Honourable Artillery Company command Land Rover

[juddy]

Bit of  a rare one
http://www.mod-sales.com/auction/vehicle/related/52009/Honourable_Artillery_Company_.htm

[Tommy]

Nice

You don't get the front chromed bumper though

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Guys,
This HAC 90 is probably on of those that replaced the 5 x Series 3 Lightweights that I built up for HAC in 1988. They were ceremonial vehicles that carried a gun crew and towed a 25 pdr, for firing a salute on Royal birthdays, Queen and Queen Mother if I recollect. This was done at the Tower of London.

Hopefully I have attached a photo of the Lightweights on completion, at the photoshoot people from the workshop wanted ot be in the picture, and most of those standing had nothing to do with the project! The rest were metalsmiths, electricians, painters and myself who built them up.

We had all new bumpers and rear bumperettes. All the bolts had to be round headed coach bolts, which entailed filing every damned bolt hole square, and polish off all the welds. After chroming, bolts and all, it was worthwhile and gave a sense of pride.

Hope I have not hijacked this thread !

regards, Richard

KVE News Editor and Committee member

[Tommy]

Thanks Richard for the information .

It appears that the 90s have been replaced by the Austrian STEYR PUCH HAFLINGER. This photo, taken in November 2012, shows a HAC Haflinger at the 62 gun salute fired at the Tower of London to mark the birthday of the Prince of Wales.

A quick search of Flickr turned up some more photos of the Lightweights.

[juddy]

Thanks Tommy

I was wondering what had replaced the 90...

[Richard Farrant]

Not a Haflinger, they are Pinzgauers, which the British Army bought to replace the Land Rover 1 tonne for the airborne gun tractor role. That is the 105mm they use now to replace the 25pdr.

regards, Richard

[juddy]

And here are both of them.

[Richard Farrant]

Nice one! They always took part in the Lord Mayors Show every November. A massive cavalcade through London.

cheers, Richard

[Tommy]

Not a Haflinger, they are Pinzgauers, which the British Army bought to replace the Land Rover 1 tonne for the airborne gun tractor role. That is the 105mm they use now to replace the 25pdr.

regards, Richard

Correct Richard. As they say..."my bad"

I presume the PINZGAUER purchase was a European Union 'directive'. I would have thought that a British design to be more appropriate (thats if there is one these days).

[Richard Farrant]

I presume the PINZGAUER purchase was a European Union 'directive'. I would have thought that a British design to be more appropriate (thats if there is one these days).

hi Tommy,
The story as I remember it, and at that time I worked for the Army in engineering support. The RB44 truck came into service and very soon was sidelined with a handling problem. This vehicle was the replacement for the L/R 1 tonne, due to the operations that were being thrust upon our army at the time, it was realised the RB44 was not suitable in an airborne role as a gun tractor, so a tried and tested vehicle was procured, the Pinzgauer. Now I am pretty sure these were actually built in Guildford, Surrey, England, so a bit on the lines of your Land Rovers, where components were produced in UK and assembled in Australia. As far as i recollect this was the story, but as our Workshops closed soon after the Pinz' entered service and they had a contract maintenance set up, they only came in for inspections so may be a bit of track on this.

regards, Richard

[Tommy]

Richard

The RB44s were a large truck so I can see why they were unsuitable for airborne service (and any service at all going by the complaints about the truck on the internet). They are over 20 years old and either being or have been phased out of British army service so not a candidate to replace the HAC 90s. The Pinzgauers look to be new production versions. Would this be true? or would they be refurbished/upgraded units?

If anyone wants one, check out Withams website - http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicle/,26,/35347/Reynolds_Boughton.htm

[juddy]

The RB44 was never really designed for dedicated airlift.

As for the complaints they had some big issues with the braking systems, and all had to be rectified, at a huge cost to the MOD.  By the time this was all done the requirement for this vehicle was one that was no longer required, the Land Rover 127 took over the Raiper role too, thus they were hundreds of RB44's brand new sitting in climate controlled buildings, ( the last of which are to be sold off 2013 ) large numbers were used just for general service duty, some were converted to command posts and were ideal for this role, the Army Air Corps also used them.

The RB was never going to replace the HAC 90, totally unsuited for the role.

As for the ones now up for sale, bargain, compared to the 130,000 thousand new price tag.  Fantastic vehicle, and ideal for expedition work, or large property use.

Eat a Land Rover for breakfast...

[Richard Farrant]

The RB was never going to replace the HAC 90, totally unsuited for the role.

As for the ones now up for sale, bargain, compared to the 130,000 thousand new price tag.  Fantastic vehicle, and ideal for expedition work, or large property use.

Eat a Land Rover for breakfast...

Hi Juddy,
You have obviously been looking at Charlie's RB44 !

Going back to HAC, I never suggested the RB44 was to replace the Land Rovers for their parade role, I was talking about airborne operations with the 105mm gun, this all happened in the early 1990's hence the rapid procurement of the Pinz. There were a lot of rumours around at the time that Reynolds Boughton received the contract for supplying the RB44 as a sop because they did not get the DROPS equipment contract, although they did a lot of development and trials earlier with their own version. Also in the running for the new replacement of the 1 tonne was the Land Rover Llama, but they pulled out early on.

We seem to have deviated of the subject, I apologise 

Happy New Year to one and all.
regards, Richard

[juddy]

Hi Richard

I have driven Charlie's rb a few times, infact I am using it next week for a small job.

He loves it to bits, and good on him. He got something very different.  People over here only seem to read the bad side story's of the rb, they don't realise all of them were fixed at a great cost.

I think that's a true story about rb getting the contract, was a vote winner too.

And poor land rover failed with tha lama, but were given a huge wolf contract I believe, that was for far more units than the lama was ever going to be.

Happy new year to you over there, hopefully staying dry. Might have to bring out some of those mothballed m2 alligators if you get any more rain.

[Uncle Ho]

G'day Folks 

I would suggest it is a Simca (SUMB)MH600BS a French vehicle of 1964 on vintage fitted with a V8 petrol of 4184cc the French version of a Styer

cheers