The wheeled armoured scout car was the British Army’s principal reconnaissance vehicle from the beginning of World War II until the 1980s. Scout cars were small and much quieter than a tracked vehicle; units equipped with scout cars relied on stealth to obtain information, rather than fighting for it. The Daimler Dingo entered service with the British Army in 1939 and served until the middle 1960s as a reconnaissance and liaison vehicle used by armoured and infantry divisions. It was so versatile that a multitude of uses were found for it: medical officers used them to search for casualties in the battle field while one unit even issued a Dingo to its’ chaplain!
At the Bovington Tank Museum there are two Dingo Scout Cars.
Daimler Dingo Scout Car Mark II “Marauder”, it is displayed in desert camouflage in the markings of the 12th Lancers, 7th Armoured Division.
There is also a Daimler Dingo Scout Car Mark III, “Rebel”. This has the regimental markings of the Royal Tank Regiment.
The Daimler Scout Car, known in service as the “Dingo” (after the Australian wild dog), was a British light fast 4WD reconnaissance vehicle also used in the liaison role during the Second World War. In 1938 the British War Office issued a specification for a scouting vehicle. Out of three designs submitted by Alvis, BSA and Morris, the one by BSA was selected. The actual production was passed to Daimler, which was a vehicle manufacturer in the BSA group of companies. The vehicle was officially designated Daimler Scout Car, but became widely known as Dingo, which was the name of the competing Alvis prototype.
I have an original 1990s SDD model of the Dingo as well as the better quality Flames of War resin models of the Dingo.
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