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Named model · Santana · 1969 – late 1980s (88 Militar); 1980-c.1985 (civilian Ligero)

Santana Ligero

Santana's short-wheelbase light military Land Rover — the 88 Militar of 1969, popularly known as the Ligero — an angular, narrow-bodied Spanish counterpart to the British Lightweight, built at Linares for the Spanish armed forces and later sold as a civilian 88 Ligero.

Military · Spain
Santana Ligero — front three-quarter render

Factory colours

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

History

By the late 1960s Metalúrgica de Santa Ana of Linares had progressed from assembling CKD Land Rovers (licence production began in 1958) to engineering its own variants, and in 1969 it introduced a dedicated short-wheelbase military model, the 88 Militar. Like Solihull's contemporary Lightweight/Airportable 88, it wore a narrower, squared-off slab-sided body designed for air and landing-craft transport, with a fold-flat windscreen, removable doors and simplified flat-topped wings, but it was an independent Santana design on Series mechanicals and noticeably heavier than the British Lightweight.

The 88 Militar served all three branches of the Spanish armed forces as a troop carrier, radio vehicle, light ambulance and artillery support vehicle, alongside the long-wheelbase Militar 109; export customers included Morocco and Egypt. Power came from Santana-built 2.25-litre four-cylinder petrol or diesel engines driving through the familiar dual-range four-wheel-drive transmission.

From 1980 Santana offered a civilianised version, the 88 Ligero ('light'), aimed at the leisure market with bright colour options and a roll bar under its removable canvas top; it lasted until about 1985, when the company's pivot to Suzuki production displaced it. The military fleet was phased out from the late 1980s as Nissan Patrols took over, though the type's reputation for toughness in open country outlived it. 'Ligero' has since become the collectors' shorthand for both the military and civilian short-wheelbase Santanas.

Imagery

Spanish Army Santana 88 Militar ('Ligero') with canvas tilt, showing the angular Lightweight-style body
Spanish Army Santana 88 Militar ('Ligero') with canvas tilt, showing the angular Lightweight-style body Outisnn · CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗
Preserved Spanish Army Santana 88 Militar with bonnet-mounted spare and folded-screen fittings
Preserved Spanish Army Santana 88 Militar with bonnet-mounted spare and folded-screen fittings Outisnn · Attribution (free to reuse with credit) ↗

Registry record

Manufacturer
Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, S.A. (Land Rover Santana), under Rover licence
Manufactured
1969 – late 1980s (88 Militar); 1980-c.1985 (civilian Ligero)
Engine type
Santana-built 2.25 L inline-four, petrol or diesel
Country of origin
Spain
Status
retired; examples preserved

Catalogue data

Record kind
Named model
Model line
Santana
Wheels
4

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

Drive it

This vehicle is playable in the Difflocked racing game.

RACE THE SANTANA LIGERO ↗

Registry record updated 2026-09-09T15:06:12.725Z · status: researched