Outback 4×4 Hard Top

History

All share a 'safari' tropical roof with no alpine windows and a single side-hinged rear door — and together they account for fewer than Shorty of the 3,023 Outback 4×4s built.

Almost every Outback 4×4 left Moorebank as an open tray with hoops and a canvas tilt. A small minority did not. The Survey vehicle (code 73310, 'Truck, Panel, Lightweight, Survey, FFR, Winch, MC2') is the archetype: a van-type body with blank rear side panels, a single side-hinged rear door and a raised 'safari' roof, but — unlike the civilian County wagon it superficially resembles — no alpine windows in the roof sides. Behind the rear seat sits an enclosed bank of batteries for a 28-volt auxiliary system, with a power distribution panel and a radio mounting tray. Range was about 550 km on good roads. Wikipedia's variant table records 35 built; REMLR's ARN register lists 36. The two Carryalls put windows and seats where the Survey vehicle has panels and equipment. The Senior Commander (73510) is the same shell equipped for work: a winch, a 28-volt auxiliary system with a battery bank behind the rear seat, a power distribution box and a radio mounting tray, seven or eight passengers depending on how much radio kit was carried, and a role REMLR describes as moving senior commanders and VIPs 'where the use of a normal GS vehicle is not appropriate'. Eleven were built. The fourth is the rarest Outback of any kind. Exactly two were built, both from the initial production run and carrying sequential VINs. No further orders followed, and 48-005 was reconfigured as an ordinary FFR with a canvas canopy — losing its hard top — some time around late 1991 or early 1992. What separates the closed bodies is scarcity.