The Scammell Explorer does not have such a huge following just because it is a military vehicle but because it represents a period of British engineering that produced some ground breaking designs, Oliver North designed the Pioneer in the Twenties which evolved into the Explorer in the Fities with few changes. It is considered to be a very large vehicle, but if like me you were to lay underneath one and study it (sad git) it would become obvious that all the bits needed are crammed in with no room to spare at all, it is much shorter than the Pioneer but with 6 wheel drive added.

The secret of its success is the suspension system which allows huge amounts of almost unrestricted travel to each wheel whilst allowing the very rigid chassis to remain relatively level, this means each wheel exerts almost equal ground pressure and thus had equal grip, whatever the terrain, the resulting traction available means the Explorer could go where most other heavy wheeled vehicles of it's time could not follow.

The Meadows petrol engine fitted instead of a diesel to all but a few Explorers is derided by many misguided people today as a bad mistake, in my opinion this is wrong, a petrol engine allows the driver more control off road, with a silky smooth wide power spread that it is so subtle because there is no injector pump taking control, feeding unwanted power at the wrong time causing wheel spin on a slippery climb, and too much engine braking locking the wheels on the decent for instance. (locked wheels=tobogan, I've been there, high yeehaa factor, high risk of heart attack!)

A tick-over of 350 rpm and maximum revs of 2400rpm was not possible with any diesel engines available at the time, and fuel economy is not an issue here, off road performance is everything to the concept of an Explorer. You just don't want to be changing gear because you've run out of revs when you're in it up to your axles! You also need to get to the job and back before the pub shuts!

If petrol Explorers have a failing, it is the ability to produce attention grabbing backfires at any time with such random spontenaity as to bring on a nervious twitch!
These huge backfires are mostly caused by the twin carbruetters being ever so slightly out of phase which means the accelerator pumps squirt at different times, but ignition faults can do much the same thing!
When trying to adjust the linkages with the air cleaners off and the engine running the army manual tells one to "keep clear of the intakes as there is always the possibility of a backfire during this operation", I would say always a certainty, witness the singed hair and eyebrows!!
Ex army drivers tell me their mechanics used to sit on the front wing doing this work while driving along the road!! One time when trying to start a reluctant Explorer I found the magneto to be a little loose and so I turned it,a backfire wound it's way around the exhaust system and erupted out the end with such magnificence that it split the last half of the pipe along it's length and expanded the silencer into a cushion shape, and the engine wasn't even running! Good fun if a little embarassing on a quiet sunday afternoon.

O.K. so petrol Explorers aren't as reliable as diesel Pioneers, and I should know, and dearer to run as a hobby, but they do the job they were built for perfectly. You have to drive one to know and there aren't many left now, so if you have one KEEP IT PETROL!