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NAMED MODELMilitary · South AfricaSpecial · AmbulanceSouth AfricaGermany

SAMIL 20 ambulance.

The SAMIL 20 with a box ambulance body, one of the variants Jane's listed in 1985 and still in South African Military Health Service use in 2017.

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Sources & evidence
SAMIL 20 ambulance — A South African Military Health Service SAMIL 20 ambulance, 2017.Bob Adams from Amanzimtoti, South Africa · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗
BASE VEHICLESAMIL 20 (1978–98)BUILT BYTruckmakers, Rosslyn, Pretoria, Magirus-Deutz, UlmOPERATED INSouth AfricaPRODUCTIONNot publishedLAYOUT4 wheels · 114″

The record

The ambulance was one of several van-bodied SAMIL 20s, alongside the workshops, forward command posts and field offices. For work in mined areas the medical services used separate armoured ambulances, the Rinkhals on SAMIL 50 components and later the Mfezi.

Research status: draft — identification, dates or figures could not all be pinned down; the summary says what is unresolved.

Specification

MANUFACTURERTruckmakers, Rosslyn, Pretoria ↗, Magirus-Deutz, Ulm ↗
under licence from Magirus-Deutz
MANUFACTUREDNot published
ENGINEDeutz F6L 913 air-cooled inline-six diesel (Mk I); ADE 352N diesel (Mk II)Deutz F6L 913 · ADE 352
PRODUCTION RUNNot published
COUNTRY OF ORIGINSouth Africa
OPERATED INSouth Africa
STATUSout of production
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINE20
FAMILY20
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE114″
BODY STYLEbox
CATEGORYMilitary · South Africa, Special · Ambulance

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Variants & colours

Base model variants

Factory colours

  • Dark Earth

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from a 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the specification, the photographs and the cited sources on this page.

Sources

  1. 1SAMIL 20 ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-24SOURCE
  2. 2SAMIL 20 – Light utility truck ↗Military-Today.com (archived 2007) · accessed 2026-09-24SOURCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-24 · status: draft