Land Master: Difference between revisions

[[File:DCP LandMaster.jpg|thumb|The Land Master, registration OTA114W, operated by Devon & Cornwall Police, registered in April 1981. ]]▼

It was tested by the [[British Army]], including in forward control form, and one was used by the [[Devon and Cornwall Constabulary]]. The Devon and Cornwall Constabulary vehicle bore the registration OTA114W, and is pictured here. This is the registration displayed on the Land Master survivor image to the right. Money was promised by the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] but the deal fell through. Eventually, the rights to the Land Master were sold to a company called C.K. Farnworth of [[Crumlin, Caerphilly|Crumlin]], [[Caerphilly]], [[Wales]]. The company had industrial premises and several vehicles were produced in Oakdale in South Wales.▼

The prototype vehicles were made at Trelavour Road Garage, [[St Dennis, Cornwall]], and were based on [[Dodge]] [[pickup truck]] parts. The chassis was made of tubular steel so that when it went over bumps and steep angles, dirt on top of the chassis rails would fall off, unlike Land Rovers of the time. All body panels were made of aluminium.▼

Surviving vehicles are very rare, one Land Master (possibly the only one actually sold to a customer) is rumoured still to be on the road in [[Kent]], [[England]],(this vehicle which was the third one built, is still in existence although not on the road) and another is kept by the original builders at St. Dennis. A very tatty survivor was spotted near Hexham in Northumberland in the early 1990s and two images of survivors can be found on the web - though it is currently unclear which company made them or at what date.▼

[[File:Land Master survivor..jpg|thumb|Land Master survivor. Note that this vehicle is the ex-Devon and Cornwall Police car pictured above. |alt=]]▼

The only moving images in the public domain are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQCvJmYx4wc▼

Engines available included a 3.8 L [[Perkins Engines|Perkins]] [[Diesel engine|diesel]] [[Straight-4|I4]] rated at {{convert|82|bhp|kW PS|0|abbr=on}}, a 4.0 L Perkins [[Diesel engine|diesel]] [[V6]] rated at {{convert|101|bhp|kW PS|0|abbr=on}}, or a 5.9 L [[Chrysler]] [[petrol]] V8 rated at {{convert|170|bhp|kW PS|0|abbr=on}}. It is rumoured that the vehicle in Kent may have been retrofitted with a VM diesel.▼

A successor business to those originals mentioned above introduced a version of the vehicle that they called Powr4. This seems to have been a very short lived iteration.▼