A Royal Navy bomb disposal Land Rover of the Series era: a 109-inch station wagon in the Navy's dark blue with red-masked front wings and rear arches, RN lettering on wing and doors, a bomb disposal notice on the nearside wing, a bonnet spare, front winch and blue roof beacon — the Series II car 67 RN 48 that Oxford Diecast modelled, and a type also recorded as a 107-inch Series I of HMS Vernon.
BASE VEHICLESeries II 109″BUILT BYLand RoverIN SERVICE1958–61OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONUnknownLAYOUT4 wheels · 109″
The record
The Royal Navy's bomb and mine disposal teams — the clearance divers and the ordnance specialists trained at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth — have run Land Rovers since the Series I, in a livery unlike any other service's: Royal Navy dark blue, with the front wings and rear wheel arches masked in red as a warning that the vehicle carried explosives, a blue beacon on the roof and a bonnet-mounted spare.
Two vehicles document the type. One is a 107-inch Series I station wagon, 45 RN 72, of HMS Vernon, photographed in preservation in April 2014. The other is the Series II 109-inch station wagon registered 67 RN 48, which this record follows: dark blue and white with the red wing and arch masking, RN in white on the offside wing and the doors, a red-and-white bomb disposal notice on the nearside front wing, a winch on the front bumper and the beacon on the roof. The Navy plates in the nn RN nn format date both to the 1950s and 1960s.
The evidence for 67 RN 48 rests on the diecast manufacturer's description of its prototype, which is why the record remains a draft: the vehicle is plausible and consistent with the photographed Series I, but no independent photograph or fleet record was found in the sources consulted. As a Series II 109 it carries the 2.25-litre petrol four. The Navy's later EOD Land Rovers, in white, are in this registry under the Royal Navy EOD record.
Research status: draft — identification, dates or figures could not all be pinned down; the summary says what is unresolved.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover
MANUFACTUREDSeries II 109 station wagon (1958–1961); Navy plate 67 RN 48
ENGINE2.25 L petrol inline-four (Series II 109 station wagon)
PRODUCTION RUNUnknown — two individual vehicles documented (67 RN 48, and the Series I 45 RN 72)
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSunknown
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries II
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE109″
CATEGORYMilitary · UK
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 renderScale-model reference; not a photograph of the full-size service vehicle.Oxford Diecast / Hattons ↗
Where it was
GB United Kingdom1960–1975 · Royal Navy bomb disposal