In June 2014 I had an email from Marion Ottery in Sussex (known as 'Mouse' from a child, and now blogging as ('Sussex Mouse'). She asked:
I have just been trying to find out if our dear old Land-Rover is still on the road and came across your Database. She only did 20 mpg and ran on petrol. We sold her to a gentleman who drove her back to his home on the Isle of Skye in 1983. She was in very good condition so I hope she is still on the road. I must be potty loving a heap of metal but anyone who has owned an old Land-Rover will understand why.

The photo Marion supplied (above) showed that SXF476 was almost certainly a reconaissance vehicle. The Green Machine says that SXF476 was stationed in Birmingham. I posted a query on the ‘Looking for a Vehicle’ section of the Land Rover Series One Club online forum, and Tomas Christie replied:
I remember one being for sale on Skye perhaps 10-12 years ago, would that have been it being sold again? It wasn't selling and the owner said he was thinking of taking it to Inverness to widen his marketplace.

Another forum member posted that there was a very sorry-looking Series 1 for sale on eBay from the Inverness area, but the few recognition points available in the photos showed that it was too early to be an SXF.

Then Alex Lucocq emailed me in August 2014:
Saw the registration on a Mercedes van today. I assume it is owned by a company as it was stickered with logos but did not get a chance to see. I saw it in Cardiff, but not sure if it a local company or van.

So it would look as though Marion's pride and joy may no longer be on the road... and even if it is, it's under a new identity. What a shame. But in the vehicle's memory, I'm reproducing what Marion wrote in her blog:

We had to sell our dear old Series 1 Land-Rover when we moved down from Scotland. We lived high up in the hills in Perthshire. A kind Gentleman bought her and drove her back to his home on the Isle of Skye. She was built like a tank so I hope she is still around. We had to check underneath for our Chickens before we drove her — they loved going to sleep on the axles between the wheels. She was so heavy that she used to sink in heavy snow. Our photos of her are fading but our memories will never fade.

A POEM IN MEMORY OF SXF 476
She carried logs
and drove through bogs
She sunk in snow
we loved her so
But.....she had to go

I tried not to cry
as I waved her goodbye
She drove off to Skye
with a lovely guy
We miss her so
But.....she had to go

[To add (or alter) information on this page, please contact me on sxf@teeafit.co.uk.]