Tilly (vehicle)

In particular, there was a lack of light vehicles for local liaison, communication, transport, casualty evacuation and general utility work at the smaller unit level (that of the company or battalion).

Faced with a lack of utility vehicles, the Ministry of Supply co-ordinated with the major British car manufacturers (primarily through Lord Nuffield of Morris Motors, via Nuffield Mechanizations and Aero) to produce military utility versions of their existing mid-size saloon cars.

The rear body was swapped for a simple pickup truck load bed covered by a canvas roof (commonly known as a 'tilt'), making the Utility a two or three seater in the cab.

Most car manufacturers had offered their civilian models with 'Export' options to suit service in areas of the world with extreme climates and poor roads and the Utilities were fitted with these parts such as larger radiators and fans, uprated suspension that offered a greater load capacity and increased ground clearance.

All Utilities were fitted with taller and wider tyres than standard to further improve traction and ground clearance - this required cutting away[clarification needed].

As 'Tilly' production continued many of the designs lost even more of their shared civilian parts, gaining even more simplified interiors and more functional grilles, wings and bodywork.

With rarely more than around 30 bhp available, the 'Tilly' had a top speed of about 50 mph when unladen and performance when loaded was poor, especially when climbing hills, while descents could often tax the braking system intended for a much lighter civilian car.

[citation needed] The Australian Armed Forces similarly carried on this practice, but opted to use the appellation UTE taken from the first rather than the latter part of "Utility".