RAN Series III Stage 1 V8 Fire Ute

History

REMLR (the Register of Ex-Military Land Rovers, Australia) published four 1983 photographs from Jack Withers, via Peter H, of two Royal Australian Navy Series III Stage 1 utilities at the Beecroft weapons range on the New South Wales coast. Both had the 3.5-litre V8 of the Stage 1 and carried a fire pallet in the tub for range fire duties; both ran Sunraysia rims with sand tyres for the beach clearance work at the range. One is registered ZWD-177; the other, ZND-559, wears a white replacement roof after a roll-over, flares like those of the Series III Game and an army-style brush guard. The REMLR page is now behind a bot check, so only its thumbnail and text could be consulted.

The registry's model is the Stage 1 cab-top ute ZWD-177 in RAN blue-grey with the brush guard, white Sunraysia rims and a pallet carrying a red pump, hose reel and water tank in the tub; in the game the pallet drops as cargo and the ute carries water-pool pickups.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (Series III Stage 1 V8 109-inch utility)

Manufactured

Stage 1 V8; photographed 1983

Modifier / coachbuilder

Royal Australian Navy (fire pallet, brush guard, rims and tyres)

Engine type

Rover 3.5 L V8 petrol

Production run

2

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Operated in

Australia

Status

unknown

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Series III

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

• RAN Series 3 Stage 1 ↗ — REMLR (accessed 2026-09-11)

Catalogue references

• https://www.remlr.com/ranstage1.html https://www.remlr.com/ranstage1.html ↗