SAS Land-Rover vs Belgian Army Minerva: locked and loaded

By Simon Hucknall

| 9 Jan 2024

Classic & Sports Car – SAS Land-Rover vs Belgian Army Minerva: locked and loaded

The sun is intense enough to scorch any patch of exposed flesh.

The ribbon of track we’re driving along is arid and cracked, and even at 20mph we’re generating spectacular white plumes of dust – big enough to alert anyone of our presence long before we heave into view.

But that’s okay: an M2 Browning heavy machine-gun, armed with 50-calibre shells, is within reach, and reconnaissance smudger Max, perched behind, has got my back with a rocket launcher at his side.

The SAS Land-Rover (onboard) and its Belgian Minerva counterpart were off-roaders created for conflict zones

There’s no windscreen, so goggles are mandatory, especially if you’re in convoy – which we are right now, small chalk pellets occasionally firing up like flak from the tyres of the vehicle in front.

There’s one more seemingly impossible ascent to climb before we reach our rendezvous, and it’s perilous: only a little wider than our tracks, and topped by a blind crest.

Revs rise to a roar, all wheels scrabbling for traction, but we make our vantage point intact, no enemy in sight…

But then, why would there be in a chalkpit in deepest Sussex on one of the hottest days of 2023?

Land-Rover’s SAS prototype (furthest) and Minerva’s Blindé reconnaissance vehicle were specialist machines

It may be a lame facsimile of the missions this rare and special Land-Rover – correct designation: Trucks ¼ Ton 4x4 General Service SAS Rover Mk3 – undertook more than half a century ago, but it serves as a fascinating insight all the same.

More so because 43 BR 70 (its original War Office registration) is one of two prototypes that begat a production run of eight bespoke Series One Land-Rovers for the Special Air Service (SAS) in the mid-’50s.

It’s also one of only two such vehicles that survive – the other resides at the Dunsfold Collection – both of which have operational histories mired in secrecy to this day.

The classic Land-Rover’s exposed cabin demands goggles

But the British military wasn’t alone in its desire to create a light, agile, go-anywhere fighting machine, which is why, joining the SAS prototype, we have a 1952 Minerva Series One 4x4 Blindé Parachute Reconnaissance Vehicle.

Looking remarkably like a Land-Rover – we’ll come to that later – the Belgian-manufactured Blindé (French for ‘armoured’) was built to serve with the nation’s special operations units, with most being deployed in the former Belgian Congo.

Alas, that was where many such vehicles ended their days, making this lovingly restored example something of a rarity, too.

We wouldn’t recommend cutting in front of the SAS Land-Rover to skip a traffic jam

Both of these remarkable machines played pivotal roles in their respective country’s military operations in the years following the Second World War.

In the British War Office’s case, the Land-Rover perfectly aligned with the hit-and-run tenet upon which the SAS was based.

Inspired by Lieutenant David Stirling, who had served in a commando unit operating behind enemy lines in 1940, this fledgling force found its first successes with small but highly mechanised units in North Africa.

There’s plenty to keep the Land-Rover’s two passengers occupied

After a failed parachuting mission against German airfields, it launched a night raid over land, assisted by the army’s Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), with stunning results.

By the following year, Lt Stirling had accrued 15 specially modified, heavily armed Jeeps, which went on to be deployed in Italy, north-west Europe and, by 1944, behind enemy lines in Germany for what was by then named the SAS brigade.

Following a brief post-war hiatus, a new SAS regiment was formed and took part in the Korean and Malayan conflicts, using WW2 Jeeps, Austin Champs and locally modified Land-Rovers.

The desert-ready SAS Land-Rover has a sun compass on top of the dashboard

By the mid-1950s, the SAS had developed its ultimate specification, resulting in War Office contract 6/VEH/20244, issued on 27 October 1955, for 10 such vehicles, all based on the Series One Land-Rover.

There was no mistaking these machines of war for anything you’d see hauling haybales around your local farmyard.

First shown at a demonstration by the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment on 12 February 1957, the General Service SAS Rover was designed for a three-man crew on extended operations: a commander in the front passenger seat, operating two Vickers AK Observer .303in automatic machine guns; a rear gunner, with access to all manner of destructive goodies, such as hand grenades, a rocket launcher and the 50-cal Browning machine gun (later replaced by a 0.30in gun, possibly due to vibration and recoil causing cracks in the chassis); and the driver, with a 7.62mm Bren light machine gun next to him in a wing-mounted holster.

And let’s not forget the machete holders on each of the seat boxes. This was not a unit to be messed with.

This one-of-two prototype spawned eight bespoke Series One Land-Rovers made for the SAS

Its armoury aside, the SAS Land-Rover remained a very different animal to that found in the standard catalogue.

Despite a laden weight of 4704lb (2134kg) versus 2982lb (1353kg) unladen for a civilian 86in model, Land-Rover made no alterations to the 1997cc, 52bhp four-cylinder engine, meaning that the SAS crew would have suffered a 10-second increase in its 0-40mph time, at a positively glacial 24.4 secs.

Standard wheels and tyres were also used, although the suspension was reinforced for the extra mass.

Yet externally there were myriad changes to counter the weight-gain and improve the unit’s self-sufficiency and endurance while in action.

‘Push down their yellow-topped levers to engage four-wheel-drive, pull back the red-topped ones for low range and they’re unstoppable’

The hood and its assembly were removed, along with the front ’screen, the rear bench seat and the central front seat (which was repurposed as the rear gunner’s perch).

Austin Champ-style sidelights were fitted to the sides of the front wings, so that water-filled jerrycans could be mounted on the front panels.

At the rear, a heavy-duty tow-chain was installed, with the spare wheel relocated to the front bumper.

That left space for camouflage netting on the bonnet, a sun compass atop the central dashboard (suggesting the intended desert use), a wireless transmitter and a large, portable searchlight.

The Land-Rover has two large dials, an ignition switch and a spare flat-pan magazine

Everything was proven on the prototype, too: according to records in the Dunsfold Collection archive, the car was subjected to 4057 miles of testing, including 1001 miles of ‘cross country’ tracks, 993 miles on ‘rough roads’, 100 miles on ‘suspension courses’ and 1963 miles on ‘normal roads’.

Whether or not the Minerva underwent similar trials before landing with its military customers is not known, but its relationship with the Solihull-built SAS vehicle is clear to see.

In fact, the Minerva started life as a Land-Rover in all but its aluminium body.

The SAS Land-Rover switches sidelights for jerry cans

Tasked with supplying a compact four-wheel drive for the Belgian Army, Antwerp-based Minerva lacked the resources to develop its own vehicle so, in 1951, struck a licencing deal with Land-Rover.

Solihull would supply the Belgian firm with Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits, comprising the then-80in chassis, plus engine and transmission – but not the UK machine’s aluminium body.

Minerva then assembled the kit and manufactured its own steel body.

Called the TT (for tout terrain), the model was not only around 150kg heavier, but also incorporated numerous, mostly subtle, design differences.

Under the bonnet, the SAS Land-Rover keeps the standard 52bhp engine

Among the most obvious of these was the squared, sloping front wings, which came about because Minerva lacked the tooling to produce the curved wing-tops found on Land-Rover’s aluminium bodies.

Not that your eye is particularly drawn to that feature, amid all the armoured paraphernalia strewn across our Blindé test vehicle.

Chassis 36633928, which was restored in 2010 by a former Belgian paratrooper who saw action in Minervas, was originally delivered to the factory in 1952 and built as a regular model.

But around three years later it became one of 36 to 60 vehicles (sources vary) to be converted by the manufacturer to Blindé specification for use by the Belgian Parachute Regiment.

Steep descents are still as easy as ever in the 2134kg SAS Land-Rover

Adding to the already increased weight of the standard Minerva, the military version was armour-plated – hence blindé – including bulletproof windscreens and radiator.

Like its British counterpart, the Belgian machine packed considerable firepower, represented here by a bazooka and a selection of replica machine guns. The prominent radio unit, mounted directly behind the driver, is original.

Alas, while many Blindés were destroyed or abandoned in the Belgian Congo, Minerva’s output of the regular models on which they were based was cut short in mid-1956 when a bitter dispute with Land-Rover over breach of contract – eventually won in court by Minerva – terminated supplies.

The Minerva’s vague on-road steering improves on loose surfaces

By the end of 1953, Solihull had supplied 7859 CKD kits to the firm, including a small number of 86in chassis introduced that year, many of which were reportedly stockpiled by the Belgian military and not put into service until years later.

Minerva never truly recovered after the spat with Land-Rover and, despite launching its own, still-similar C20 model soon after, the company closed its doors in 1956.

To experience the Minerva today, alongside the vehicle that donated its underpinnings, is something of a revelation.

You can see this mutant Land-Rover clone for what it really is: a doorless, angular platform, stripped of any design niceties, on to which is attached enough lethal accessories to take it to Armageddon and back.

Minerva’s Blindé reconnaissance vehicle packs a hefty radio unit behind the driver

Substantial frontal armour distinguishes the Minerva from the SAS carrier; sit in the left-hand, cloth-trimmed driver’s seat (all Minervas were LHD) and an upright steel shield juts from the scuttle, topped by a semicircular ’screen incorporating thick, bulletproof glass.

The assembly is duplicated on the passenger side, but is rotatable, allowing the commander to unleash a torrent of fire from the integrated machine gun. Very Mad Max.

Press the metal starter button and there’s no mistaking the burbling exhaust note from the Rover ‘four’.

The clutch is inexplicably light, with a short amount of travel, and while the gear gate feels tiny, the long, kinked lever demands a high degree of accuracy to select ratios.

The Minerva has a pintle-mounted gun turret in front of the passenger seat

Driving the Minerva on the public road is comedic for two reasons: first, the reaction of following motorists to the rear-facing (replica) machine gun bungeed to its carrier; and, second, because steering this four-wheeled weapon on Tarmac gives only a vague approximation of your intended direction.

Which is a trait shared with its SAS Land-Rover sibling. This prototype is unique as the only such vehicle built on an 86in-wheelbase chassis, with the other prototype and subsequent eight production units using 88in underpinnings.

Originally supplied to the 21st Base Vehicle Depot in Feltham, Middlesex, on 14 November 1955, it had a long (and mainly secret) tour of duty, during which it is believed to have seen action in Oman.

The Minerva’s scuttle features bulletproof glass

On 13 December 1967, it left active service and was sent to the Army’s Storage and Disposal Depot in Riddington, Nottinghamshire.

It has since resided in a private collection, following a painstaking restoration carried out from 2013-’15.

Being a later model than the Minerva, its dash layout differs slightly, with two larger clocks – one for speed, one combining amps and fuel readings – located centrally, but all other main controls are shared.

‘They gifted their crews an unrivalled mixture of firepower built into one of the most nimble mobile units’

With no ’screen of any type before you, even travelling at 30mph feels like a feat of endurance, but, like the Minerva’s, the steering is just as defiantly vague in its operation.

I’m told that, thanks to its extra weight, the Minerva should ride better than the Land-Rover, but, perhaps because of the latter’s 6in-longer wheelbase, there’s little to choose between the two, with both surprisingly supple on-road.

Overall, the Land-Rover is the more refined car, with less engine roar and superior structural integrity.

Rover’s torquey 2-litre four-cylinder engine is back in action in the Minerva

As it turns out, the SAS would have stolen a march on their Belgian counterparts when their vehicles headed off-road, too.

Scaling the vertiginous topography of our chalky test track, both vehicles are hugely capable.

Push down their yellow-topped levers to engage four-wheel-drive, pull back the red-topped ones for low range and they’re unstoppable, ascending loose-surfaced hillocks without drama and tackling sharp descents without any need to trouble the brakes.

Even their steering, which was so clumsy on the road, feels adroit and reassuring off it, though with next to no self-centering you have to be quick to unwind the lock in either vehicle.

There’s a cache of rocket launchers for the Minerva’s rear passenger

The Land-Rover makes the best out of its meagre 101lb ft of torque (delivered at a commendably low 1500rpm), giving it an agile edge that the heavier Minerva can’t quite match.

We may never know the true contribution these diminutive fighting machines made in their respective theatres of war, but they surely gifted their crews with an unrivalled mix of protection and firepower built into remarkably fleet and nimble mobile units, the like of which we may never see again.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: Goodwood; Mark Gold and Jonathan Gill, Bonhams|Cars; John Mastrangelo; Julian Shoolheifer

Factfiles

Land-Rover Series One 4x4 SAS prototype

Sold/number built 1954-‘57/10
Construction steel ladder-frame chassis, aluminium body
Engine all-iron, overhead-inlet/side-exhaust-valve 1997cc ‘four’, Solex carburettor
Max power 52bhp @ 4000rpm
Max torque 101lb ft @ 1500rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, synchromesh on third and fourth, dual-range transfer box, 4WD
Suspension beam axles, semi-elliptic springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering worm and nut
Brakes drums
Length 11ft 8½in (3570mm)
Width 5ft 1in (1550mm)
Height n/a
Wheelbase 7ft 2in (2180mm)
Weight 4704lb (2134kg, laden)
Mpg n/a
0-40mph 24.4 secs
Top speed n/a
Price new n/a
Price now £70-100,000*

Minerva 4x4 Blindé Parachute Reconnaissance Vehicle

Sold/number built 1952-’53 (converted 1955)/36-60 (est)
Construction steel ladder-frame chassis, steel body
Engine all-iron, overhead-inlet/side-exhaust-valve 1997cc ‘four’, Solex carburettor
Max power 52bhp @ 4000rpm
Max torque 101lb ft @ 1500rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, synchromesh on third and fourth, dual-range transfer box, 4WD
Suspension beam axles, semi-elliptic springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering worm and nut
Brakes drums
Length 11ft (3350mm)
Width 5ft 1in (1550mm)
Height n/a
Wheelbase 6ft 8in (2030mm)
Weight 5035lb (2284kg, est)
Mpg n/a
0-60mph n/a
Top speed n/a
Price new n/a
Price now £20-30,000*