Danish Army 88 General Service
A Danish Army Series III 88-inch general-service soft top, registration 48.928: ordered in 1977, in service from 1978 in a wide range of roles until the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen replaced it, in the three-colour camouflage of olive, black and sand with a black front panel and a spare on the bonnet.
History
The short-wheelbase Land Rover reached the Danish Army late. Denmark's post-war light vehicle had been the Willys MB and its successors, and it was only in 1977 that the army ordered the 88-inch Series III as its general-service quarter-ton truck; deliveries began in 1978. Once in service it did everything a light 4×4 does for an army — liaison, section transport, radio, towing light trailers — for a decade and more, until the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen took over the role.
The documented vehicle, 48.928, was photographed by Martin Pagh of Horsens: a canvas-tilt soft top with a spare wheel on the bonnet, the front panel painted black, the registration stencilled in black on a sand patch on each wing and carried on black plates, and the three-colour camouflage of olive, black and sand that the army applied from the 1980s. The type's recorded figures are 3.63 m long, 1.63 m wide and 2.00 m high, 2,150 kg, the 2,286 cc four-cylinder diesel of 51 hp, four-speed gearbox with two-speed transfer case, 24-volt electrics, 90 litres of diesel for 450 km, and seating for a driver and five. How many the army bought is not stated in the source.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover
- Manufactured
- Ordered 1977, in service from 1978
- Engine type
- 2,286 cc Land Rover four-cylinder diesel, 51 hp at 4,000 rpm
- Production run
- Unknown — the army's general-service 88 fleet; one vehicle documented
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- Denmark
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series III
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 88″
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- Landrover 88 Series III — ordered by the Danish Army in 1977, in service 1978; superseded by the Mercedes Geländewagen; dimensions, weight and engine (photograph courtesy Martin Pagh, Horsens) ↗ — Danish Army Vehicles Homepage (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.armyvehicles.dk/lr88.htm https://www.armyvehicles.dk/lr88.htm ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T06:11:41.581Z · status: researched