MEDSOVowner
Member
Hello, I'm happy to join this Land Rover group and share some pictures and information of my new and relatively unique acquisition. I picked up this Medical variant of the 1992 Defender 110 Ranger Special Operations Vehicle, or MEDSOV for short. It was sold in 2011 by the US Government to a Wisconsin municipality about three hours north of me that used it as their search and rescue vehicle for ATV and Jeep trails. The stock MEDSOV has the ability to mount six stretchers: two over the hood and four in the rear, making it an interesting and outside the box idea for a search and rescue ambulance. Recently, they replaced it with a UTV and after making them an offer they found agreeable I happily took ownership of it.
They made some modifications to the vehicle after obtaining it - they had a fabricator create a roof and plexiglass windshield and add doors, as well as adding plexiglass shields on either side behind the cab to protect the stretcher area. They also bolted two seats into the back between the stretcher areas to allow two first responders to treat patients. Compare the pictures of my vehicle to the unmodified picture I've provided to get a better idea of what was added. For the moment I plan on at least removing the rear seats as well as the plexiglass side shields. Despite being the Medical version, this one came with the .50 cal machine gun mount which is removable.
This vehicle has just shy of 9,000 miles. We took it through some jeep trails and it performed admirably. While driving it home today it got just under 24 miles per gallon with a steady speed of around 60mph, which should hopefully be slightly improved after removing the plexiglass shields. The interior is typical military comfort - next to none! Seatbelts were added in keeping with state law but otherwise the cab is mostly stock.
Information on these is sparse, to say the least. Wikipedia says:
"In addition to the RSOVs with their crew-served weapons, each Ranger battalion has two medical variants of the Defender known as a Medical Special Operations Vehicle (MEDSOV). Instead of the weapon mounts found on standard RSOVs, the MEDSOV variant has fold-down racks capable of carrying six litter patients. Along with its transported casualties, a typical MEDSOV crew would include a driver, a TC and two or three medics to treat the wounded."
I'd love to get any further information from you Land Rover experts about these. Any thoughts, questions, or comments would be great as well!
They made some modifications to the vehicle after obtaining it - they had a fabricator create a roof and plexiglass windshield and add doors, as well as adding plexiglass shields on either side behind the cab to protect the stretcher area. They also bolted two seats into the back between the stretcher areas to allow two first responders to treat patients. Compare the pictures of my vehicle to the unmodified picture I've provided to get a better idea of what was added. For the moment I plan on at least removing the rear seats as well as the plexiglass side shields. Despite being the Medical version, this one came with the .50 cal machine gun mount which is removable.
This vehicle has just shy of 9,000 miles. We took it through some jeep trails and it performed admirably. While driving it home today it got just under 24 miles per gallon with a steady speed of around 60mph, which should hopefully be slightly improved after removing the plexiglass shields. The interior is typical military comfort - next to none! Seatbelts were added in keeping with state law but otherwise the cab is mostly stock.
Information on these is sparse, to say the least. Wikipedia says:
"In addition to the RSOVs with their crew-served weapons, each Ranger battalion has two medical variants of the Defender known as a Medical Special Operations Vehicle (MEDSOV). Instead of the weapon mounts found on standard RSOVs, the MEDSOV variant has fold-down racks capable of carrying six litter patients. Along with its transported casualties, a typical MEDSOV crew would include a driver, a TC and two or three medics to treat the wounded."
I'd love to get any further information from you Land Rover experts about these. Any thoughts, questions, or comments would be great as well!
