DIFFLOCKEDTHE REGISTRY NAMED MODEL · 1979
NAMED MODELSpecial · Expedition & Campers

Transglobe Sahara Land Rover

A Series III 109-inch station wagon representing the two Land Rovers on Transglobe’s 1979 Sahara crossing.

Drive it in the gameSources & evidence
Transglobe Sahara Land Rover — front three-quarter view, registry 3D render
BASE VEHICLESeries III 109″BUILT BYLand RoverIN SERVICE1979OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONTwo Land Rovers in the Sahara land partyLAYOUT4 wheels · 109″

The record

The expedition’s own account records two Land Rovers and a Range Rover carrying the land party from Greenwich through France and Spain, then across the Sahara from Algiers to Abidjan between September and December 1979. Ginny Fiennes’ Land Rover carried the HF radio and a nine-foot rear whip, maintaining daily contact with the support ship and Britain.

Scott Polar Research Institute photographs establish the five-door Series III body, blue-grey paint, pale roof and wheels, full-length loaded silver rack, white expedition panels, yellow wing stripes and Mobil markings. The model reproduces those fittings and the photographed 1979–1982 lettering. Exact paint shade, small sponsor lettering and unseen equipment remain approximate. The specific build/conversion location is unconfirmed; UK operation refers to the expedition’s British base, not every country crossed.

This entry represents the fleet’s standard wagon appearance; the separate radio variant adds the tall rear whip. It does not invent a second vehicle registration from the partially obscured convoy photographs.

Specification

MANUFACTURERLand Rover
MANUFACTUREDIn service for the 1979 expedition; exact build date unconfirmed
PRODUCTION RUNTwo Land Rovers in the Sahara land party
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries III
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE109″
CATEGORYSpecial · Expedition & Campers

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.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from the registry's own 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the registry's 3D renders, the specification and the cited sources on this page.

Sources

  1. 1Transglobe Expedition — Sahara, September–December 1979 ↗accessed 2026-09-16SOURCE
  2. 2Transglobe Expedition — home and departure from Greenwich ↗accessed 2026-09-16SOURCE
  3. 3SPRI Transglobe archive photograph 293 ↗accessed 2026-09-16SOURCE
  4. 4SPRI Transglobe archive photograph 567 ↗accessed 2026-09-16SOURCE
  5. 5SPRI Transglobe archive photograph 47 ↗accessed 2026-09-16SOURCE
  6. 6https://transglobe-expedition.org/sahara/https://transglobe-expedition.org/sahara/ ↗REFERENCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-16T10:35:47.348Z · status: researched