There was some conjecture when the below photos of the Wolf appeared that it had "Borrowed" it's number plates from another vehicle as it had no compliance plate for Australia, but subsequent inquiries to Land Rover Australia tuned up not only the vehicle's vin as well as confirming the registration number as correct, but a fascinating insight into a comparison test we knew nothing about.

So why is it in Australia? Originally it was thought to have been used in a comparison with the 110 Perentie, however that's only part of the story. In fact it was used in a trial to evaluate the options to replace or upgrade the Perentie 110 Fleet as in 1998 they were reaching the end of their intended Life of Type (LOT). So the Wolf, along with a Perentie 110 GS were taken for comparison to two other vehicles. Those two vehicles were called Phoenix vehicles. Both started off life as Perentie 110's, but were converted with TD5 motors. One with a R380 5 speed manual gearbox, the other with a 4HP22 Automatic gearbox.

The conversions were undertaken by Land Rover in the UK. These were done at Longbridge, not Solihull and also included the replacement of the front axle with a Wolf one, complete with power steering. The Perenties were shipped over by Land Rover Australia just for that purpose, and then shipped back. The vehicles original engines, transmissions and axles were also shiped back to Australia. The photographs below showing the work being done at Longbridge are shown here with permission of land Rover Australia.

The TD5's codename within Land Rover was 'Storm'. These 2 storm engines Phoenix vehicles were the first vehicles to enter Australia with the TD5 engine. In fact the engines and ECU's were pre production units which exhibited fuelling faults. As they were prototype ECU's there was nothing that could be done to repair them, so 2 new production engines were diverted from the assembly line in the UK to Australia to be fitted into the vehicles. The engine swap was done in the warehouse at the back of Land Rover Australia, Rosehill and the removed pre production engines used as training aides.

The evaluation undertaken was only a rough one, not a formal one by any means. They went down around the Georges River National Park in NSW. The Perentie GS was the slowest on road, but was the most capable in the rough due to it's torque at low revs. The only thing that let it down was the lack of power steering. The 300TDi Wolf lacked power while the TD5 Perenties had the power. However the TD5 Perenties were somewhat skittish at high revs off road. However as they were fitted with power steering they were easier to handle in the rough.

The vehicles were used by Defence for a number of years before being given back to Land Rover Australia to be returned to their original configuration. During this time 49-005 was used in the development of different Roll Over Protection Systems (ROPS). Both units were probably used to trial a number of modifications, but exactly what is unknown to REMLR.

The re conversion work was done by Melbourne City Land Rover who were given the motors, transmission, axles and power steering units as part of the deal.

A big thankyou to Land Rover Australia for their help with fascinating photographs, as well as invaluable information as to the origins of these vehicles.

If anybody knows anything more about these fascinating vehicles, please contact REMLR.