooner & others were cast to Ruddington long before their BER time. There was no MOD LR shortage at this time-line , quite the opposite. The British Army received lots of extra tanks (made by Vickers - Scotswood (but they did not have the air-con units , that a few uars later would have been handy) , Jordan ISTR received the remainder.. On the Atlantic Conveyor manifest , I am surprised nobody has done a FOI request ??? However I doubt if it was all correctly logged by the agents ? Edited January 27, 2017 by ruxy spelin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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