Hotspur Sandringham 139″ Canvas Cargo.

The Sandringham 6 was developed by SMC Engineering (Bristol) Ltd — SMC standing for Sandringham Motor Company, a firm closely associated with Hotspur Cars — which cut the chassis of a Stage One V8 behind the cab and grafted on its own extended frame with a second, powered rear axle. Land Rover instructed and fully approved the conversion, and the design brief kept parts commonality above 90 per cent: only the middle axle, propshafts and fuel tank departed from standard Series III Stage One components. The result carried a two-ton payload through a 3.5-litre V8, permanent six-wheel drive and a lockable centre differential, in a choice of 125-inch (S6) and 139-inch (S6E) wheelbases.

A prototype was shown at the 1980 British Army Equipment Exhibition at Aldershot, a trials programme was completed by early 1981, and production began in 1982. Small numbers went to military customers as two-ton load carriers and artillery tractors — the role the canvas-tilt cargo version represents — while others served UK utility companies, including electricity-board vehicles converted into cherry pickers. The conversion also became the basis of Hotspur Armoured Products' armoured variants, including an APC and an exhibition air-defence carrier.

Only around a dozen are believed to have been built across all bodies, and surviving examples — auction cars from 1982, 1986 and 1989 among them — are prized rarities today.