Page created: 1-Jun-06

Re-published: 28-Jul-11

Galleries

Heritage Collection

1968 Land Rover Series IIa ‘Pink Panther’ SAS desert patrol vehicle

The Special Air Service (SAS) had been using the 88 inch Land Rover for their operations and in the late 1960s looked for a bigger load carrier. In 1968 Marshalls of Cambridge were commissioned to convert a 109 inch Land Rover for desert duties. This involved fitting heavier duty springs, sand tyres, specially mounted spare wheel, long range fuel tanks, guards to the diffs and an array of special equipment. Many of the more superfluous pieces of bodywork such as the doors and windscreen were removed. Equipment included a general-purpose machine gun, anti-tank weapon, rifles, grenade holders, smoke canisters and navigation equipment such as a theodolite and compasses. The bodywork was painted pink as this was found to be the best colour for desert camouflage, and the vehicles became known as ‘Pink Panthers’. In all, 72 vehicles were converted in this manner for SAS use.