The record
Land Rovers carried Laurens van der Post’s party during the 1955 Kalahari filming expedition for the BBC. Durham University’s archive records the documentary preparations and the surviving programme reels. The journey became The Lost World of the Kalahari, broadcast in 1956.
The model follows the darker short-wheelbase canvas vehicle seen at 0:00 and 1:52 in the linked historic footage: upright Series I bodywork, a bonnet-mounted spare, plain canvas sides and no roof rack or visible expedition lettering. Another vehicle at 1:42 has a lighter body tone; this reconstruction does not imply that the entire convoy looked alike.
Review feedback identifies the registration as PUE B17, visible in the supplied film sequence at 1:58. The exact wheelbase, chassis year and paint specification remain unconfirmed. Green bodywork and muted canvas are interpretive colours, and the shared 88-inch chassis is a short-wheelbase modelling proxy rather than a historical identification. Rear curtain glazing, mirrors and minor fittings retain ordinary Series I assumptions where the footage is inconclusive. The expedition’s British BBC operation supports the operating-country entry; the particular vehicle’s assembly provenance and later fate remain unknown.
