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I may have posted some of these before, but anyway i thought I would share some pics kindly sent by Katie at the tank museum of My sweetheart in 1974. I thought this was at Alvis, (based on record card) but recently learned these were taken at Chertsey? 82BA29 was later returned to APC, with a mk1 turret no less.... weld marks are all that is left of the ambulance equipment.

Yes Data, I concur, it would be a rare event to find both hatches matching from another machine. I understand hull numbers and reg numbers did not progress absolutely side by side, but these figures do seem awefully far apart. I actually thought My supposed hull number seemed high for a machine manufactured in early 55. As I am positive that mine is 82BA29, and one of the hatches is marked with "OS 569" I inffered the hull number from the data base posted by lynx42: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?19375-Saracen-chassis-number-where-is-it/page2&highlight=saracen+hull+numbers

Certainly Your right, there must have been a documented chain of custody. I understand that, certainly in the case of Saracens, and ours would both (I think) be fairly early production, there was at that time a real shortage of practical APCs around the world, and a cetain proportion did travel overseas very soon after delivery to places such as Malaya. Here is an observation/question: Of the admittedly few record cards I have seen, they dont seem to show any activity outside of BAOR, NI, and the rest of the UK. (Except for deployment to hong kong) Mine do atleast show as their first entry (1969) that it was being released from 221 Base Vehicle Depot (Singapore) to Ludgershall. I know that it was overseas during the early sixties as I have conversed with a veteran who has pics of himself and 29 in libya. I saw in Iraq a few years ago how vehicles were deployed to theatre and then handed from departing units to arriving units, this activity overseen by a higher authourity in theatre. Could there ever have existed records maintained at, as an example, 221 BVD, detailing all vehicles assigned there... maybe all destroyed at some point (being of no practical value)as operations there ended, or as individual vehicles left theatre? Someone here must be able to illuminate how overseas record keeping might have worked? Out of curiosity, do You know Your Saracens' hull number? I believe Mine to be 569, would like to compare it 82BA77 which I would hope to be about... 607, maybe? I think someone started a data base; I've never added mine to it. Cant even remember where I saw it. Here are 82BA29s cards, for comparison:

Hi Data! I own 82BA29, and also got the data cards from Bovington. Mine also only start in the late sixties. Someone on here said that lack of information for a given period, ie, from production date to the late sixties, could imply service abroad? I know My first entry shows 29 coming to Ludgers from Singapore. I have all the same questions as You, especially how to decipher all the small annotations in the lower portion. I'm sure SOMEONE here knows...nudge. The little I know of the seller is that he is first class, I bet Your Saracen will be super.

Hi Nick, I guess this might be late and redundant, but here are some pics of the placement of the shocker on my Saracen, One from 1973, on from today. Thanks to Terry (Starfire) for enlightening me to what it does--- I was Fiddling with it and thought, "Great, another thing that doesnt work, WELL, MAYBE IF I TURN IT ON AND CLIMB AROUND THE MACHINE, I'LL GET AN IDEA WHAT IT DOES....." :shocked: Wont do that now, thanks to this thread!

Thanks very much Timbo, I will check out the Alvis group. Hey Terry, what's a hull shocker? My humble thanks to all who contribute to this forum.

Sorry- Actually, now as I look at them, I see the pics show the rear of the interior is oversprayed with another colour. The overspray that affected the data plate is still there, a primer grey sort of colour if I recall. Will check tomorrow. It looks like she went to Alvis fairly soon after returning from NI: It looks like some of the 'non silver colour' is worn a bit, so it may have been applied in NI or before? Could this be something on the lines of the repainting Clive mentioned? Field modded to Ambulance in NI, touched up at Alvis, then evaluated at Chertsey? Sorry, too many far fetched ideas, I'll stop.

Hi all, In researching My Saracen, I got these photos from Bovington. They show My best friend when she had completed conversion from APC Mk2 to ambulance at Alvis. That appears to have been in '73, with her next stop being MVEE Chertsy; could this suggest She was a test bed for the ambulance conversion? Interior appears to be silver. Anybody know what the large box on the back would be for? Now, how about this: The man in one of the pics is purported to be an Alvis employee... WHO could he be?.... I mean to find him, if he's still, well you know. Such a person could know a lot about the development of the Saracen Ambulance mod. Any good Alvis groups that might help find old employees? Anyway, I hope these pics are interesting. hope they are useful to You Starfire! Below, note what appears to be plywood and a bit of mesh on the rear hatch. Whats that about? When I found her a Mk 1 turret was fitted. (Still is.) Lost the original Mk 2 during testing at Chertsey? My wisdom is confined to a few late nights reading.

Thanks everyone, Yeah, I'd thought about TBI, maybe electronic ignition. Turbo? Supercharger? That would be the most awesome sound!! But, I better go historical on this one. Maybe someone has a project head/block/crank they would part with, then let the games begin! Cheers, Edmund

Hi all, I am getting ready to rebuild My Saracen's engine (Rolls Royce B80), and had the following idea. Please anybody with any facts or just opinions, chime in! I tend to believe in keepinng things orginal, but what if Someone were to use a modern piston in a rebuild, modern alloy could mean perhaps a slightly closer fit to the liner wall, a slight increase in compression could be included, say 7 or 7.25:1 instead of the 6 and a half, the piston might be more resilient, tougher, less subject to expansion/contraction. Maybe a very slight increase in reliablity and fuel economy could be realized, with out changing the the engines operation otherwise. I see from My workshop manual that the early mk B81 engines had the higher compression and used the same carb and a fairly similar camshaft as the B80s. Bad idea to try to improve a good thing? Has it already been tried?

Wow, thanks for sharing. Just unbelievable how great that Saracen looks!

Hi all, I'm Edmund, these days from SE Washington State, United States. Ex Mech Infantry guy, and the extremely pleased owner of 82BA29, a partly pretty and partly Rusted Saracen Mk2. (My first of hopefully a good few MVs-looking for Saladin next!) I have gleaned so much from this great site that it seems like I already know some of You, so thanks to everyone for sharing and making my effort to save "the old gal" a great, great deal easier. A special thanks to "FUGLY" for putting me years ahead in research! Some pics of her: 1962, Libya 1974, Alvis Coventry 2014, Clarkston, Wa, USA (Note the Mk1 turret.... where did that come from?)