The record
When the MoD set out its requirement for a heavy-duty Land Rover in the early 1990s, the factory developed three variants under the codename 'Wolf': a 90, a 110 and a 127-inch ambulance model. Prototypes were built from 1994, two years before the production order of January 1996, to prove the strengthened XD chassis, axles and body engineering that would define the production Truck Utility Light and Medium (HS) fleet.
This vehicle — chassis SALLDHAF7MA960411, registered M461 KAC — is a 1994 Wolf 110 TUM prototype carrying a distinctive custom high-roof hard top, unique among the Wolf development vehicles. Like the production Wolf it uses the 2.5-litre 300 Tdi diesel and five-speed gearbox. It served with Land Rover Engineering on development trials, then with Chassis and Axle Engineering as a data-retrieval rig, fitted with computers and monitoring instruments, traces of which remain aboard; its 8,000 recorded miles were hard-won testing miles.
The Dunsfold Collection acquired the prototype in 2001 in poor condition, missing its axles and exhaust, and restored it to running order with parts sourced through factory contacts. It is preserved as one of the earliest survivors of the programme that produced the British Army's definitive late-generation Land Rover.
