Fvrde

[devonblacksmith]

Can anyone tell me why my landrover should have gone to FVRDE when new and can I find out where it went from there?

[Tony B]

Various DERA sites had vehicles allocated from military contracts for research and various gadget development. They were white fleet, had civillian registration but carried a special HMG disc instead of standard tax discs.

[Predictable Bob]

Various DERA sites had vehicles allocated from military contracts for research and various gadget development. They were white fleet, had civillian registration but carried a special HMG disc instead of standard tax discs.

 

:-D

 

Is this relatively recent Tony ?

 

I only ask cos in the 90's (and before but I don't know exactly how long before) to my certain knowledge the tax discs for the entire white fleet were kosher and issued by the DVLA albeit by a rather circuitous route and without payment to reduce the chances of the vehicles being identified by the bad guys.

 

:-D

Edited July 2, 2008 by Predictable Bob
Added the bit in brackets

[Richard Farrant]

Various DERA sites had vehicles allocated from military contracts for research and various gadget development. They were white fleet, had civillian registration but carried a special HMG disc instead of standard tax discs.

 

FVRDE predates DERA by some considerable time and a lot of things changed in between times. Namely FVRDE changed to MVEE, then RARDE, before going to DERA and QinetiQ. From recollection, pure military vehicles in the hands of Chertsey or other branches often carried the ARN with letter group "SP", meaning Special Project.

[Tony B]

:-D

 

Is this relatively recent Tony ?

 

I only ask cos in the 90's (and before but I don't know exactly how long before) to my certain knowledge the tax discs for the entire white fleet were kosher and issued by the DVLA albeit by a rather circuitous route and without payment to reduce the chances of the vehicles being identified by the bad guys.

 

:-D

It was before the great sell out in the mid nintes. DERA was a world of its own, some kit was private purchase but official, some was official but taxed as civillian. As soon as everything was Comaxed, the vehicles had standard payed for tax discs. Some kit was supplied by manufacturers for assesment etc, these always had a normal tax disc. That was the fun of the old days, a lot of confusion and sticky tape but things got done regardless. Then they let the 'Consultants' in. I used to play with a plain brown bog standard Nissan Primera, that was 'Official', as soon as Comax came on the scene, they started using it showing off, MOD Plod took great delight in firmly stopping that after a couple of days by getting the county force to stop the vehicle and check its status. (Was personal, the person who took it over always P888 everyone off) Trying to keep track, it was FVRDE during the sixtes, Then most got the R prefix, then DERA then some QuinetiQ ( They wanted Kinetic, but Sekio had got this years before for their self winding watches) Now DSTL due for sale at some point to Osama Ben Ladin's brother in law. At our place we had a Stonefeild lovley bit of kit, wonder where it has gone?

Edited July 3, 2008 by Tony B

[Predictable Bob]

:-D

 

The good old days .....

 

Neil and I just happen to know the guy that actually wrote most of the software that was used for managing the white fleet licences during the mid 90's (Trust me Neil - you DO know him !) and there's some wonderful tales to tell about some of the incidents involving them (usually refering to vehicles carrying multiple plates and tax discs in the boot and drivers from Neil's mob !)

 

:-D

[ArtistsRifles]

I'll take your word for it Bob!

[Tony B]

:-D

 

The good old days .....

 

Neil and I just happen to know the guy that actually wrote most of the software that was used for managing the white fleet licences during the mid 90's (Trust me Neil - you DO know him !) and there's some wonderful tales to tell about some of the incidents involving them (usually refering to vehicles carrying multiple plates and tax discs in the boot and drivers from Neil's mob !)

 

:-D

 

Not to mention what went in them! A local car hire firm stopped supplying vehicles when they found a radiation warning sticker left in the back of one. :argh:

[Nissedasapewt]

@Tony B: At our place we had a Stonefeild lovley bit of kit, wonder where it has gone?

 

I doubt it was yours but I have recently bought one and it is now living in Salisbury if you want to re-live your memories.

[Tony B]

@Tony B: At our place we had a Stonefeild lovley bit of kit, wonder where it has gone?

 

I doubt it was yours but I have recently bought one and it is now living in Salisbury if you want to re-live your memories.

 

Nice one! :-D Very rare beast, as memory serves wasn't there a 6x6 version? The one I knew was a 4x4 van back beast used in trials support. How it ever ended up there in the 1990's no idea. It was just one of the odditys knocking about on site. There were also two Stollys, that eventually went to R&R. A Pig hulk that I kept trying to snaffle, that was being used as a magazine. The amount of stuff lying about about was amazing. When the site was being Comaxed (Privatised) a great clean out took place, amongst other things that turned up were 150 second world war feild dressings. they had been stuck in a loft and forgotten. they I am glad to say didn't go in the skip.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAAlhg-8wuQ Found this on Stonfeild.

Edited July 4, 2008 by Tony B

[abn deuce]

looks very much like an early 1960's Jeep FC knock off . like this one

[Nissedasapewt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR10lYRyrn4&feature=related

 

This is mine, and me!

[Nissedasapewt]

looks very much like an early 1960's Jeep FC knock off . like this one

 

 

The Stonefield is much prettier!

 

They were designed in Scotland as a replacement for the LR101, the UK Army rejected them so they went on to various civilian duties. Mine was an HTV outside broardcast vehicle. The Malay Army did buy some though.

 

Production finished around 1984.

[Tony B]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR10lYRyrn4&feature=related

 

This is mine, and me!

 

Right and I'm not kidding, that could have been the one from Fort Halstead! The back is same. She was a project support vehicle , if it is the same one it is an episode of the Channel 4 series on DERA some years back (DO NOT GO THERE!) she was in support of the FIST project, Future Infantary Soldier Technology.

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

Stonefield,another disaster,good idea puny engine not man enough,or big gas guzzler no one in the third world could afford.

6x4 Tony back axle held up middle one ,oh dear stuck.The build quality was such you would think it was a kit car.Metropolatan police divers had one.A friend of mine has one he converted it to diesel from a hummer,not a lot better.Fergerson formula transfer box,expensive,had a huge amount of literature about the company gave it all to an enthusiast,as you may of gathered i am not.ITs allmost as horrible as a Reynolds Broughton,sorry if you like them.

[Tony B]

Never really had any feelings about them, it was just one of the odd beasts knocking about on a site famed for odditys. I've always thought they were impressive vechiles though.

[Adam Elsdon]

allmost as horrible as a Reynolds Broughton,sorry if you like them.

 

Im with you on that one!!