Fully armoured 3.5-litre V8 Land Rover 110 of the Ministry of Defence Police Special Escort Group, fleet number 3262: delivered early in 1985 and converted by that July to escort road convoys carrying nuclear weapon components, now preserved at the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield.
BASE VEHICLEDefender 110BUILT BYLand Rover (One Ten V8)IN SERVICE1985OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONSmall batchLAYOUT4 wheels · 110″
The record
The Ministry of Defence Police Special Escort Group grew out of 1970s arrangements for guarding the road movement of special nuclear materials — tritium, enriched and depleted uranium — and from the early 1990s took over security and traffic control for all road transport of nuclear weapons in the United Kingdom, using specially adapted vehicles. This Land Rover 110, with the 3.5-litre V8, was delivered early in 1985 and by July had been fully armoured for the SEG: an armoured cab with a divided screen and a full-height steel rear body in MDP dark blue, mesh guards over the headlamps, the force crest on the doors and the fleet number 3262 on its plates. Convoy commander Mick Nottage described the unit's work in the MoD's Talk Through magazine in 2004. The vehicle was later donated to the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, where Roger Wasley photographed it.
The registry's model is built from the Hotspur armoured body in MDP blue with the plain roof, divided screen, lamp guards, door mirrors, crest and 3262 plates; in the game it is bullet- and shell-proof.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover (One Ten V8)
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERArmoured for the Ministry of Defence Police, 1985 (converter not recorded)
MANUFACTUREDDelivered early 1985; armoured by July 1985
ENGINERover 3.5 L V8 petrol
PRODUCTION RUNSmall batch; count unknown
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSpreserved
FLEET NUMBER3262
ROLENuclear weapon convoy escort, MDP Special Escort Group
PROTECTIONFully armoured cab and body
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEDefender
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYSpecial · Police
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Renders & references
Front three-quarterRegistry renderThree-quarterRegistry renderSideRegistry renderRearRegistry renderFrontRegistry renderMDP armoured 110 fleet 3262 at the National Emergency Services Museum — the reference for this model; linked only.Roger Wasley ↗
Where it was
GB United Kingdom1985–2000 · MoD Police Special Escort Group, fleet 3262