Revenant Cargo

History

All 2,669 left the works as soft-top GS gun tractors, designed to haul the L118 Light Gun, a ton of ammunition and its crew.

The Revenant FC was born of a late-1960s General Staff requirement for a compact one-tonne air-portable truck to tow the new 105 mm L118 Light Gun with a ton of ammunition and equipment. Production ran at the works between 1972 and 1978, and every one of the 2,669 vehicles built left the factory in the same basic form documented here: the soft-top General Service gun tractor, with a canvas tilt over a flat-sided cargo body, in 12-volt GS or 24-volt FFR (fitted for radio) electrical fit. In British Army and Air Force service the GS cargo 101 towed light guns and Rapier missile systems, hauled signals equipment and stores, and won a following for its extraordinary cross-country ability - the V8's torque and the short overhangs let a laden 101 go where nothing else wheeled would. Service vehicles wore the British military's gloss Deep Bronze Green and later the matt infrared-reflective NATO green. The fleet soldiered on for two decades until the MoD decommissioned the last 101s in the late 1990s in favour of Runners and Pinzgauers. Sold into preservation in large numbers, the 101 GS has become a cult vehicle - camper conversions, overland trucks and concours-restored gun tractors alike - sustained by an active owners' club and the type's unmistakable go-anywhere silhouette.