HM Coastguard Series III 88 Hard Top
Early-1980s HM Coastguard Land Rover Series III 88 hard top A259 SYM in dark blue with a yellow roof carrying H.M. COASTGUARD, MARINE RESCUE on the sides, roof spot lamps, a bonnet spare and a bumper winch, photographed outside a coastguard station; the Flickr record places the print in north-west London around 2010.
History
Through the 1970s and 1980s HM Coastguard's auxiliary rescue companies were equipped with short-wheelbase Land Rovers to carry cliff-rescue and search gear along the coast paths: dark blue Series IIIs with yellow roofs so they could be spotted from the air and the sea, a coastguard crest on the doors and MARINE RESCUE lettering on the body. A259 SYM is one of those, an 88-inch hard top registered in 1983–84 with a spare on the bonnet, spot lamps at the roof corners and a winch on the bumper for hauling rescue lines.
The Flickr photograph shows it parked beneath an H.M. COASTGUARD sign at a station house: dark blue body and wheels, yellow roof with H.M. COASTGUARD in black along its sides and front, MARINE RESCUE in red on the hard-top sides, a pale waist stripe, the crest on the doors, chrome spot lamps at the front corners of the roof, a small blue lamp above the grille, the winch and a white A259 SYM plate. The registry model reproduces that vehicle in the Marine group. The photograph is a scan of an older print; the queue row's London dating refers to where the print was photographed rather than where the Land Rover served, and the station in the picture is not identified.
Corrected at review: the door badge is the HM Coastguard crest (crowned octagon with the CG monogram) and MARINE RESCUE is in plain red.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Series III 88-inch hard top)
- Manufactured
- A registration (Aug 1983–Jul 1984)
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- HM Coastguard (rescue fit and livery)
- Engine type
- Land Rover 2.25 L petrol
- Production run
- 1
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- 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
- HM Coastguard Land Rover Series III (Flickr, 47362452@N02) ↗ — Flickr (accessed 2026-09-12)
- HM Coastguard crest (reviewer-supplied reference) ↗ — Google image thumbnail (accessed 2026-09-12)
Catalogue references
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/47362452@N02/4670555759/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/47362452@N02/4670555759/ ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-12T08:16:48.350Z · status: researched