mick garner

Theres a stalwart sitting in a field on my sons way to school, he really likes it, its sat there something like 14 years and has only been moved once or twice in all that time, the story is, that the bloke who owns it used it to get to his little cottage down the river, but he actually crashed it into some rocks underwater and broke one of the wheel stations, he done a right bodge-job fixing it and then carried on driving it around like it. And ever since, its sat ther doing absolutely nothing. I went and offered him some money for it but he just wouldn't take it. It's a shame really because its an early Mk1 still with full swim gear and its just about worth saving, but in a few years time it will be beyond redemption and you'd probably spend more money on it than what you'd get for it. According to my son it has a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the engine bay and through the vents at the back of the cab, which I know isn't going to do it any good! It's just a shame that some people are like this, they're just making themselves lose money on it. oh well the wifes calling me now thanks, Mick

When we first got our closed cab GMC I couldn't wait to go for a good drive in it, the crash gearbox takes some getting used to I know and I stalled it sometimes whilst going over the A1 roundabout at sandy, I stalled it once so instead of keep going I turned into the garage directly on the roundabout and got the old girl started again, and, i don't know whether it was an illusion or because of the fact it was in better mechanical condition but our open cab seemed to be a lot faster of the line than our closed cab. Sometimes the Jimmy did become a bit of a liability on the road though because she maxes out at about 47 maybe 50 if you're very lucky, but on bar-grip tyres and with play in the steering box it does start to feel a bit 'scary'. Our indicators weren't fantastic either, they were those small motorbike indicators so that we could fold them up and hide them when we went to photo shoots and shows. I would still recommend the motor to anyone with guts looking to buy an MV, they have a lot of road prescence and you have to admit that the closed cab is a very handsome truck! i think that modernising a jimmy would spoil the experience, a jimmy is what it is and should stay that way. Mick.

we've got mate here in beds that does my transport, he's got beavertail truck and has indeed transported two gmc for me. he's comparitively cheap, ensure i get your number and i'll pass it on to him, he's a bit of funny old geezer so i'll introduce you to him regeards mick

we bought some straight sae 90 from a company that specialised in lubricants for historic vehicles, cant recall their name but you'll find one in a classic car magazine. boy just told me its called millers lubricants-clever blighter!

Hi all, thanks for all the replies, seems we've all shared common experiences! But on the the flip side we have met some genuine ex-forces personnel who have told us about their experiences driving ferrets in northern ireland, aden etc. Mick

I don't know about any of you but have you ever had some know-it-all come up to you at a show and tell you that gun is not correct for your vehicle? Our ferret is an early Mk 1 and served in hong-kong from 54' to 72', it is in sand and green and is done up basically how she would have looked in the late 50's, with a 303. Mk 2 bren on top, as far as I know, they used the bren into the early 60's, and then they re-chambered it to 7.62, but then you get some idiot walk up to you and say it needs a GPMG, and an old man come up to us and said it needed a 50.cal! A 30.cal maybe but certainly not a 50.cal. If you could send in some of your stories it would be appreciated. thanks, Mick.

Hi all, I am fairly new to this site, have been checking through recent posts and found some articles very interesting, I like the way some of the restorations are coming along, anyway, we have a mk1 ferret, which we've owned for four years, and used to have two GMC's, one a closed cab in fantastic condition and an open cab in pretty bad condition, still drove like a dream though. I think that this website should be useful in gaining useful tips and info about the MV and I hope to help other enthusiasts out too. thanks, Mick.