Rare Rides: The Terradyne Ghurka Is Ready for War
Rare Rides has previously covered various sedans, coupes, convertibles, and a truck or two. And those types of vehicles are all well and good, so long as you don’t encounter an insurgency on your way to the grocery for milk and bread. But what if you do encounter such an enemy force?
Well, the Terradyne Ghurka’s got you covered.
Produced by Terradyne Armored Vehicles, the Ghurka has been the company’s sole product offering since its inception in 2011. The Ghurka is presently available in four different configurations:
- LAPV, a light armored patrol vehicle
- MPV, multi-purpose patrol (not like the Mazda)
- RPV, rapid patrol
- RPV CE, rapid patrol civilian edition
All versions start out with Ford’s heavy-duty F-550 truck chassis and an accompanying 6.7-liter turbodiesel V8 engine. Both components are then shipped to the insurgency-prone province of Ontario, located in Canada (HQ of Terradyne). The company sees fit to use the Ford engine as-is, with 300 horsepower and 750 pounds-feet of torque. All Ghurkas have a six-speed automatic transmission, because you’ve got enough to worry about here without the hassle of rowing your own. It’s four-wheel drive, of course, so the fun need not stop with the pavement.
At the factory, Terradyne installs the huge, apocalypse-ready body in various states of armoring and equipment. Outside dimensions measure over 220 inches in length, 85 inches of width, and 98 inches in height.
Some configurations seat up to 12 passengers in bunker levels of comfort (five here), and there’s an optional roof turret installation for the government-spec models. A 40-gallon fuel tank across the model range ensures owners will be far away from their enemies before needing to find a refueling point. The Ghurka is rated for a maximum 81 miles an hour, so it will not be winning the Zombie Rally 3000.
For today’s Rare Ride, the original owner ordered his Ghurka with B4-level ballistic protection, so the Terradyne is up to stopping rounds from handguns and shotguns. Keen on making announcements both verbal and musical, there’s a loudspeaker system and a custom audio system costing a reported $12,000. The whole package rides on military-grade Continental tires and upscale Hutchinson Beadlock wheels to keep things looking luxurious and serious.
Pricing vary wildly depending on options selected, and I could not locate a base price of a new Ghurka civilian. In any event, the dealer is willing to let this one go for just under $280,000.
And you can have it serviced at your local Ford dealer.
[Images via seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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With the exception of height and weight, it has the same footprint as a 1976 Chevy Impala.
Terradyne literally sounds like the bad guys from an 80s sci-fi movie.