Hillary Clinton has been making the rounds in a custom Chevy van she calls “Scooby” as she seeks to become the first female President of the United States, but compared to the vehicle that once transported Great Britain’s first female prime minister, it’s as cute as its name.
An armored bus purported to have been used by Margaret Thatcher as she toured Northern Ireland during her reelection campaign in 1983 has been listed for sale by a British military vehicle enthusiast and dealer.
Nick Mead, who’s been known to drive his children to school in a road legal FV432 armored personnel carrier, bought the “battle bus” at a much publicized auction in 2012. The 36-passenger vehicle is protected against small arms fire with armor and bulletproof glass, has bomb-resistant flooring, and is fitted with an air filtration system that can defend against chemical and biological gas attacks.
The bus runs and is said to weigh between in the neighborhood 70,000 pounds. Nevertheless, it can reach speeds of up to 80 mph thanks to its 12-liter supercharged Rolls Royce engine.
After it was used by Thatcher, the bus was put into service ferrying British troops into and out of Belfast, and Mead says that it has a few scars to prove it. He almost sold it to a customer in Iran last year, but the buyer couldn’t get approval to get it out of the U.K.
If you’re into historic people movers, or just some safe transportation, offers in the $40,000 range are now being accepted.