GPO USi Burtonwood Tail-Lift Pickup
A single General Post Office Land Rover Series II 109 pickup fitted by USi Burtonwood with a hydraulic tail lift for loading heavy telephone plant: fleet number 18909, registered 965 FXY, delivered in October 1963 and photographed new with the lift platform folded up across its tailboard.
History
The Post Office Telephones fleet of the early 1960s ran hundreds of Land Rovers for line and plant work, most of them standard 88 and 109-inch models. This one was different: a Series II 109 pickup, fleet number 18909 and registered 965 FXY, sent to USi of Burtonwood to be fitted with a hydraulic tail lift so that heavy telephone plant could be loaded without a crane. The works photograph, taken in October 1963 with the specification board propped by its front wheel (Land Rover 109 in., RV 2429; USi Burtonwood tail lift; RV 2608), shows it in Post Office bronze green with a canvas tilt, POST OFFICE TELEPHONES and TELEPHONE MANAGER lettering on the doors, wing-mounted mirrors and the lift platform standing vertically behind the tailboard on its frame. It appears to have been a one-off for the Post Office; its later history is not recorded.
The registry's model is the Series II 109 soft top in GPO green with the door lettering, wing mirrors, plate and the folded tail lift with its uprights, rams and platform from the photograph.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Series II 109 pickup); tail lift by USi, Burtonwood
- Manufactured
- Delivered October 1963
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- USi (Burtonwood) ↗hydraulic tail lift
- Engine type
- Rover 2.25 L four-cylinder petrol
- Production run
- 1
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series II
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 109″
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
- Land Rover — Pickup Series 2 109 in. — GPO — with Tail Lift (britishtelephones.com GPO vehicles; body builder USi Burtonwood, registration 965 FXY, fleet number 18909, 1963) ↗ — britishtelephones.com (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.britishtelephones.com/vehicles/landrover/067.htm https://www.britishtelephones.com/vehicles/landrover/067.htm ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T10:45:26.955Z · status: researched