Centaur

History

The Centaur was developed from 1978 by Laird (Anglesey) Ltd at Beaumaris on Anglesey, Wales, working in a former Saunders-Roe aircraft hangar. The concept mated the front chassis, cab, 3.5-litre Rover V8 petrol engine and gearbox of a Land Rover to a rear hull carrying shortened Alvis Scorpion CVR(T) tracks and running gear, giving eight forward and two reverse speeds driving both the front wheels and the tracks. The result was a roughly three-tonne half-track with around a tonne-and-a-half of payload and a top speed near 50 mph, pitched at export customers as a cheap multi-role carrier - troop transport, ambulance, anti-tank platform, air-defence mount - with Land Rover parts commonality.

Six pre-production vehicles were built in 1979 on new Stage One V8 109 front ends supplied by Land Rover, following the initial prototype; the final vehicle, completed in 1983, instead used the coil-sprung front end of the new Land Rover One Ten and was finished in overall sand for a hoped-for Chilean evaluation that never came. Demonstrators toured Nigeria and the Gulf, and the Centaur was extensively trialled in Oman and Norway for hot- and cold-weather performance; the British MOD showed interest but never ordered. Only two vehicles are believed to have been sold, one each to the militaries of Oman and Iraq. Criticisms included vulnerability to small-arms fire, no NBC protection, noise, poor performance on gravel and track-tensioning trouble, and Laird wound the project up around 1984-85.

Sources differ on the exact total - seven per Tank Historia, eight per the Dunsfold Collection - and most survive. The 1983 One Ten-based car, the last Centaur built and the only one with the coil-sprung front, was donated by Laird to the Tank Museum at Bovington in 1989 and is on long-term loan to the Dunsfold Collection; the Tank Museum has also run an operational example at public events.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (British Leyland) front end and drivetrain

Manufactured

1978-1984 (prototype, six 1979 pre-production, one 1983 One Ten-based)

Modifier / coachbuilder

Laird (Anglesey) Ltd, Beaumaris, Wales ↗

Engine type

3.5 L Rover V8 petrol

Production run

7-8 vehicles (sources differ)

Current owner

The Tank Museum, Bovington (1983 example, on long-term loan to the Dunsfold Collection) ↗

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

project abandoned c.1984-85; most survive, including an operational example at the Tank Museum

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Defender

Wheels

2

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• 1983 Laird Centaur (Laird (Anglesey) Ltd 1978-1983; eight built; 3.5 V8; two sold, to Oman and Iraq; built for Chilean evaluation; donated to the Tank Museum 1989, on long-term loan to Dunsfold; six of eight survive) ↗ — The Dunsfold Collection (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Laird Centaur - The Half-Track Land Rover (Beaumaris works; Stage One front ends plus one 110; CVR(T)-derived tracks; Oman and Norway trials; seven made, all believed to survive; why it failed) ↗ — Tank Historia (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Laird Centaur Half Track (six with Stage 1 fronts plus one Land Rover 110 front, the latter the only one in overall sand finish; ~3 tonnes, ~50 mph; shown at Bovington Tankfest) ↗ — Arcane Fighting Vehicles (accessed 2026-09-10)