6x6 range rover info request

Hi,
A recent ebay impulse purchase has left me with a 6x6 range rover ice cream truck. And I am after a bit more information about it since i can't find a whole lot on Google.
What I know so far is it was made in 1975, converted to an ice cream truck in the 80's and lived its life on a Welsh beach and the body has rotted accordingly, although the chassis and axles are good and will go into building something more interesting the range rover body is totally beyond saving.
I had assumed it started life as a Carmichael fire tender convention but from reading further it seems they where 6x4, this has a drive though center axle so now I am not sure. There is a build plate on the front slam panel stating 'manufactured by rover-british Leyland' and stating the axle weights.

Anyone know if there was a factory 6x6?

Am I cutting up a one off hens tooth here?

I have attached some pics of it any info is appreciated.

Jon

You selling this then.....
Ice cream van Body with machine land rover 6x6 | eBay

kevstar said:

You selling this then.....
Ice cream van Body with machine land rover 6x6 | eBay

Click to expand...

Just the top arf

You're not interested are ya?

Shimsteriom said:

Just the top arf

You're not interested are ya?

Click to expand...

Nope I used to have 2 ice cream vans when I was a lad lol id take the chassis though
ive seen it for sale before.

kevstar said:

Nope I used to have 2 ice cream vans .

Click to expand...

Of course you did....

Kevstar - yep, didn't think it would actually be worth anything and thought i would be stuck with it. the bits i am interested in are all below that fiberglass horror show

kevstar said:

Nope I used to have 2 ice cream vans when I was a lad lol id take the chassis though
ive seen it for sale before.

Click to expand...

sorry one of the few bits i am keeping, soon to be a lovely little 3bhp 4 ton perkins 4.236 with milner conversion on there though if that tickles your fancy? since you have had a couple of ice cream vans maybe you could shed some light into what people are seeing there that's worth buying? had no questions and they are bidding blind.

Shimsteriom said:

Of course you did....

Click to expand...

Yup I worked on the vans when I was 14 until I was 18 then bought my own
then a year later I bought anover & ran them for 5 years as I was working as a
greasy monkey.

kevstar said:

Yup I worked on the vans when I was 14 until I was 18 then bought my own
then a year later I bought anover & ran them for 5 years as I was working as a
greasy monkey.

Click to expand...

What makes me giggle is that you had an ice-cream van ...... in Scotland

Shimsteriom said:

What makes me giggle is that you had an ice-cream van ...... in Scotland

Click to expand...

Wots even funnier is that I walked into peoples ford dealership an bought a brand new xr2 cash
the salesman was like hiya sunny are you looking for someone errr nope I'll have that fiesta in the
showroom & pulled out a wedge haha His eyes nearly popped out.

Jon308 said:

sorry one of the few bits i am keeping, soon to be a lovely little 3bhp 4 ton perkins 4.236 with milner conversion on there though if that tickles your fancy? since you have had a couple of ice cream vans maybe you could shed some light into what people are seeing there that's worth buying? had no questions and they are bidding blind.

Click to expand...

Have you researched the prices of ice cream vans the bodys?? they are a fortune & can be shoved on
a modern chassis, ready made business to use or sell. I am quite rural in a small village, once or
twice a year a van will show up....£3.50 a cone with bit of flake stuck in it.
Tub of icecream costs ?? even if you bought from farmfoods youd make money.

Did have a quick look on the bay but couldn't find a good equivalent, see plenty of complete vans going for good money but no manky old things like this. so i just stuck it on for a quid to get it gone before it became a nuisance. live and learn i suppose.'shoved on' is right though, really wasn't a lot holding this to the chassis. 10 min of drilling pop rivets, 1 blade in the recip and a bit of bar action it was off.

I think quite a number of 6x6 versions were produced as the civilian airport auth. requires emergency vehicles to be all wheel drive, whereas military spec. was 6x4.
I often wondered how drive to the rearmost axle was achieved, now I know

Jon308 said:

a lovely little 3bhp 4 ton perkins 4.236

Click to expand...

Impressive power to weight ratio

kermit_rr said:

Impressive power to weight ratio

Click to expand...

to be fair to it at the time it was put in probably wasn't a bad engine for it, absolute buckets of torque simple and robust. Pretty much idled up the ramp onto the trailer. But they only rev to i think 2k and are massively heavy.
Jon

Looks like there were a few made , don’t know if u could contact the previous owners for more details

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/rangerovericecreamvantrucktenbypembrokeshire

https://www.pinterest.es/pin/481463016393237122/

See one recently sold for £2,350

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6x6-Range-Rover-/144062005121?nma=true&si=Ig7zgwtxvvQMaPglEYodZHHm5Qo%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

MOT history interesting , particularly in 2011 for reg Q75 RDE

https://www.caranalytics.co.uk/select-product

gstuart said:

See one recently sold for £2,350

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6x6-Range-Rover-/144062005121?nma=true&si=Ig7zgwtxvvQMaPglEYodZHHm5Qo%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

MOT history interesting , particularly in 2011 for reg Q75 RDE

https://www.caranalytics.co.uk/select-product

Click to expand...

That is this one, he reckon it was based on a charmichle airfield fire tender but I can't find any other reference to a 6x6 variant only the tacr2 6x4 and commando 6x4. And that chassis number plate from landrover themselves made me wonder if land rover built it them selves originally.
Jon

Jon308 said:

That is this one, he reckon it was based on a charmichle airfield fire tender but I can't find any other reference to a 6x6 variant only the tacr2 6x4 and commando 6x4. And that chassis number plate from landrover themselves made me wonder if land rover built it them selves originally.
Jon

Click to expand...

hiya

indeed the only bits so far I can find are “ DSCN7364 Pembrokeshire Ice Cream Co. Q 75 RDE”

plus the above links , I would assume some coach builders converted it , as u scroll down there’s some other links, maybe they will lead onto the original ones who converted it , wouldn’t have thought Land Rover would have converted it, but possibly the chassis ??

Also wonder if u can trace the previous owners via ur V5 / DVLA or even some of the links

I think normally if there non standard a special vehicle badge would be put on

1962 - 1979

• 
  An eight digit chassis numbering system with suffix letters
  
  The first, second, and third digits indicate the model and specification.
  • 
    241-258,260-324 = Series IIA 88" & 109"
    325-339 = Series IIB (110 Inch Forward Control)
    340-354 = Series IIA 109"
    5424 = Series IIA 88 Station Wagon (US Model) 259, 901-950 = Series III
    951-955 & 895 = Lightweight
    956-965 = 101 Inch Forward Control
    355, 356, 358 = Range RoverThe remaining five digits starting with 00001 indicate the serial number.
    The suffix letter indicates design modifications.
    Note: The year, or model-year of manufacture have no identification number.