robin craig

Bang for the buck the CVRT range is likely one of the most supportable tracked vehicles you can own, the gearboxes being problematic for supply but there are some around at a price in the UK Easy to store and operate if you are of a reasonable human build size, once one becomes overweight they are a challenge to get in to. If you don't need a gun barrel then the Spartan lends itself nicely as a group carrier down to the pub or out for ice creams and has the advantage that you can kip inside it also.. However, longer distance shows need a transporter of some type unless you want to do the road miles. My opinion is solely mine and not necessarily everyone else's taste.

Bob, Adrian Barrell is trying to get some lumpy items from Canada to the UK in a seacan, it would not be a free ride. please contact him for info

Adrian, Toronto is just down the road, that would be easy. your box is approx 6 long by 3 wide and 3 high Robin

I believe from memory the answers to those questions are in the manual. Track wear is dependent a lot on the type of ground you are on. Manuals are the one thing you should buy and read, they really are useful.

Well, truth is stranger than fiction I am being reminded daily. Just over a week ago someone offered me a full length hard top with side panels for a Land Rover 109. I thought to myself free ain't bad, and maybe one day I will secure the Carawagon. Four days after that a friend sent me a screen shot from Facebook showing the Carawagon was for sale again. I phoned and a very surprised owner agreed to let me have it and not entertain any other dealings. the price was more than I wanted to pay for what is there, but if it isn't for sale it doesn't matter what money you have so how much is too much? I popped up in the week and put a deposit down and made arrangements to get it back on Saturday. On my way home with it I bumped into another local Land Rover owner Tony Eccles who took this photo. On the drive home I decided that the vehicle will be called and referred to as Katie, it has a very personal meaning to me, we have had a rough week. I will now start a thread on this vehicle from fresh with proper subject heading and link back to this. Thank you all

While I am not the worlds biggest fan of the Iltis, they were not a bad wagon at all in my humble opinion. As a two person liaison vehicle they did what they were supposed to do on and off road. Frankly anything can get stuck, I recall a Mercedes Unimog on tarmac in a parking lot with 1 inch of snow stuck . . . They fit in a normal garage and many of the parts are available as take off or new through wreckers or the VW system.. Over here they were the last manual gearbox gas (petrol) powered vehicle in regular service. I have not heard of the diving in the corners, I think there may be some very enthusiastic drivers out there. Once they write something it becomes lore. If you want something with more ability then buy something bigger and spend more money. I never thought I would defend an Iltis but there you have it. Off for my supper now.

I was sad to see you sell it as I followed your original posts, but hey ho if it isn't getting used moving it along makes sense, wish I had the money, would have been a great display item. Hope the new owner continues to post about it

Im not sure what exactly you are after but we see some clean ones here for sale in the $5,000 to $10,000 range all made under licence by Bombardier. For instance here is one https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/315823688905581/?surface=product_details

Your vehicle spent a period of time at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) out here in Canada, see the line "ORD COY BATUS". I would suggest a check of some of the BATUS video on Youtube to see if it shows up or you could go over to the dark side of Facebook (FB) where this BATUS Memories group exists https://www.facebook.com/groups/529126870919310/ and ask around or look. There is another FB group called BAOR Photos https://www.facebook.com/groups/166806773522220/ This forum has quite a number of pictures posted if you use the search function carefully Good luck and please share with us what you find.

I hate to fuel a useless debate but I honestly feel that the concept of due diligence comes into play here. In our province here in this colony we do not have an annual vehicle inspection requirement. Frankly I believe we should have it, regardless of year of manufacture or class of usage, end of discussion. As far as the standard that the vehicle should be judged by that is a different kettle of fish, basically I believe that safety is key, worn ball joints and brakes with no friction material are easy to fail a vehicle on but the vagaries of why an ex MOD Land Rover was never fitted with reversing lights isn't for me. So, an annual inspection should be the point at which that should be revealed. We the owners are wise but a mechanic should have the technical knowledge to be able to judge, based on sensible criteria as in this province, that give a point at which a fail is required. While we all get up tight about originality and the shade of olive drab I don't want anyone to die over a vehicle that is not safe. I would also extend that comment to include owners being inappropriate in deciding which classification of road they use when driving a vehicle that is not able to make normal road speed and thereby endangers themselves and others. I pre apologise if I have ticked anyone off, I am told I do that, some don't hear the intonation in my voice when I type. Our veterans fought for our freedom to say such things and be counted when we do. Thanks

Richard, I was fairly sure that it had nothing to do with Ferrets. These came from BATUS in the late 1990's as part of a tranche of disposal items as various clean ups went on. It would boggle the mind to know why BATUS held such quantities of parts for all the fleet out here, all I know is that a few of us in Canada have rescued and bought loads of this stuff and are possibly the last stockists of some of these items. It gives me great pleasure when I can find a home for this stuff, I only need a few bits for my own vehicle and I sure dont need 33 of some items. I have no Centurion or other vehicle manuals so I am all at sea on this. It will get binned eventually if I cant find homes for it. I do have a limit.

I opened a packing crate of what I had thought were a load of Ferret commanders sight eybrow pads but when compared to one online in pictures and one in a Ferret they just dont match up. This one is smaller in all respects and mounts differently. I have absolutely no clue what they are, does anyone else? The pen is to give you a sense of scale.

I have a side job in the winter plowing our island roads of snow for our Township. I do a few shifts a weekend and we have had a snowy winter, so funds for this project are good at the moment so I am pushing things along before the spring farming season hits and that takes over again. Last week I took the rear car out for media cleaning and got it back this weekend. It has highlighted some of the damage that will need to be fixed. Thankfully my neighbour a few doors away is rebuilding an aircraft in his garage so he will shear me up some material for these pieces. I will have to make the holes and the rounding of the edges.

Along the road in any project one gets a hand up from friends and strangers. A local vehicle owner has given me another VW engine that he is never going to use. By chance I ended up buying another ex Canadian Forces KLR motorbike, one of only 77 used. I have now traded that bike with a friend who is a VW nut and rebuilds engines. He had get rid of a few possessions a year or so ago, one of which was a MT500 and he has been in the doldrums ever since. He now has the original engine and the donor and reports that the crank is good in the original but the cylinders will likely have to come from the donor. I am happy with that, so another item crossed off the list. A Canadian tyre / tire dealer came through with affordable replacements with tubes, they have come home now. The first axle awaits tear down and clean up. The curious lights with chrome bezels, two white at the front and one red at the rear have been identified as lat 1948 /49 GMC / Chevrolet / Pontiac / Buick and are available NOS or repro, I think we will go NOS. There are so many parts to identify. Sadly the fuel tank caps are I fear rusted beyond safe usage, but M37 caps will also fit, so that will have to be acceptable. The amount of detail that the machine has is amazing, many parts have CL70 and a part number stamped into them. The centre of the steering wheel has the Canadair logo and is also useable.

So, it has been a while since I recovered this machine and the spare parts and even posted about it. As far as a general survey goes, I needed an engine, 36 hp VW, 20 pneumatic wheels with tubes as major items. By chance via Facebook I ended up meeting a gentleman, Don Chisholm, who worked on them when he was RCEME and was quite intimate with them. My mate Gerry and I took him for supper and then on to the workshop for a visit before we got too far into the tear down process. He was a treasure of information and explanation that I am glad we took advantage of. He is in his 80s now and has a very sharp memory. he answered a lots of questions we had. He is pictured beside the front car. We have decided that for our use the track is in a reasonable enough state to re use, at least for the meantime. Both the front and rear car need a new chassis. Both are shot from years sitting in the tall grass storage. I was fortunate enough to get a nearly perfect NOS chassis as part of the purchase. Over time we have found that it has some prototype parts on it but otherwise dimensionally it is the same, so I have made a good start at a jig. One chassis will be made from it and then the near NOS one repaired and used under the other car.

Welcome Adrien, your English is great, relax, people here are friendly

I am saddened to see you sell that, but I know you are doing it for your reasons that don't need airing in public. Lots of nice kit to go with it that must have taken a fair bit of time to collect. Good luck with the sale, and remember, if the Eager Beaver or the Can-Am have to go think of me.

Great to hear from you Dean, just sent you a private message

Here you go David

Well, again I have learned something, so that long wheelbase was likely only done for the MOD then David? The hillside behind makes me wonder is the the Scottish Isles or actually the Instow area? Thank you for posting

Last week I was alerted to one of these machines being available of an internet site locally to me, 2 hours drive rates as local in these parts. I already own one such machine as per my signature block, but I had a bit of a plan in mind. I spoke with the seller mid week and managed t secure first crack at it on the basis that it is going to be restored. On Saturday armed with cash I set off and arrived to find the machine on a trailer recently liberated from an ice bound shed, we are still in winter here. Having been stung with one of these machines before, I am now very gun shy and know a lot about them, I had tried to get the VIN before going to match against Canadian Forces sales documents but buddy couldn't produce that which gave me concerns. As soon as I saw it I was relieved to see some small markings that gave away it's heritage and not just a green painted civvy machine. Also the hard to find plastic panniers and rear rack was with it but off to one side. While the front mudguard and the headlight surround are a civvy colour painted military green that is often the way they were repaired as parts were sourced from local suppliers. Anyway, once home a friend confirmed the VIN matched the army number and so I was relieved my judgment was sound. As I have a VW engine that needs rebuilding for another project and a friend who had to sell his MT500 a coule of years ago under the worst circumstances and is a VW whizz we have struck a deal that the bike will go to him in exchange for him rebuilding the engine, fair exchange is no robbery. He is delighted to be getting it just as I will be delighted to get the engine. I could have easily gotten this machine sorted out and running and cleaned up and turned a profit but I have decided to go this route so that I can ride with my mate at shows as we work with the same museum collection. Also he was gutted to get rid of his machine and he deserves some goodness in his life. There were only 77 of these machines in total so finding it and securing it was a good bit of fortune.

Keith, welcome to the forum. I do hope you have many memories of vehicles that you can share, and wonder beyond all hope if you have pictures of anything that you did. I have had the privilege of visiting what was ATTURM and it was a fascinating place. Look forward to your future posts

How did you remove the paint from the fabric?

Admins how is the body of this thread related to the subject of this thread?

Congratulations Mitch, watch out for the fan volute bevel box and it;s oil level. Post some pictures when you can, we would love to see them.