1983 Laird Centaur

Chassis number: SALLDHAV2AA204569

Registration number: 

Engine type: 3.5 V8 Petrol

Gearbox type: 4 Speed

Vehicle spec:
This is the last of the eight Centaurs built by Laird (Anglesey) Ltd between 1978 and 1983. The Centaur was designed to be a multi-role, all-terrain military vehicle that combined a Land Rover front chassis, cab, engine, and gearbox with a rear body based on a shortened Scorpion tank.

An initial concept vehicle was built in 1978 using a second hand 109-inch 2.25 petrol Land Rover which was swiftly upgraded with Rover’s 3.5 V8. Six Pre-production vehicles were constructed in 1979 using new Stage 1 V8 109-inch vehicles provided by Land Rover. The project was not a commercial success and only two vehicles are believed to have been sold, one each to the military in Oman and Iraq.  

In 1983 a further Centaur was built in response to a potential order from the Chilean military. Constructed initially using a Stage 1 V8, the vehicle was upgraded in early 1984 using a 110 V8 before being delivered to Chile for evaluation.

No order was forthcoming, and the final vehicle remains the only Centaur with coil suspension on the front. In 1989, Laird donated it to the Tank Museum at Bovington, and it is on long-term loan to the Dunsfold Collection. Remarkably, six of the eight Centaurs built have survived.