is that a defender?

[scott]

i've heard of you iii owners having folks who stop to admire your trucks ask "is that a defender?" but yesterday i had someone aske me if my 1964 iia was a defender! first he called it a "pinky". said the brits he served with in iraq refer to there defenders as pinkies. i've heard this is a hold over from the north african days of wwii. the mod painted their vehicles pink as it's a color hard to see in the bright desert days. is this "pinky" tale true?

[alaskajosh]

I've read a few British military authors who have used the "pinky" moniker.

And they call them "cars" not "trucks". I tend to go along with this as I don't even call my big diesel Dodge Ram a "truck".. it's a "pickup". IMO, "trucks" weigh about twice as much, many times the payload, and a few more wheels (though not necessarily more shift levers than our LR's ;))

As for mistaking a Series rig for a Defender, hell, I'm just pleased when someone correctly identifies it as a Land Rover.. not a "Range Rover" or Land Cruiser.

[scott]

i guess i should have been pleased that he knew it was an lr. i'm a bit put off when i hear "what year is your jeep"

[badvibes]

is this "pinky" tale true?

Yes Scott the "pinky" tale is true. Also there is a secret government installation in the desert of New Mexico where they fly recovered UFOs and preserve the bodies of deceased aliens. I still think the tow truck guy who couldn't figure out that your truck wasn't a Land Cruiser in the middle of the night was pretty classic also.

Jeff

[LaneRover]

There are 2 versions of pink vehicles in the desert. The first is that the color pink blends in quite well with the heat waves in the desert.

The other way you got pink vehicles in the desert was that during WWII the sun would bleach out (or get sandblasted a bit) whatever top color there was and then the primer would show through - which was usually red as the top color of tan was bleaching out the vehicle would look a bit pink and keep looking pink as the tan disappeared the red would start bleaching out a bit. I say vehicle as this could happen to a truck, tank, jeep or even aircraft. These days paint is quite a bit better.

Though as far as I know the British military only refers to the Special Ops Long range patrol Defenders as Pinkies - no matter what color they are. Not general day to day Defenders.

[greenmeanie]

The Pinky moniker is a shortened version of Pink Panther which was a special SIIA LWB model built for the SAS to use in the deserts of Oman and associated region in the late 60's and 70's. They really did paint them sweetie pink as it provided good camouflage. Some pictures show even the tyre side walls painted along with everything else. They are real collectors items now and there is tons of info out there in land rover interweb land.

IIRC most ended up being sold/donated to the army of Botswana.

The DPV is the more modern SAS Land Rover based on the defender. The early DPV's had a single role hoop whilst the later versions have a cage that looks very similar to a WMIK. The modern Pinkies are usually painted sand or combination of sand and stone.

The WWII LRDG and later SAS usually painted their vehicles in a base coat of sand and then added variations of stone/earth or green as the situation demanded. I have nver seen one painted pink although I agree with the previous sun bleaching/sand blasting comment.

Cheers
Gregor