Special vehicle?

[Newsreader]

Now I'm not too familiar with Freelanders, so I was intrigued by this one I saw this morning, as it has the 'Land Rover Special Vehicles' decal on the front wings. Is there anything obvious that makes it unusual? I couldn;t spot anything. I think it had a 'made to fit' dog cage in the back, but surely that's just an accessory? :dunno:

(NB note the plethora of Discos in the background :D IIRC, the red one is one of a matching pair that live at that house, presumably his and hers ... cool :) )

[R0Y]

Probably as was explained to me a couple of weeks ago when i asked a Disco driver what he'd had done to his to warrant the special vehicles stickers, his reply "nothing" :). By that he meant it was a commercial vehicle, the freelander looks as though it could be one as well, especially with the "panel sides" instead of windows.

[Newsreader]

Hmmmm ... :rolleyes:

[paul (panda)]

i agree its a commercial vehicle with a sticker " stuck " to it .. for no apparent reason

[R0Y]

Not for no apparent reason, they actually do pass through the hands of the special vehicles guys. Something about none standard bodyshells or something.

[spikes]

LR testing handling with racing slicks for the Le Mans 24hr endurance race??? :rolleyes:
It does look familiar. I seem to recall a similar vehicle described in the Freelander History Book
will have a check in the bookshelf
Cheers
Spikes

[spikes]

:rolleyes: Near resemblance to the commercial freelander seems to be the closest. It does however gets very,very close to the picture of a three door freelander on page 26 of James Taylors' Freelander book as published by Haynes
cheers
Spikes

[spikes]

On second thoughts, it seems to be very similar to one of the first prototypes used in GB. Roofrack and wheel shape correspond to pics of duo on test in Auz in the mid 90's.
Spikes

[Saratoga]

The van option could be a closer reason. I do recall that Vodafone Freelanders are LRSV although all they have are van bodyshells.

Then again, if you want a Disco or RR Van Body they need to go through LRSV as well :)

[AJC]

Not sure about Freelanders but Discos and Defender Special Vehicles badges are raised, rigid badges and cannot be purchased from Land Rover unless you can prove ownership of such a vehicle. An original pair of badges went for about £40 on E-bay. The stickers you see are freely available and very common at the LR shows. So if that Freelander had SV stickers then they were probably stuck on by the owner and although the vehicle is special to him/her it's more than likely standard.

AJ

[Newsreader]

They looked like proper decals rather than just stickers. Seems it's a 'commercial' vehicle, from what I can tell.

[AJC]

There again, it doesn't take much to warrant the SV badge on a vehicle. Any vehicle that goes through the SV shop for something other than standard done to the vehicle gets a badge. One of the least 'special' vehicles I've seen sporting the badge is Ray Mears' (survival expert) Defender. Very little was done to his Defender but sported the badge.

AJ

[simon_g]

All of the vans that I've seen have them on - not exactly sure why after a close look....was at a meeting with a lady from the Environment Agency who had one as a 'company car' - she was really chuffed to have been given one - especially after she'd done a site inspection where they'd got a 90 stuck previously.....and she'd sailed through!!!

Simon

[NewBloke]

It looks like it doesn't have a lot of ground clearance, has it been lowered?














































;)

[AJC]

Have you seen the new (alleged) Special Vehicle badge here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31348&item=4542939930&rd=1

as opposed to the usual one here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31348&item=4542001645&rd=1

Is this the new one?

AJ

[Saratoga]

Could it be a fake? The other one I know and recognise (the one on the Tdi)...

[jjsaul]

ive only ever seen the 'old' one on vehicles

[smythe]

well here is another one ,my very own commercial,i suppose special vehicle because of the numbers made and is differant in the rear(solid checker plate floor)basically the same as all the others except you get a commercial vehical class for us business users (tax reasons)

[Wayne Rogers]

The front tyres look pretty special they are bauld.

[bruinlad]

Gentlemen, I'm not sure if I should be here since my location is in Los Angeles, California. However, one of the reasons as to why I am posting a reply is because I have an LRSV. My wife and I recently bought an '02 Freelander G4. This was supposedly prepared and modified by LRSV and was used, if not intended to be used, in the recently concluded 2003 G4 Challenge. Land Rover North America ("LRNA") offered these to the public in limited numbers but had to restore them almost to stock by removing a lot of the aftermarket offroad equipment. I have been inquiring with LRNA about the specs and modifications for my own reference and that of the indenpendent technician should the need arise. But LRNA does not have any details and were not very helpful. I've posted in several forums for the LRSV address and phone number but to no avail. You can view our vehicle if you wish at this site. We would appreciate any assistance you can provide. http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/805956
Have a great weekend everyone.

[R0Y]

Gentlemen, I'm not sure if I should be here since my location is in Los Angeles, California. Don't be fooled by the header at the top of the page, lruk is actually an international Land Rover Forums, you are as welcome here as anyone else who has an interest in Land Rovers. May i be the first to welcome you to the forums, have a look round and most of all enjoy and join in :bigwave:

[Newsreader]

Hi bruinlad :bigwave: Welcome to the forum :) Lovely truck you've got there ... :thumbsup:

I think you may get more answers if you make enquiries over here. Contact details for Land Rover in the Uk are shown below (not sure if that phone number will work from abroad but ... ). A couple of pointers in terms of which departments you might want to try and make contact with: The 'Special Vehicles' Division' comes under 'International Fleet Sales' as far as I can make out. Also, Land Rover have a tracing deprtment which specialises in providing information about builddates, shipping dates etc.

Good luck and let usk now how you get on!

Land Rover Customer Service Centre 08705 000 500.
Monday to Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Saturday 9:00am - 1:00pm

Or write to:
Land Rover UK Customer Relationship Centre,
Browns Lane,
Allesley,
Coventry,
CV5 9DR

[P00DLE]

Yep those look like the new sv badges fitted to the local electricity boards landies

[bruinlad]

Thank you for welcoming me to your forum. Any and all help will be greatly, greatly appreciated. At the first chance I get, I will write them and attach a copy of my letter to LRNA. I am somewhat familiar with the LRSV as being under International Fleet Sales when I saw "special vehicles" section on the LRUK site as a division that deals particularly with purpose specific vehicles, i.e. utility vehicles such as ambulances, police patrol and fire vehicles, etc to name a few. Other than that, it doesn't provide addresses or contact information for support on these special vehicles other than sales. So what you're telling me is that I can ask them to trace the origin of our vehicle and perhaps some technical information from LRSV as well. I think I'm getting my hopes up too high considering what I went through with LRNA. I felt as if I wasn't as important after having bought the vehicle as I would be when I was just a prospective buyer. I felt really small specially after being told to just enjoy the vehicle and take advantage of new car warranty that came with it in case something breaks. Once again, thanks for the advice and for making me feel welcome to this forum.