The Alvis-built Saracen is one of the first post-World War 2 armored personnel carriers manufactured, and could carry 8 fully equipped troops plus a gunner for the .30 caliber machine gun turret and the driver.

This particular example served its entire operational life working with the British Army on Operation Banner, the British Security operation in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s.

Oddly, it was originally built as part of a shipment of Army vehicles to the Kingdom of Libya. After a coup d’état by a young Lt. Gaddafi, the British Foreign Office canceled the sale, and the shipment was placed into storage while a new buyer was sought.

With the Troubles in Northern Ireland heating up, there was an immediate need for moving soldiers in more secure transport, as light-skinned, un-armoured trucks were being routinely targeted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). This foreshadowed exactly what happened in this century in Afghanistan and Iraq, as light vehicles proved unable to protect their occupants.

Rushed into action, this vehicle spent its first few weeks in Belfast still in it its desert paint that it wore when destined for the sands of Libya.

In the markings of the 321st EOD Bomb Disposal Unit of the British Army, this Saracen still carries the scars of bullet impacts fired by members of the IRA.