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What is this knobbly thing?


fv1609

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This is not a quiz, I don't know the answer. I have studied these images periodically over a 25 year period but still none the wiser.

 

What are the knobbly things on fronts of these Mk 1 Shorlands? When they were in RUC service there were no such fittings but they are seen here in service with 3 Battalion UDR circa 1974 in Ballykinlar, County Down.

 

I have never seen any other UDR Shorlands either Mk 1 or Mk 3 which such fittings.

 

The object is mounted on the front valence plate which is 8.25mm armour & is to protect the lower part of the engine from frontal attack. On the Mk 1 the plate is flat but bent to an angle & mounted obliquely, on the Mk 3 it is curved.

 

 

App2548aa.jpg

 

App2548bb.jpg

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Ive looked at this for a while and scratched my head, im thinking that it might have been a factory mount for a short antenae like a PYE that never got actually used in theatre? Thats the most intelligent one I can think of. I was thinking that the user would "drill hole to suit" kind of deal?

 

Either that or a "shoe" mount for two tones maybe?

 

 

Robin

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I'm not sure that it is suitable enough to engage a recovery attachment unless perhaps it had a latching mechanism?

 

The other thing is, this obliquely mounted plate is only supported by 2 bolts into the chassis. Although it is a devil of a thing to fit & it would I suppose not pop out even if the bolt fixings failed.

 

But it does seem a possibility because when the Army took over these Shorlands the registration plate was moved to below the bumper as if to give access to the knobbly thing.

 

When the Mk 3 Shorlands came along, with no knobbly thing the registration plate was in the normal Rover position on top of the bumper.

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I can only guess. It looks like they are both C section with the open side facing forward. If this was as a hook then it would need to be for something in the radiator, so I doubt it is that that.

 

The shape reminds me of the rope slides that you see occasionally see on the canals. They resemble bollards in many ways, but are designed to allow a tow rope from the horse to the boat to run against it rather than the brickwork of a bridge. In this case they are too far back to be of service to the lifting rings (Where fitted).

 

Last guess would be that they were for attaching a cover to the front grill similar to a radiator muff. Unfortunately there is not a view of the top of the slam panel, which would suggest there was nothing to note there (certainly to Clives keen eye).

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Just an observation - Both Shorlands have dents on the front faces of the bumper just inside of where the front dumbirons are. It looks asthough something has rested against the bumpers leaving little round dents. As the dents are rounded, on the bottom half of the bumber and identical on both vehicles could it be that the 'knobbly bits' were part of a clamping point for something mounted onto the front of the vehicles?

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Just an observation - Both Shorlands have dents on the front faces of the bumper just inside of where the front dumbirons are. It looks asthough something has rested against the bumpers leaving little round dents. As the dents are rounded, on the bottom half of the bumber and identical on both vehicles could it be that the 'knobbly bits' were part of a clamping point for something mounted onto the front of the vehicles?

 

Well observed and they do look semetrical and could be related.

The piece in question looks the wrong way round to help with recovery and of course the panel would probably be the only thing recovered.

It would appear to me to be their as an aid to fixing/locationg something in place.

Are there any reccords or details of them been fitted with additionalreadily removable items on the front. Matbe additinal armour, barricade rams or the like.

 

Alternatively a bayonet fixing for when ammo runs out:D

 

Mike

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Merlin, yes well observed with the dents. I understand what you & others are thinking that it might be for some sort of ram.

 

Although the Shorland has armour hidden under the wings around the engine & the footwells I don't think that a Shorland would be man enough to be able to ram barricades. If it attempted that then the normal Land Rover wings would be destroyed & any ram could become unfastened by twisting at this single fixing point. Let alone the consequences for the non run-flat tyres.

 

I tend to think it might be for fixing some guard of steel struts that were to prevent things hurled at the vehicle from causing it to become immobile by bellying on things like aluminium beer kegs.

 

I have looked at my Shorland. I can find no evidence now or from earlier photos of this knobbly thing having been fitted. However I have used the original no. plate bracket mounted where it was in RUC service ie above the bumper. The holes drilled into it exactly match a set of holes on the underside of the bumper.

 

There are no matching dents on the bumper to show damage from supporting the guard. But there would only have been damage if there was some significant impact from a heavy object hurled at it.

 

So I don't know whether the Army fitted this to all the exRUC Shorlands or just some but moved the no. plates down in case one of theses fitments was fitted.

 

Because the RUC no. plates were above the bumper it is difficult to find photos that show this area. But here is Shorland that was so badly vandalised (it was burnt out whilst in storage) that it never entered Army service & has no sign of a knobbly thing.

 

App2549.jpg

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