Civil Vehicles in Military Use Query

[Cobra]

Hey Guys, Has Anyone Ever Built a Model like a Range Rover,Toyota FJ Cruiser,Etc.in Military Paint,Etc.? have Some Ideas, But First thought i'd Query Before i make Any Decisions. Thanks For Looking.Dan

[Maverick]

Dan, there are quite a few real world examples of civilian vehicles wearing military paint.  The Toyota Hi-Lux, for example, started out as a baseline civilian vehicle and been modified by various military owners.

Regards,

Mav

[anthonyp]

GM Canada built a version of the Chevy Silverado for the Canadian Forces, and a version of the (I think) Ford F350 is in use with the US Military.

Navistar also offers a version of their 5000-MV tractor trailer as well as the 7000-MV.  See their site for details.

[Joe C-P]

Staff cars, liaison vehicles. Cars carried aboard ships for landing when in port.
Motorcycles.

[dragon]

I remember a photo from the 1980s showing a Beer delivery truck owned by the Budweiser company, that was used exclusively to deliver beer to military installations- it was camouflaged, but with the standard color Budweiser logo.  I need to find that photo again.....

[Jschmus]

I remember a photo from the 1980s showing a Beer delivery truck owned by the Budweiser company, that was used exclusively to deliver beer to military installations- it was camouflaged, but with the standard color Budweiser logo.  I need to find that photo again.....

Was it this one?

[kitnut617]

GM Canada built a version of the Chevy Silverado for the Canadian Forces, and a version of the (I think) Ford F350 is in use with the US Military.

I stumbled on a website which has these in 1/72 scale, but do you think I can find it now  

As an aside, our nephew who is a driver in the Brit Army, has just finished a 9 month stint at CFB Suffield.  He visited us quite frequently and after I asked him how he was managing to drive Land Rovers and such over here in Canada, he replied that he drove around in a Chevy truck most of the time. He said it looked like my 93' Suburban

EDIT: found it:
http://www.pj-production.net/product/722004-chevrolet-pick-up/
http://www.pj-production.net/product/722005-chevrolet-utility/

[Geoff]

Building one of these at pres - -

[scooter]

The CUCV series were militarized civilian vehicles, ranging from the M-880 Dodge Pickup to the M-1008/1009 Chevy Silverado Pickup/K-5.  There's also the "Blue Fleet", which are the purely civilian vehicles owned by USAF/USN.

[Hobbes]

BRIXMIS had some Range Rovers:



Otherwise not too many units would use the expensive Range Rover over a milspec Land Rover Defender.

[Geoff]

Brixmis - pics from Military Liasons Cold War

[Gondor]

BRIXMIS had some Range Rovers:



Otherwise not too many units would use the expensive Range Rover over a milspec Land Rover Defender.

Are you sure this one is not shown in Royal Air Force service ?

Gondor

[Hobbes]

Apparently the RAF allowed the toys to remain under BRIXMIS control, provided their hops didn't exceed 300 ft.

[raafif]

several interesting mods -- re-inforced (thick) roof, rollcage, larger solid area behind side window.  As these Brixmis vehicles had 3-man crews, was there a third seat in the middle rear so the guy could see out front without leaning to one side ? (bench seats are no good as on rough roads the standard seat-belt was no good).

Brixmis preferred RangeRovers to Landy's because they blended in with civvy vehicles better on the roads -- they switched to the G-wagen because the Leylands were built like crap & kept falling apart.



build a model of this .....
     "He came, he saw, he got Ural-ed!"

[rickshaw]

Most armies operate civilian and military vehicles.  Its simply too expensive to utilise military vehicles for day-to-day running around town.  In the Australian Army they are designated "CL" for "Civilian, Light" (referring to the chassis and body) and "GS" (General Service) for military vehicles that have heavy-duty chassis and bodies (and four or more wheel drive).   "CL" vehicles don't have drive to all wheels.   The Australian Army generally utilises civilian vehicles.  Often they are not even painted green (it was found that the colour often put off buyers of second-hand vehicles, so a conscious decision was made in the late 1980s to purchase vehicles in a mix of colours and types, to enhance their resale value). 

I can remember Army doing crazy things such as paying manufacturers to remove radios which were standard fit from their sedans or station-wagons or utes because they were deemed "frivolous" only to then, when a case was made for "long-distance driving" allowance to pay to have an after-market radio fitted!   Same went for Roo-bars, windshields, etc.  That all stopped in the late 1980s when it was deemed "standard sale items will remain in place" - again to enhance resale value.

Also whereas they used to buy a CL vehicle and simply run it into the ground and then sell it, now they have modern fleet management programmes in place where they turn over the vehicles much more frequently on the basis that one with fewer kilometres can command a greater value on the second-hand market.

We use Holdens, Fords, Toyotas, Nissans and Mazda CL vehicles.  Primarily Utes and Sedans, some light vans and light trucks as well.   We used to be big users of Mini-Mokes (great fun!) and VW Kombivans but they're all long, long, long gone back in the 1980s.