Land Rover Llama

11 prototypes and a single production vehicle were built during 1986/7 with the hope of winning a contract from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to replace its existing fleet of Land Rover 101 gun tractors.

Heavily based on the contemporary Land Rover One Ten, the Llama was intended to be sold on both the military and civilian markets.

As part of these changes, Land Rover wanted to reduce the amount of specialist conversion work that it sent 'out of house' to other companies.

At a time when Land Rover sales were falling worldwide, winning such an order would provide a much-needed boost to the company.

This well-equipped interior reflected Land Rover's intentions that the Llama should eventually be sold on the civilian market.

Some Llamas were fitted with a mechanical winch driven from the gearbox, which could be fed through the front or rear chassis cross-members for vehicle recovery.

These included the standard open drop-side rear tray, the 'General Service' version with a removable canvas hood, a demountable glass-fibre 'pod' that could be loaded and unloaded from the chassis by a hydraulic hook, a solid enclosed rear body (mocked-up as both an Ambulance and a radio communications vehicle) and one example was fitted with a mock-up missile launcher.

The main one was that the coil-spring suspension and high centre of gravity led to poor stability over rough ground when fully laden.

After only a few years in service the entire fleet had to be overhauled and fitted with a crucial brake modification at major costs to the UK taxpayer.

The poor reliability of the RB44 meant that the British Army opted to overhaul its fleet of Land Rover 101s, which remained in service until the early years of the 21st century.

This design of warning light cluster remained in use on Land Rover Defenders until 1998, 10 years after the Llama project was cancelled.