ST Engineering Recovery Series III
THM 834S, a 1977/78 Land Rover Series III breakdown and recovery truck preserved in the period trim of ST Engineering of West Sussex — white 88-inch pickup with a blue roll hoop and TOWING board, blue rear crane, chevroned bumper and winch — run on the 2026 HCVS London to Brighton Run.
History
Small garages across Britain ran Land Rovers as light recovery trucks through the 1970s and 80s: a Series III pickup with a hand-winched crane on the bed could lift the front of a car and tow it back to the workshop, and with four-wheel drive it could reach a car in a field or a ditch that a conventional breakdown truck could not. THM 834S, an S-registration of 1977–78, is one such truck, preserved in the livery of ST Engineering of West Sussex, an off-road recovery and salvage operator, and taken on the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's London to Brighton Run in 2026.
The Flickr photograph on Madeira Drive shows it: white Series III with the short 88-inch body and an open cab, a blue roll hoop over the cab carrying a TOWING board and two lamps, blue grille, blue sills and door frames, a white front bumper with blue chevrons and a Superwinch, a blue recovery crane on the bed, ST Engineering script with OFF ROAD RECOVERY & SALVAGE on the doors and white steel wheels. The queue row describes a 109-inch chassis, but the photograph shows the 88 and the model follows it. The registry model reproduces that vehicle in the Breakdown group; its front plate is not visible in the photograph.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Series III 88-inch)
- Manufactured
- S registration (Aug 1977–Jul 1978); HCVS London to Brighton Run 2026
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- ST Engineering, West Sussex (recovery crane, hoop and livery); preserved
- Engine type
- Land Rover 2.25 L petrol; Tdi badge suggests a later diesel conversion
- Production run
- 1
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- preserved
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
- Land Rover Series III recovery truck THM 834S, HCVS London to Brighton Run 2026 (Flickr, 41056391@N05) ↗ — Flickr (accessed 2026-09-12)
Catalogue references
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/41056391@N05/55254432452/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/41056391@N05/55254432452/ ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-12T08:42:28.745Z · status: researched