Thinking of Ferret fenders (usa)

I'm considering a Mk1 in really poor condition but it's already in the USA which shaves off a few months and several thousand dollars for acquisition. Thing is, all the fenders (and bins of course) are quite beat-up. I'm trying to decide if I would try to straighten the old ones, buy some new ones, or make up a set.

My questions are these:

How workable is the material (what gauge, ductility)?

Is there a good set of drawings out there for those of us with a shear, brake and lack of good sense?

What should I expect to pay for a set of fenders and how available are they?

Oh, here's the link for the auction in case somebody needs it more than I or can shed any light on it's history:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ebaymotors/1954-British-Daimler-Ferret-Scout-Armored-Car-9000-miles-/111582716167?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&forcev4exp=true

I wonder if it's ex-Canadian?

thanks,

P_

Hello "P",

It is ex Canadian and mightily unloved. There were only 124 of them.

I have a full set of spare bins and fenders off another Ferret for sale should you buy it.

Contact me off line ie through email please.

Regards

Robin

Not aware that anyone in the UK sells new bins, and most Mudguards ( Fenders ) are usually re-made locally. There are one or two of the smaller bins (NOS) that sometimes come up for sale , but the large centre bin is the biggest problem. The lid has a pressed design for strength that's difficult to recreate cheaply. But its not the end of the world if you run it without bins on, they did this in Aden to prevent mine damage. You can restore the rest and get bins as they crop up.

The mudguards ( Fenders) will be straight forward if you have a folding machine. It looks like it has at least one of its original smoke dischargers (which is handy) . To the best of my knowledge , the Mudguards are straight forward mild steel ( 2.5mm / 3mm thick) as a guess

Engine spares are more easily available, many being shared with the B*) and B40 engines from Saracens , champs etc etc . gearbox parts less available but not extinct. Internal wiring may be difficult to source and bevel box parts are getting scarcer , but can be found.

Exhausts are available , and new heat shields. Tyres harder to get if you want originals. Most of it is straight forward 1950's technology, the wheelstation's have a hub reduction set up per hub, that could be troublesome if its been abused. The brakes are simple hydraulics , master cylinder / wheel cylinders and brake shoes operating on a brake drum.

Your best friend will be fellow owners, as they are as likely to have a few spares knocking about. The dealers in the UK have quite a lot of spares but they can be pricey.

The Fenders are probably one of the smaller headaches, but you sound like you have access to some good fabrication equipment, and the old ones may provide reasonable patterns ? I don't think it matters if they are not quite perfect anyway.

Best of luck and Go for it !!

Being that it is in South Dakota my biggest concern would be a cracked or damaged engine due to severe cold....The bins are of a simple flat design it isn't too hard to take a hammer and backing plate to pound them straight....As others stated items are available from all over the world......Keep in mind getting parts for a Historic Military Vehicle takes time and a lot of patience to work on them...It is extremely rewarding as I have a Canadian Army 1954 Ferret MK1 I purchased 2 years ago....Mine is missing radios,inside bins ect but I don't care...Mine will stay basic...

Also on this forum look in the SEARCH area and type in Ferret and also the part your interested in and someone has probably posted about how to work on it...Good luck to you and if you get it have your camera ready and take plenty of pictures you won't regret it...

Having restored a Ferret considerably worse than this one, I can safely say, that those bins and guards are completly repairable. The rust and damage to the rear/ right fender is simply fixed by cutting off the bottom and bending up some fresh sheet metal too fit. You will see this in the photos I have attached. Once you have welded the two sections together, sand it flat, add a smear of body filler, paint and no one will ever know. They come up looking quite good. With the centre bin, Mine was almost entirly flat, having been taken off and run over. It took me almost two days of heating with an oxy torch, then cooling with a wet cloth, re heating, cooling ect ect, until I shrunk the stretch and warped metal back into place. It is a fairly tedious job, but again, very easy to do. I am not a skilled tradesman, but sought lots of advice from a very skilled friend. I did all the work in my back shed. Buy the Ferret and keep in contact, as I would be happy to coach you through the entire process. Their is not a nut or bolt on a Ferret that I havnt worked on, fixed, straighted, or replaced.

I hope these photos give you some idea of how these bins are repaired. I bent the metal in a large vice in my shed and used a standard mig welder and hand grinder.

Regards, Tim

OZITIM

Again what an incredible job.....You do it with basic back yard tools !!! Your countryside is beautiful....You need to do about a 5-10 minute video of the Ferret driving around....Just beautiful scenery....

Joe in USA

OZITIM was your ferret used in the Malayan campaign as only seen that extra armour bit added on over here so they could see over the scrub?

Thanks for your kind words Joe. Yes, everything is done in my back shed. A basic Mig welder. You will see in one of the photos, that I have a car jack on the ground. That was used to re-expand the crushed flat bin. It doesnt come more basic than that. All sheet metal was bent in a bench vice, a ball pein hammer and a grinder. No need for huge expense, just a bit of inginuity. You just have to have the confidence to give it a go. The worse thing you can do it damage, what is already damaged.

The photo was taken on my front kerb. I jog through the rainforest in the hills around home every week. We get all sorts of wild life come down from the hills, snakes, goannas, echidnas. Its beautiful country. Although a little hot at the moment.

My Ferret never left Australia. It is a Mk1/2. Ive got a Mark 2 that I will do next. The Mk1/2 looks similar to the Malay variants, but I think those ones were permanantly welded turet extentions, whereas, this is a bolt on.

If you havnt seen this video already, it was one the local news did on a project that I did with my Saracen. It shows a little of the country side. The third video shows a nice bit of the country, although very quickly. In this video, Im driving into Cairns City. I welcome you here anytime Joe. I will pick you up from the airport in the Ferret!

Regards, Tim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtl69xzaZY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcT_lLEPyH0

Thanks for your kind words Joe. Yes, everything is done in my back shed. A basic Mig welder. You will see in one of the photos, that I have a car jack on the ground. That was used to re-expand the crushed flat bin. It doesnt come more basic than that. All sheet metal was bent in a bench vice, a ball pein hammer and a grinder. No need for huge expense, just a bit of inginuity. You just have to have the confidence to give it a go. The worse thing you can do it damage, what is already damaged.

 

 

The photo was taken on my front kerb. I jog through the rainforest in the hills around home every week. We get all sorts of wild life come down from the hills, snakes, goannas, echidnas. Its beautiful country. Although a little hot at the moment.

 

My Ferret never left Australia. It is a Mk1/2. Ive got a Mark 2 that I will do next. The Mk1/2 looks similar to the Malay variants, but I think those ones were permanantly welded turet extentions, whereas, this is a bolt on.

 

 

If you havnt seen this video already, it was one the local news did on a project that I did with my Saracen. It shows a little of the country side. The third video shows a nice bit of the country, although very quickly. In this video, Im driving into Cairns City. I welcome you here anytime Joe. I will pick you up from the airport in the Ferret!

 

Regards, Tim

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtl69xzaZY

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcT_lLEPyH0

Tim,

Thank you for the invite...I don't travel anymore but that is so wonderful of you to offer....I have a hard time just driving about 20 miles anymore...It sure would be the trip of a life time to see....

Looking forward to seeing your great video..

Those 3 videos were nice...thanks for sharing...

Does anyone know who ended up buying this Ferret?

I'm considering a Mk1 in really poor condition but it's already in the USA which shaves off a few months and several thousand dollars for acquisition. Thing is, all the fenders (and bins of course) are quite beat-up. I'm trying to decide if I would try to straighten the old ones, buy some new ones, or make up a set.

My questions are these:

How workable is the material (what gauge, ductility)?

Is there a good set of drawings out there for those of us with a shear, brake and lack of good sense?

What should I expect to pay for a set of fenders and how available are they?

 

Oh, here's the link for the auction in case somebody needs it more than I or can shed any light on it's history:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ebaymotors/1954-British-Daimler-Ferret-Scout-Armored-Car-9000-miles-/111582716167?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&forcev4exp=true

 

I wonder if it's ex-Canadian?

 

thanks,

P_

Not I, I'm afraid. I had to go out of town at the last moment and the auction slipped my radar. I guess I'll have to ship one from the UK.

I'm sure we will see the new owner here or over on steelsoldiers.

Not I, I'm afraid. I had to go out of town at the last moment and the auction slipped my radar. I guess I'll have to ship one from the UK.

I'm sure we will see the new owner here or over on steelsoldiers.

Hope to hear from him soon on one of the web sites....It's always exciting and nice to welcome a new Ferret owner...

I guess I'll have to ship one from the UK.

 

Have you started the paperwork process yet? I think you have to fill out Form 6 with ATF to import one. I am trying to figure that out...

Have you started the paperwork process yet? I think you have to fill out Form 6 with ATF to import one. I am trying to figure that out...

Check out www.track-kickers.com

Did my form-6 for a couple of CVR(T) by myself and it was no problem at all, not even that slow at 6-weeks turnaround.

You don't need much information but it helps to have a seller and shipper lined up already. I used Mike at inter-market, not the cheapest quote I got, but he has a LOT of experience which gave me peace of mind I felt worth the money.

The vehicles I looked at in the US were a LOT more money than the equivalent vehicle in the UK so I was well paid to do the import myself... at least I think I was as the container hasn't arrived yet and gone through customs, etc.

My advice is to buy two, no really, since the shipping on a 40' container isn't much more then a 20'. You can go RORO if you get a runner and since you are near a port but if you go container you can ship a bunch of spare parts at the same time. Or you can split a container, PM me if you want to go that route since you are on the wrong coast for me but it would still be cost-effective and I want a ferret to go with my CVR(T). Plus I know of a chap with a pair for cheap. :-)

Otherwise have a look at: http://www.tanks-alot.co.uk/sales.htm

Buy now while the exchange rate is in your favour!

Did my form-6 for a couple of CVR(T) by myself and it was no problem at all, not even that slow at 6-weeks turnaround.

 

You don't need much information but it helps to have a seller and shipper lined up already. I used Mike at inter-market, not the cheapest quote I got, but he has a LOT of experience which gave me peace of mind I felt worth the money.

The vehicles I looked at in the US were a LOT more money than the equivalent vehicle in the UK so I was well paid to do the import myself... at least I think I was as the container hasn't arrived yet and gone through customs, etc.

 

My advice is to buy two, no really, since the shipping on a 40' container isn't much more then a 20'. You can go RORO if you get a runner and since you are near a port but if you go container you can ship a bunch of spare parts at the same time. Or you can split a container, PM me if you want to go that route since you are on the wrong coast for me but it would still be cost-effective and I want a ferret to go with my CVR(T). Plus I know of a chap with a pair for cheap. :-)

 

Otherwise have a look at: http://www.tanks-alot.co.uk/sales.htm

Buy now while the exchange rate is in your favour!

I managed to purchase a Saracen and a Fox, they are being overhauled in UK now. I also filed Form 6's (one for each vehicle) and to my utter shock, I did not screw anything up, so they did get approved in less than a month. I will PM you, since I saw on another thread you are ahead of the game and waiting to get your CVRT thru customs.

As a roundabout way of followup, I did eventually buy a set of Ferret fenders.  I found a set for sale locally and even more conveniently they were still attached to a pretty-complete Ferret which I bought for far less than it would have cost to get that sad specimen I was looking at back in 2015 in even close to as nice a shape.  Sometimes waiting pays off. 

On 2/2/2015 at 6:01 AM, fesm_ndt said:

OZITIM was your ferret used in the Malayan campaign as only seen that extra armour bit added on over here so they could see over the scrub?

I think you have your Ferret identifications mixed up, the photo in his post shows a bog standard Mk 1/2.

It is does not show a "malaya" Mk2 with the extra armour between hull and turret - for that take a look at this and see the difference: