The History of the Shorland Armoured Patrol Cars
(Information courtesy of the Shorland Website
http://www.shorlandsite.com/index.htm )
The stimulus for the development the Shorland armoured car came in the early 1960's from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) for the internal security duties and border patrols in Ulster.
The Shorland was based on a strengthened Land Rover chassis, and it's name is often stated to be derived from an amalgam of the two company names which were Shorts Brothers and Harland, both based in Belfast and are major commercial amd military producers since before the Second World War.
The first experimental armoured body was fitted to a long wheel base Series II Land Rover, bearing Belfast registration number 4471 AZ, signifying 1960-61. The sides of the vehicle had flat armour and later acquired a turret based on the turret of a Ferret scout car.
Consultation between the RUC and Rover brought further improvements including sloped armour on the upper part of the body.
The same vehicle in this second stage of development provided sloped armour around the lower part of the body, a flatter boot section which now housed the spare wheel, and an armoured partition separating the spare wheel and fuel tank from the crew compartment.
This third mark of the RUC prototype became the Shorland Mark I production vehicle.
The MK.I Shorland APC (Armoured Patrol Car) entered serive with the RUC in November 1966. Battleship grey seems to be the standard colour for many RUC vehicles, but the Shorlands were not painted grey. The basic colour of the completed vehicle was a satin finish emerald green..
In 1969 the Army moved into Ulster, the RUC were disarmed of Heavy Weapons and armoured vehicles. Most armoured cars were put into storage by January 1970.
In April 1970 The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was set up to provide an armed and military trained force to assist the Security Forces in N.Ireland.
The UDR was in essance an infantry regiment of the British Army.
After presentation to the Ministry of Defence, a Government White Paper confirmed the agreed aspects of the new force and its task as:
to support the regular forces in Northern Ireland in protecting the border and the state against armed attack and sabotage. It will fulfill this task by undertaking guard duties at key points and installations, by carrying out patrols and by establishing check points and road blocks when required to do so. In practice such tasks are most likely to prove necessary in rural areas. It is not the intention to employ the new forces on crowd control or riot duties in cities
The UDR, along with a new police reserve, replaced the Ulster Special Constabulary ("B-Specials").
THE UDR was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalions plus another four added within two years.
It consisted mostly of part-time volunteers until 1976 when a full-time cadre was added.
Recruiting from the local community at a time of intercommunal strife, it had at times during The Troubles a "colourful and dark" existance..
It is doubtful if any other unit of the British Army has ever come under the same sustained criticism as the UDR.
Uniquely in the British Army the regiment was on continuous active service throughout its 22 years of service. It was also the first infantry regiment of the British Army to fully incorporate women into its structure.
In 1992, the UDR was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers to form the Royal Irish Regiment. In 2006, the regiment was retrospectively awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, which entitled it to be known as The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC.
After the formation of the Ulster Defence Regiment on the 1st April 1970, the Ex-RUC Shorland APC's were repainted and entered service with the UDR.
Almost all the Ex-RUC Amoured Cars soldiered on for many years even when newer models entered service including the MK.II and Mk.III.
The bulk of Mark 3 Shorlands were on Series III Land Rovers using a 2625 cc 6 cylinder petrol engine developing 91 bhp at 4100 rpm.
The earlier marks of Shorland having been based on Series IIA Land Rovers had to have the headlights moved from the radiator area to the wings to comply with export lighting requirements.
Besides the export market, the armour protection was compromised by accommodating the headlights into the radiator area and no doubt also reduced the efficiency of radiator cooling. This migration of headlights to the wings always gave a rather homemade appearance.
However the early Mark 3 was still based on a Series IIA Land Rover, but as these were late Series IIA Land Rovers, they already had the headlights in the wings.
The bulk of Mark 3 Shorlands were on Series III Land Rovers using a 2,625 cc 6-cylinder petrol engine developing 91 bhp at 4,100 rpm. But the Mark 2 was still in production, customers who wanted Shorlands for particularly arduous terrain were offered the Mark III, The type of APC that I intend to build here.
Over 500 Mark 3 Shorlands have been sold both in the UK and to Export Customers. Shorts and Harland continued to develop the original Boat tail Shorland from an armoured patrol car with a crew of 3 to armoured personnel vehicle, capable of carrying two up front and six in the rear and a small number of these were used on the streets in Northern Ireland as late as 1998.
In 1996 the Short Brothers sold the complete Shorland design to British Aerospace Australia.
For more information on the many foreign cunstomer of the shorland please click here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorland_armoured_car 
