Shorland Armoured Car

The Shorland Armoured Car is built upon the Land Rover chassis by Short Brothers of Belfast. Land Rover's Birmabright aluminium alloy bodywork is not very good at stopping small-arms fire and is replaced by light armour plating, which nevertheless keeps fairly faithfully to the lines of the original vehicle. (There is a 129" prototype in the background.)

The first Shorland conversions were created on leaf-sprung Series Land Rovers (right) but the current versions are based on the coil-sprung Defender. Major concerns in an armoured car conversion are keeping the weight down and providing adequate cooling for both the occupants and the engine. The vulnerable radiator is protected by a slatted grille which allows cooling air in but keeps projectiles out.

Some Shorland armoured cars see service very near to where they were made, on patrol with the British Army in Belfast and Northern Ireland trying the keep the lid on "the troubles".

Go to the Military and Civilian Land Rover pages