Edd

I don't know if you have followed this one up as it was a month or so ago. It's owned by a friend and I have driven it. Mechanically it is very good. Drives very nicely with light steering (by Scammell standards!). It's based in Gloucestershire. Ed

The photo with the Pioneer is definitely end of war or post war. The slinger hubs were only fitted at the end of wartime production. Think it was late 1944 onwards, might even be 1945 delivered ones only.

That looks really good. If you need any particular dimensions or photos let me know. I've got a large collection of photos and can always get more dimensions off of mine.

Stuart, A few photos of the track basket on my R100 attached. Dimensions (all in cm): Overall width (along the vehicle): 158cm outside, 152cm inside the basket Height: 55cm including 3cm rib below the floor. 45.5cm at the front (after it curves down) Depth (outer towards chassis): 62cm + 2cm thickness of the mesh section Inside of basket to chassis: 23cm Front of cab to front basket: 33cm The sheet metal is all about 2mm thick and the ribs are about 3cm thick. HTH Ed

Sorry, I meant to say I can get measurements! The basket is currently off the vehicle so can't get the vehicle mounting measurements. I'm going down to see it towards the end of next week if that fits with you?

The 4x4 can't be viewed. It's owned by a member of the showmans family that used it as shown in the civvy photo. For the other enquiry. Is the track basket on the tank transporter the same as that on the recovery & gun tractor? I can get photos of my R100 track basket if that helps. Will take a week or so as I don't go down to it very often.

Here is the link to the leaflet, relevant bit at the bottom of page 2. Note there are age restrictions, for a Scammell Explorer which is over 7500kg it is 21. inf52-large-vehicles-you-can-drive-using-your-car-or-lorry-licence.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

So far as I know the pre 60 exemption overrides this. I can't remember the exact wording but I think it's an exemption over other licence restrictions. I've got the pre 1997 licence and the towing rules for that say I can have a combination up to 7500kg. But this wouldn't cover say a Scammell Highwayman with living van. But you can drive this on a car licence.

Pre-1960 can be driven on any car licence so long as the vehicle is unladen. Even with the modern car licences. There is a leaflet from the DVLA that covers it - think it's INF52. Can also tow an unladen trailer. No operators licence or anything else need. But does of course need to be insured and kept in a road worthy state. I assume you are looking at the two Pioneer's that are were on ebay and still on milweb? It's worth finding someone near you he owns a Pioneer or Explorer. Owners are normally happy to explain what to look for and go through what it is like owning one. The Explorer is the easier beast to drive as it has power steering. Ed

Superb selection of photos, thank you for posting them. I'm always interested in seeing any of the Pioneer R100 photos. It's very helpful with the restoration of my one. With 700 Pioneers destroyed or captured I wonder how many of them survived and were recaptured? I know of two early R100's that must have either stayed in the UK or captured and returned. Would be fascinating to which it was.

There was a restored one on milweb for sale recently and there is a project on there at the moment.. I would recommend joining the Diamond T group on Facebook as there are a large number of owners and enthusiasts on there. Regards Ed

Apologies for this being the NI site but it's the first one that comes up. Look at the bullet points. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/driving-larger-goods-vehicles-lgv-car-driving-licence If you don't feel like reading it all: goods vehicles manufactured before 1 January 1960, used unladen and not drawing a laden trailer We have previously checked and it does cover ballast tractors etc... So yes you are legal to drive the Ferret on a post 97 licence. If you want complete confirmation you can write to the DVSA and get them to clarify in writing. HTH Ed

Short answer is yes. There is a licence exemption for vehicles built before 1960. Legal to drive at any weight so long as it is not carrying a load. Bit difficult to carry a load on a Ferret so you should be okay. Ed

Over 7.5 tonnes running weight. GVW or ULW don't matter so long as the actual weight is under 7.5 tonnes. Assuming you have the older style licence. If you have one of the newer type then it is up to 3.5 tonnes. Or there is the pre 1960 exemption if used unladen. I think Mk1 Militant's are pre 1960 but the Mk3 Militant's are post 1960. In which case you will need an HGV class 2 licence. Ed

Hi, PM worked perfectly. Thanks Ed

If you hover over my name it should come up with an option of message. Click on that and you should be able to send me a pm. If that doesn't work I'll work out something else. Cheers Ed

Can you pm me his e-mail address? I'm not after another one at the moment but have had plenty of people asking where to find a Pioneer. Shipping would be high but it is a very nice and original one. Ed

Have you got front wings for your Pioneer? If not you might want to find some front wings that are close enough and then get brackets made to suit. Genuine Pioneer ones are difficult/impossible to find and normally need to be made. R100's are very nice and that one in particular is superb. How much was he after for it? Daft thing is I spent ages trying to find one with nothing coming up and then eventually got it about 5 years ago. In the last 2 years there have been about 5 for sale!

Baskets do occasionally turn up. The front wing brackets are harder to find. They are fairly straightforward to make. I've got a pair that have been fabricated. I'll dig out some photos to show how they go together. I'm sure between the different pioneer owners we can figure out dimensions etc... for the bits you need. Then just need to find somebody who is reasonable at fabrication. I know of a guy on the Isle of Wight who does some very good car repairs and I think he does a reasonable amount of fabrication. He's currently restoring a friends Morris Marina estate. I'll make some enquires if you are interested in his details? Ed

Hi, Sounds interesting with the made up body. The mechanics are the important bit. Most of the rest is fairly straightforward. Contract number S3164 was ordered 20/4/1943. Probably delivered sometime in 1944..

Hi, Good to hear that you have found one. Have you got any photos of the one you have bought? Interested to see what spec it is currently in. Also have you got the chassis number? Ed

Hi, First of all good choice. Whereabouts in the country are you? I'm in Gloucestershire and there are a few Pioneers in the area if you need advice or would like to look at one. There are a couple of Scammell groups on Facebook that are well worth joining. A friend got a Pioneer SV2/S via a wanted ad on one of them about a month ago. Ed

On something like a Landrover in 4x4 it is down to how long and how many curves you drive round whilst in 4x4. My Unipower is permanent four wheel drive with no centre diff. On the road no issues as left and right corners seem to cancel out any wind up. The times I do notice it are tight manoeuvring on hard surfaces. On those occasions she will skip a wheel when the wind up gets too much. Disconcerting the first time she did it but used to it now. On grass or any form of loose surface no issue. It would be nice to have a centre diff to remove the stress and friction but it's the way it was built and everything is massively overbuilt on it. Ed

Sounds like Nick Steggel on his way down to GDSF. Regards Ed

I can echo a lot of the comments above. We have recently been interviewing for a graduate engineer position at work. The majority have done well in the talking about they have done section. But we have been very disappointed when it comes to the practical test we give them. It is assemble one of our products using two cutaway drawings. The lack of logic and some of the things people have done has left us very concerned. We have had a couple who did very well. But the majority really struggled with what we have previously regarded as a straight forward test. On the other hand I know of a number of people in their twenties in the local area who are taking an interest in military vehicles and classic vehicles. In the last year we have had a couple of Matadors, an Explorer and a Pioneer being bought by people in this age category. Some of those vehicles ranging from basket cases up to those that need recommisioning. As the facebook, google side of things takes over I think we will find more people turning to things like military vehicles as a contrast. Ed