Ibex 4x4 anyone?

[LarryH57]

A British 4x4 that can be bought in kit form or fully built. I'm amazed there is no military interest, as the cost is far cheaper than the LR Defenders and Wolfs that the MOD bought without galvanized chassis (especially in the Defender era)

https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/4x4s/british-built-ibex-4x4-offers-land-rover-defender-alternative

[ruxy]

I used to view them at a independent Land Rover dealer near Thirsk - this must be over 20 years ago ,new (to order) and second hand .  Fantastic quality - could not fault , bodywork far better than anything out of Solihull.    Still built at  Foers Rotherham   -   Farmers periodical  ??

AFAIK - they moved to a farm near Hexham donkeys years ago.

https://www.ibexf8.com/downloads/Brochure12web.pdf

[johnwardle]

Has anyone else noticed the Ineos Grenadier advert next to the article in the link?

Let's just hope that the British Army chooses either the Ibex or the Grenadier to replace the current Land Rovers rather than have another piece of American junk like the Husky foisted upon us.

[LarryH57]

Have you ever met anyone who works in procurement for the MOD? I have! The MOD won't buy the Ibex or Grenadier, as the price is too reasonable.

The basic idea in MOD seems to be buy expensive and dispose of too soon (it keeps them employed) and sell off too cheaply.  I said to this girl I met what do you do in the MOD? She said she sold surplus RN ships to overseas nations. She said she just sold a working Frigate to Chilean Navy for £100,000 but they remove the radar and communications gear first, so that's OK then!!!!

Until recent Brexit the MOD felt duty bound to buy from anywhere else in the EU rather than the UK for much of what they needed. Strangely the French Army seemed to favour mostly French vehicles for some reason. Most equipment was far too expensive and got cast far too soon; even those MAN 8x8 trucks did not last as long as our trusty Bedford RLs that were still going strong after 30 years!.

My ex REME mates have a good laugh about those MAN Trucks, which will go to limp home mode, if the onboard computer finds a fault and also needs a laptop to plug in to find the fault. Imagine the situation where a single MAN truck is being chased by the Taliban and the vehicle refuses to go any faster or no one can find the laptop! (They never heard the song 'Three wheels on my wagon and I'm still rolling along!)

When buying British, no one seemed to care that vehicles such as Land Rovers had no galvanized chassis so would rot in no time at all. Perhaps no one in the Ministry expected them to go off road! Also its not common knowledge that when the MOD finished with petrol engine LRs circa 1998 that many bases simply put the spares in the skip. My mate binned tons of LR spares and the same when Clansman Radios were replaced by Bowman. His absolute favourite was replacing engines and gearboxes, old for new, literally days before vehicles were cast! Withams were delighted

Rant over 

[david1212]

On 9/5/2020 at 12:10 AM, LarryH57 said:

Have you ever met anyone who works in procurement for the MOD? I have! The MOD won't buy the Ibex or Grenadier, as the price is too reasonable........

The basic idea in MOD seems to be buy expensive and dispose of too soon (it keeps them employed) and sell off too cheaply. ......

Until recent Brexit the MOD felt duty bound to buy from anywhere else in the EU rather than the UK for much of what they needed. Strangely the French Army seemed to favour mostly French vehicles for some reason. ......

Rant over 

This would be funny if it was not my tax payments being squandered   😠