[1][2][3] To deal with the potential threat of a possible conventional ground invasion from across the border, the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment (RhACR) was reorganized in 1978, being expanded to include additional tank and mechanized infantry squadrons.

The heavier locally tailored TCVs – conceived primarily for the counter-insurgency role – already in service with the Rhodesian SF were found to be not entirely suitable for the task so a lighter (and cheaper) alternative was sought.

[8] The first prototype of the MPCV was completed in just six weeks in late 1978 and, after intensive trials involving driving and mine testing by the Rhodesian Army the vehicle was finally approved for active service.

Production began in earnest at early 1979, with Kew Engineering plants turning out four bare vehicles per week until a total of 60 MPCVs had been delivered to the 10th Battalion RR workshops at Gwelo, where they would be fitted with the electronics and armament.

[14] Developed too late to participate in the Rhodesian Bush War, the 'Spook' after independence entered service with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) who, impressed by the vehicle's mobility, quickly adopted it in early 1980.

The MPCV equipped the D Squadron of the Zimbabwe Armoured Corps (formerly the RhACR)[17] and the C Company, 1st Battalion, Rhodesian African Rifles (1RAR), which participated in the large military exercises conducted at Somabula Plain, Matabeleland that same year.

During the Mozambican Civil War in 1982–1993, the ZNA forces serving at Mozambique also employed the 'Spook' there as a patrol and escort vehicle at the vital Beira corridor in Tete Province, guarding both the Beira–Bulawayo railway and oil pipeline from RENAMO guerrilla attacks.

ZNA's MPCVs found themselves once again performing these same duties in the cadre of the ill-fated United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Somalia (UNOSOM I) from 1992 to 1994, protecting the convoys of UN trucks carrying relief aid en route from Mogadishu port to the refugee camps.