Wednesday 10th June 2015

Witham Specialist Vehicles: PH Meets

Army Land Rover? Cool. Army Land Rover with .50cal? Even cooler - we meet the guys who can sell you one*

---

There comes a point, after spending about an hour wandering around the 60-acre site near Grantham home to Witham Specialist Vehicles, that you lose the capacity to be surprised.

Fancy a Land Rover? A few in stock here...

Most of what is here is obvious enough, but still deeply cool. Witham is the company that sells former military vehicles on behalf of the MoD, so there's no shock in discovering hundreds of Land Rovers on site, ranging from total sheds to some that seem to have passed their entire service without ever leaving a parade ground. Nor is there much novelty to be found in the lines of vast trucks, ATVs and even armoured personnel carriers.

But some stuff is genuinely strange. The most incongruous are the several dozen recent Jaguar and Land Rover products on site, most of which are still wrapped in the protective cladding they left the factory in. But a fair percentage of the military stuff is also strikingly unlikely: a CVRT Scimitar light tank in as-new condition, a freshly decommissioned Royal Marines landing craft. Even two vast Soviet self-propelled guns, captured during the first Gulf war, alongside a quad-mount anti-aircraft gun. Any would be a great way to settle an argument with neighbours over parking spaces.

By the time we reach what looks like a full-sized Harrier jet in pieces inside one of the company's vast warehouses I'm not even startled. "That's glassfibre, it's a dummy they made it for recruiting," explains David Gelley, Witham's corporate sales manager and the man acting as my guide for today. So who on earth is going to buy that? "Someone will," says Gelley, with a grin, "one of the first things you learn from working here is that there's someone out there to buy anything."

Export strength

Export only JLR products at knock-down prices

Let's start with the JLR products, which were spotted on the forums a couple of months ago. These certainly look like spectacularly good value, with present stock including a £22,500 left-hook Range Rover Evoque, a £45,950 Range RoverSport TDV6 and an even odder four-cylinderpetrol Jaguar XJ for £26,750. All are new, unregistered and pretty much exactly as they left the factory. And all with adverts carrying the bright red disclaimer "FOR EXPORT OUTSIDE THE EU ONLY."

That, it turns out, is the important bit. Gelley explains that they are all cancelled export orders, which Witham sells on behalf of JLR. All were built for markets outside Europe and the U.S, and often come with fairly serious mechanical differences. "A European Range Rover can't run on the high-sulphur diesel you get in much of Africa," explains Gelley, "they're built to different emissions standards and often don't have DPFs. You would never be able to get a certificate of conformity."

That doesn't stop people from trying, of course. "We have four or five calls a day from people who think they can break the system," says Geffey. "We have to explain to them it's not possible, and we won't sell them to anyone in the UK. But they'll say things like 'what if I buy it somewhere else and then bring it back?' The simple answer is it wouldn't be worth it, you'd end up paying import duties for Morocco for example, then you'd have to register the car there and then ship it back and pay import duties again. Even if you were able to, it would be a great way to turn a cheap car into a very expensive one."

Fully equipped workshop for pre-sale prep

Apparently most of the JLR stuff gets sold to the markets it was originally built for - Africa, the Middle East and some former Soviet republics. Usually places with lower emissions standards, although even that's changing. "We had a batch of cars that had been intended for Argentina," says Gelley, "but between them being built and shipped Argentina changed its emissions regulations, made them tougher. So they all came here instead."

They think it's all Rover
The JLR stuff is a profitable sideline for Witham, but the vast majority of its work comes from former military stuff. The company has a deal with the MoD to handle the disposal of pretty much every vehicle it gets rid of - from respectable looking 'white fleet' cars, vans and sometimes motorbikes through to the really big stuff. The only thing the company doesn't deal with is anything containing classified technology.

Let's start with the Land Rovers. These have now been almost entirely phased out by the British military, but there are still more than 600 on site, and my visit gives me a crash course in the hierarchy that lies behind their very similar looking olive and camouflage paint schemes.

At the bottom of the pile are basic Defenders. Military versions are fitted with the tortoise-slow naturally aspirated diesel engine and don't have power steering, and many of the older ones are in fairly poor condition (and, to be fair, priced accordingly.) Some Defenders went through a so-called 'Tithonus' refurbishment programme in 2007-2008 (named after a Greek god who grew older but never died), getting roll-over protection and upgraded hardtops.

If Swampy's descendents are causing bother...

Above these come the brawnier purpose-built Wolfs, the military's standard workhorse for two decades, but now living on borrowed time. These have power steering and the 300 TDI turbodiesel engine (the MoD having regarded the newer TD5 engine as being insufficiently squaddie-proof.) Some of these are as heavily used as the Defenders, while some have come straight from the military reserve, meaning they're in almost as-new condition, and will almost certainly be sold straight on for military use in other countries. "The best Wolf 90s are more money than collectors will want to pay - up to £25,000 before VAT," says Gelley.

The military vehicles are sold on behalf of the MoD, with Witham taking a commission - meaning that most of the cash raised goes back to the government. Sales are through a combination of direct sales, tenders and online auctions, with prices ranging from around £3,250 before VAT for the rougher Defenders - and you really wouldn't get much civilian-spec one for that - all the way through to £35,000 ex-VAT for a 'Snatch' armoured Land Rover. Some stuff is sold straight from service, while some gets refurbished in Witham's workshops.

Peace through superior firepower
If you're looking for something with a bit more road presence then there are plenty of other options. A Tempest mine-protected armoured personnel carrier is listed at £125,000 before VAT - it's based on a Peterbilt truck chassis and includes, somewhat improbably, a wood-effect dashboard that contains a radio-cassette player among its gauges. There are also stretchers in its back as part of its original casualty evacuation role, and apart from gaps where radio and communications gear were once fitted it seems to be in as-new condition.

Yes, they have to take the guns off...

Next to it a tracked CVRT Scimitar armoured reconnaissance looks like an almost sensible buy. There's a decent selection and these are still in active military service. Scimitars were originally powered by Jaguar straight six petrol engines - which must have added some excitement to the prospect of trying to manoeuvre during a firefight - but were converted to Cummins diesels in the 1990s. The 30mm cannon has, sadly, already been removed, and Witham also takes off the smoke launchers - but a black-painted scaffolding pole makes a convincing looking alternative gun barrel.

Exporting some of the military-grade vehicles here predictably requires some fairly major paperwork, but Gelley reckons that the Scimitar will most likely go to a UK based collector - "there are a decent number of them out there" - or will end up as part of a tank-driving experience day.

Tanks for the memories
The really big stuff is parked at the front where it can win the most attention, and which likely reflects its future role as either over-sized decorations or publicity props. Like the rather forelorn Chieftain tank once parked outside an army base, for example. "They filled the engine bay with concrete to stop anyone messing around with it," says Gelley, "that locked the drive spigots so we had to cut the tracks off to get it here." He admits its one of few things on site that might end up going for scrap. Not so the former Iraqi anti-aircraft gun, previously the property of the Defence Research Establishment, and which looks alarmingly ready to start blazing away.

I don't need anything that Witham is selling, but after a morning spent poking around I leave wanting lots of it.

 

*OK, probably not with an actual .50cal still attached...

[Dale487]

Sounds like a could waste at least a day looking around & a whole hill of money there - what's not to like?

[Dale487]

Sounds like a could waste at least a day looking around & a whole hill of money there - what's not to like?

[lindrup119]

Very interesting article, but is he Gelley or Geffey...? (Also there's an off/of somewhere - sorry to be the ahole that points this stuff out).

[Matt Bird]

lindrup119 said:

Very interesting article, but is he Gelley or Geffey...? (Also there's an off/of somewhere - sorry to be the ahole that points this stuff out).

Good spot! It's Gelley, apologies for the mistake and any confusion. Amended now!


Matt

[BigTom85]

Great article and information thank you.

One of my close friends bought a 110 soft top 2.5N/A from Withams and absolutely loves it. I have to say I'm tempted by something similar.

[KTF]

boycie1 said:

Piss poor company would never deal with them they act like dodgy 2nd hand car dealers and give the car trade a bad name!!,,

Whats the story behind this then?

[bobtail4x4]

I bought a lhd 110 v8 for a "colonial friend" they couldnt have been more helpful, even sorting the container and doing extra work on it,

few mates have bought stuff no problems,apart ftom the one who bid on several motorbikes thinking he may win one, he ended up winning about 10.