Mark thank you for your interest, well you're the only one with the courage to venture in. Actually I do know, in some detail, the histories of these vehicles. I put them up in the hope of stirring up some interest & comment.
The Pig is actually not an Army one it is a Police vehicle. It's a FV1609 of which there were 20 built in 1956. When the troop trials ended in 1958, 10 were passed to the Ministry of Home Affairs to be issued to the RUC. It was issued with its Belfast civilian no 2996 OI which is what is currently registered on the roads here.
In 1958 the FV1611 & FV1612 started production. But the FV1609 although armoured had no armour on the rear roof, just canvas over hoops. The RUC wanted to emulate the army pigs & an armoured roof was constructed for them in 1960 by a local engineering firm (Belfast Tool & Gauge).
Although they were green, in 1962 they were painted Light Admiralty Grey to match the range of locally made Commer armoured vehicles (APCs, water cannon, prison vans). But in 1963 were painted green using Rustoleum anti-rust paint. This equates to a satin finish almost dark Brunswick Green, quite different from any green used by the Army.
There are nearly 60 diffrences between the RUC ones & a standard Army Mk 1 Pig. In the photo it shows:
The visors are quite different & overlapping the body & have visions slits rather than the No.17 periscope.
The wing lockers don't cover the wheel arches fully.
The headlight covers are rounded not square.
The pistol ports in the sides are rudimentary & drop fully down. The Army ones only open 2/3 the way down.
The armoured rear roof is welded on with a seam around the edge.
Fixed door handles.
Not too easy to see but the antenna mounts are more rudimentary.
And a favourite for RUC vehicles was the foglight at the front
The Shorland is actually a Mark 1 & was issued to the RUC as AOI 4054 in 1969. It is bit of a leg pull because it has been painted Light Admiralty Grey for a TV film about the riots in August 1969. But this is incorrect RUC Shorlands were not painted grey they were Rustoleum Green.
Anyway here is another, but it is not quite as it might seem.
