B Card vs year built and paint colors

[Airdropable]

I was sorting out some paperwork here and was looking for some input on my B Vehicle Card and the history of my Rover:

First of all the handwriting on the entry for CVD Ashchurch is a little hard to decipher, does that look like a date of 3/12/71?
I wanted to check with another set of eyes on this and verify that this Lightweight was built in late 1971 even though the D.I.S. is January '72.

Second, in general for B Vehicle cards, the time a vehicle served with a unit would be the difference between the old Receipt Voucher and the new Issue Voucher, correct?


But the big question after looking at my B card is why is my landy painted a million different paint colors in an irrational order?
If its spent all its service life in the BAOR with the Scots Guards and the 2nd Armored Division I can't see any reason for it it have any "sand" or "stone" or tan paint judging by the vehicle history. There is a bit of lime green under there in places also and while I don't think the paint scheme on the outside is really a military paint job I'm a bit puzzled over the spots on the interiors that look like they might be real IRR paint but over tan or lime green. I would have thought it would've gotten a a coat of IRR over everything by '78. But the only consistent theme in most places seems to be Bronze Green underneath from the factory. Any opinions from the pics on whether all the paint except the DBG is civilian? 30 years out of the service is plenty of opportunity for more paint to be slathered on after all.


As an aside, I have also looked at a fair few other B cards and I can't believe how little some rovers were used and how soon most were cast off! The UK must have had an inexhaustible defense budget during that time to be constantly selling off Landies that were not worn out or obsolete and buying new ones.

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More pics:

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And finally:

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[removeduser185]

Looking at your B Card, I would say, yes, the date for Ashchurch was 3 Dec 71. That would make sense as it was "put into the system" (ADPCON) on the 16th. It then spent 6 months in the Ordnance Depot Antwerp before being issued to 1 Bn Scots Guards who were in Waterloo Barracks Muenster. They handed the vehicle over to their replacement there (2 Bn SG) when they moved back to Chelsea Barracks, London at the end of 75/beginning of 76. They kept it until June 78 when it was taken on strength of 2 Armd Div Tpt Regt in Birdwood Bks Buende (I think). Why that happened isn't clear. During its time with the Scots Guards the battalions were in NI on Op BANNER quite a bit, so it is possible that the vehicle didn't see a great deal of use. (It is unlikely that either battalion took the vehicle with them to NI as it was LHD and, by that time, roulement units from BAOR were inheriting pool vehicles from NI which were RHD, but you can tell - are there any holes where the GRP armour was attached? 2 Armd Div Tpt Regt RCT had it for 9 months before it was backloaded to Antwerp where it stayed for 5 years - whether that was being used by the Ordnance Depot or whether it was simply in storage isn't clear.

As you say, it would have been delivered in DBG. Almost certainly, thereafter it would have been resprayed in NATO matt green, probably with black overpainted camouflage. This paint often weathered very badly, especially if left in the sun for long periods and went a shade of dark sand/lime green - this MAY account for at least one of your coats of paint. But, the sand paint seems to me as having most likely been applied after it left the service - very probably with other coats of paint, military or otherwise on top. It is very likely that it was well looked after during its time with the Scots Guards as they take quite a bit of pride in their stuff. So any painting done then may have been to a good standard. The same is true of its time with subsequent units as both the RCT and the Ordnance Depot would have had good facilities for spraying their vehicles and some expertise in doing so.

Regarding your point about the life in service of Land Rovers. Until it was decided to get rid of the entire Lightweight fleet in 96 (?) vehicles would only have been "cast" if beyond repair. That could mean being beyond economic repair where the residual worth of the vehicle was deemed less than the cost of the necessary repair. Some vehicles lived a hard life and, as far as I can see, most ended up getting at least one replacement engine and/or gearbox. It was often more sensible to replace entire assemblies rather than make intrusive repairs - but others such as Neil AR4412 - can add more to that as that is not my area of knowledge.

Anyway, there are some thoughts to run with.

[fv1620]

Any opinions from the pics on whether all the paint except the DBG is civilian? 30 years out of the service is plenty of opportunity for more paint to be slathered on after all.

I think you are right. Is that filler that has chipped away on the bonnet over a modest dent? Hard to believe that body filler would be used in service on anything other than a prestige vehicle. So with light stone or similar under the filler, I suspect a previous owner wanted it to represent a Gulf War vehicle. What variety of colours are on the hard top?

[fv1620]

As an aside, I have also looked at a fair few other B cards and I can't believe how little some rovers were used and how soon most were cast off! The UK must have had an inexhaustible defense budget during that time to be constantly selling off Landies that were not worn out or obsolete and buying new ones.

Indeed, it is tied up with the Planned Life. I notice your card & many others are often not fully completed.

Class refers to the Reliability Class which should have had an entry although it can be deduced by the line sequence, but there are many cards where the form has been fully completed as required. So it should read:

1 JAN 72 - JAN 76
2 JAN 76 - JAN 78
3 JAN 78

Reliability Class was based on

Class 1 first 60% of Planned Life
Class 2 next 40% of Planned Life
Class 3 beyond Planned Life

For example:

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So anything in Class 3 was a bonus. Incidentally Humber Pigs recovered for use in N.Ireland put back on Census went straight into Class 3.

[Airdropable]

Wow very detailed, thank you very much.
Apropos of the completeness of the card; based on the different ink colors I figured someone did some clarifications. I was wondering if it was the archivist at the RLC Museum or if it was just the last person to deal with the card in the service.

I thought I read about some of the Scots Guards in NI, but like you said I figured they switched to RHD vehicles.
The "...TPT RGT" part of the 2nd Armored Division entry is "Transport Regiment", correct?

Yep, that is a load of bondo on the bonnet, but there is not too much of it elsewhere fortunately.
The hard top is definitely civilian, it is painted gloss white (or "Limestone" maybe), with no over coat on the inside and overpainted with the paint scheme you see on the outside. Not original, but nice inside for aesthetics and during the dark winter months!

Also any suggestions on which museum archives might have pictures of the Scots Guards during this time period? The Scots Guards Regimental Archives and/or one of the branches of the IWM perhaps?

[fv1620]

Apropos of the completeness of the card; based on the different ink colors I figured someone did some clarifications. I was wondering if it was the archivist at the RLC Museum or if it was just the last person to deal with the card in the service.

I don't think it was either, I think the red writing is contemporaneous. The entry on 10/10/72 shows that BAOR was not added later as STOCK is written above it in black & besides the red pen markings vary in depth & shade.

It seems that BAOR was always defined in red, sometimes a rubber stamp was used. Struck Off Census details were always identified in red on cards & in the central ledgers.

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[Airdropable]

Well, got a little distracted away from rovers for a while.

Interesting on the ink.

At any rate based on what I've got and been able to find out I'm thinking of returning to DBG and how the vehicle might have looked early on with the Scots Guards for my resto. And getting rid of the bitumen!

Until it was decided to get rid of the entire Lightweight fleet in 96 (?) vehicles would only have been "cast" if beyond repair. That could mean being beyond economic repair where the residual worth of the vehicle was deemed less than the cost of the necessary repair. Some vehicles lived a hard life and, as far as I can see, most ended up getting at least one replacement engine and/or gearbox. It was often more sensible to replace entire assemblies rather than make intrusive repairs - but others such as Neil AR4412 - can add more to that as that is not my area of knowledge.

That sounds like it pretty much matches standard practices on American military vehicles.
The motor and gearbox are replacements so it could have had a major breakdown or just a routine replacement.
Come to think of it I believe there are some patches on the chassis and it still has some rust/rot issues on the frame and cross members; maybe those problems predate civilian ownership and explain why the truck was sold out of service before '96.


That also actually leads to my next question, but I was debating whether to start a new thread or not.
Is my Land Rover a bit of a bitsa? Were Lightweight components originally serial number matching, or are some of these part numbers?
My Chassis Number is 23900742B from the data plate on the bulkhead and I did find 239007??? on the dumb iron.
The engine is duck egg blue/sky blue on the block but not the valve cover or components and is numbered 270876RW
I have not gotten the numbers off the gearbox yet but the number off the transfer box is 90269425A, which I believe is a Series III number.
The front axle is numbered 20400512A
The rear axle is 2040?8?2A
I lost track of where I wrote down the wheel part numbers but they were all mixed and did not match the parts book and are probably civilian.


The data plate on the dash does not have any repairs marked on it.