thank you for sharing these amazing pictures saz9961 
The red one is a De Tomaso Guara
swiss bodywork for Middle East 
http://sbarro.phcalvet.fr/voitures/Windhawk/windhawkgb.html
(Berlingo wasn’t for same customers
)
(Berlingo wasn’t for same customers
)
This Audi brought back memories. I was in Bahrain because my Dad was British Army on loan service to the Bahrain Defence Force, as part of a British Army team of 6 to establish a new military medicine capability. Loan Service is not like an overseas posting; at the time there was no British Army base in Bahrain. My father took Bahraini rank and uniform, and he reported to a Bahraini colonel.
As part of the job, he got a driver and car. Sometimes it was an early Land Cruiser, or when they came available, 4 door Range Rover. But more often than not it was an Audi like this. And all BDF vehicles were painted in a matt brown-khaki. My arrival in Bahrain was the BDF coming aboard the Gulf Air flight and taking us off to waiting cars, no immigration necessaey. As a 10 year old, I felt quite important. And one of these would take me to school, which puzzled all the other kids.
One thing that disappointed my dad was that during his time in Bahrain, the Britannia called in, and mum and dad got the invite to go aboard. British army uniforms were banned, no mess kits, mufti only. The Duke likes a beer or two and swears like a trooper. The Queen eats very quickly.
Loads of these little jeeps in use. These things were indestructable. The loan service team got a group discount on some Datsuns. One, the Quartermaster, decided to be a odd man out, and got a Suzuki jeep. His university age son came out, somehow worked out how to rip the door off while reversing out of a car port. and during one of our trips to the prohibited south of the island (one of the perks of being Bahraini military was police passes to deserted beaches), managed to roll the jeep. Pushed it back on its wheels, it was fine.
I kind of like this. Its a shabby Chevy (I think).But something hot-roddish is going on with the wheels.
And I applaud this back ally garage approach to safety. Could have been so easy using breeze blocks.
Abandoned Ice Cream van
Check the opulance of the Buick. And you know that aircon would be ice cold
Edsel survivor!
Bahraini fuzz Range Rover. After the Kuwaiti embassy attacks, security stepped right up. Up to then, the Bahraini police looked a bit colonial, usually armed with a Webley or Sterling SMG (often with asuppressor). Then it became serious, and more of these dark blue Range Rovers were seen, with big fellas dressed in black, essentially the Bahraini secret police not being secret anymore.
Omani police looking very stylish in a Jag.
Great photos. The camel getting a wash shows what a change thatis still going on, and kid carrying a TV on his back showed improving standards of living, but not all were wealthy, The population of goverment was 66% Shia muslim, the ruling family sinni. There was ectarian tensions at times. This became apparent when my dad found one of his sergeants was a Shia. Te guy had a brother who got carted off in the middle of the night for supporting the wrong political party (never seen again); Sa’id was accepting of this. My dad wanted to send him on a course in the UK, but Sa’id declined, worried that if as a result of the course, he would get a promotion to WO1, and that would make him outrank a Sunni in the same unit. Not good.
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I worked in Bahrain from 1997 to 2013 when I retired, I had many nice and unusual vehicles including this M151A2 TOW Wire Guided Missile Launcher (really, it had a plate on the dashboard) American Military Jeep which I found in a scrapyard and restored. Also a 1979 Suzuki LJ80 which I bought from a friend and restored.Other cars included a mint 1976 Mercedes 280S with just 6000 miles from new, ex Royal Family and stored in airconditioned garage all its life! Had a few bikes too, including a lovley Ducati 900SS with just 1000km on the clock from new.
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Great thread. Totally fascinating seeing those old pics. Below is one i snapped shortly after i moved to Dubai in 2010… What were they thinking!? Bigfoot RR!
Lots of weird and wonderful car sights here although there isnt all that much exclusivity when even the police drive Lambo’s!
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Interesting to see the warning on the M151 speedo. I seem to recall in the States ex-army M151s had to be scrapped rather than sold as surplus due to safety concerns. So those that are owned by enthusiasts are mostly ex-Israeli or similar?
Ho Nick, I used to take RRs from the factory to Kuwait in the mid 70s by truck, two at a time. The first were taken in an ordinary trailer (metal framework with a sheet fixed over it, we called them “tilts”) anyway I was following the guy across H4 between Jordan and SA, rough old bit of dessert (we had been refused transit visas for Iraq) and the back of his tilt collapsed. We were not allowed to open them as we were travelling under TIR convention. Anyway we pressed on and when we arrived the back bar had fallen out and landed on the boot of the back car. He had to take it back to the factory. After that I started taking them down in a fridge trailer as I didn’t have any normal vans and it was easier to find a load for a fridge. They have no securing points on the floor so RR made wooden frames to front, in between and back of the two cars, problem solved. We had a small fridge boxes on each side of the front of the trailer for personal use, which were entirely separate from the inside but we had to run the main fridge if we were using them so it was a sight for sore eyes when we opened the doors in Kuwait customs and the RRs’ were white over with frost! 
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In the late 70’s early 80’s I used to see a lot of extravagantly modified Range Rovers, like some of those in your photo’s with six wheels custom grills and shiny wheels, when visiting a friend in Ruislip, Wood and Pickett who did the work were based IIRC on Victoria Road, their premises has long since been turned into a retail outlet.
Mike Brewer, Ed China, and Ant Anstead would have a field day out there!
In Bahrain at that time, there were a fair few with Ford Granada and Rover SDI front noses grafted on, and badged as Sheer Rovers
In the early 80s, out in Bahrain we had a 1978 Range Rover 2 door, so it was only a few years old. But the self levelling was knackered, the London-fitted aircon no longer worked and dribbled on the passenger floor, rotting it out under the vinyl flooring, and causing the front wing to rust and flap freely. The bonnet catch didn’t work, but that was ok, as the Royal previous owner added rally spring catches. The rear hatch was kept closed by some door bolts (house door bolts). The Royal owner decked out the interior in stripey blue velour. Other than that, it was tip top.
A few other photos
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A bit more about Wood & Pickett who did the Sheer Rovers in Ruislip on these links first on the company …
and second 1980’s brochure material, never realised just how expensive some of those conversions were when I saw them being driven up and down Victoria Road, at a time I was driving 50 squid rot boxes on their last legs before the scrap heap…
Wood and Pickett were being all those Minis that peter Sellers, Twiggy et al drove. But they probably cashed in with the Arabian Range Rover specials. Mostly these were to support Hunting hawk parties, so were a posh successor to the Gun Buses.
This might be one of those ones with a Granada front that I remembered
My abiding memories of the period was that in Bahrain, the car to be seen in would be an S-Class. If you were slightly less well off, but a bit flashy, then a Buick Park Avenue, with extra plushy seats. Outside of Range Rovers and Rolls Royces, British cars were pretty rare; not that many Jags, and Rover tried to sell the SDI. American cars were aspirational; a lot of Caprices, and Pontiac version, the Bonneville, plus Buick Regals (a cheaper version the Park Avenue) and a fair few Plymouth (Volares, a lesser known Yank tank from the late 70s). Lots of Japanese cars, and Mazda sold a strange looking 929 with popup lamps.
Daily transport as a child would either be an army Range Rover Vogue or a late 70s Audi, both handpainted in Khaki, courtesy of the Bahrain Defence Force.
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