The record
Before the Coastguard's fleet of Defenders and 4x4 pick-ups, its auxiliary rescue companies around the coast ran short-wheelbase Land Rover station wagons as the first vehicle to a cliff or mud incident, carrying the cliff ladder, lines and lights for the volunteers. Fleetwood's covered the sands and channels of Morecambe Bay and the Wyre estuary, ground that has caught out walkers and cocklers for centuries.
The photograph, taken on film on the promenade in the winter of 1981 and shared on Flickr, shows the station's Series III 88 station wagon FHV 880V: dark blue, a full-length roof rack with two spot lamps and a rotating beacon at its front, HM COASTGUARD in white on the board across the rack front, MARINE RESCUE lettered on the rear body sides, a coastguard crest on the doors, an extra spot lamp on the bumper and the spare on the bonnet. The registry model reproduces it on the Series III 88 station wagon.
