Fugly

Hello May have some in service pictures of : Herford. Saladin 06BB91 (brand new off the train!) Saladin 06BB95 ditto Dingo 13ZS69 Daimler 86ZR99 Saracen 30BA42 Aden. Ferret 08BB80 Ferret 00CA71 Ferret 08BB52 Ferret 00CA90 I will receive them soon off an ex - serviceman , will forward to any interested owners. Any takers ?:nut:

:-D He ! He ! agreements are always a problem - especially if the girlfriend turns up. I think the right sort of vehicle could appreciate over time and make it a viable system - probably best if you don't do it with friends though . And if an agrrement is binding then no worries. Cheers !

Now that is a good idea....... Join Great (?) Britains armed forces and share some equipment with another country perhaps, maybe the odd French aircraft carrier ? Sounds familiar ! I dont know how the senior service will cope with those french toilets though ? If they can't avoid the coast of Scotland with a nuclear submarine how are they going to cope with hitting a 6 inch hole ...........

Thanks for the opinions chaps , all valid points. If the "membership could include storage and somewhere to run a vehicle, particularly with tracked vehicles (somewhere off road). Maybe a fixed amount could be paid into a maintenance pot and that dictates the amount of work that can be be completed, and then taking the idea forward maybe having a well maintained vehicle available for film work , kids parties and similar so that some revenue could be created . I have seen a similar scheme for works of art and collectors who purchase the items , with a view to vehicles an increasing in value? Would it provide access to vehicles that may normally be denied to some people because they don't have access to parking for a tank! As one comment said it could help fund a transport vehicle etc??

Just a thought , but has anyone ever encountered a scheme for shared ownership of military vehicles? The reason I ask is that with private aircraft (which are high maintenance , high capital outlay items ) they are often owned by a syndicate of shareholders who book flying time but share the costs of ownership and upkeep. This brings the possibility of getting involved to within the budget of ordinary working people. Could the same principle be applied to Military vehicles ownership - EG 10 enthusiasts in a local area club to gether to purchase a (relatively) high value military vehicle . People do it with race horses, aircraft - why not tanks ??? Any thoughts or opinions :-D

its not a huge job to remove the gearbox on the Mk 1's ,quite a bit more on a turreted version. Yes you can pull the box back some way but if you go that far , its not much further to take it right out of the top. I lifted mine out with an engine crane. I suppose you can do a lot with the box pulled back but it would be quite uncomfortable to work on?

I would stick with 2wd.... Reasons: Generally better MPG (Fuel is a huge consideration) A well driven front wheel drive car can still do reasonably well in snow If they have road tyres on them they are almost as bad as a 2wd Cheaper to run Better for the environment And the odds are that after 2 hard winters, this years winter may be mild.... And you can guarantee that sods law dictates if you buy a 4WD to handle the snow , ww will get the mildest winter on record :-). Now on the other hand , if you live in a flood zone a 4WD may be a good bet.

Just been sent a nice pic of 02 CC 38 Mk1 ferret in the Gulf War with the 16th /5 lancers. If they owner gives me permission I will post it on here . He said : "The engines where great nice and quite,drank alot as the sand took alot out of the poor things,tyre dug in loose sand and i got stuck a few times,but for the 3 months i was out there i had only 3 break downs,one was a gearbox,other was batteries,and the third was somthing small i car`nt remember. I can remember that we got 5 ferrets out of mothballed(i think thats what its called)it was a 1956 model,i mean using them in a war in 1991,but they was better than a landrover as in protection.we where using them as run abouts getting info from squadrons and letters etc with a young Lieutenant,but when it came to war the SSM had then and gave there landrovers up,nice move. We modded them a lot with extra bins on the side and cages ontop of the engine part,Once a Challenger tracked use down, and said we looked like a Russian BRDM !!!!!!Which the iraqies used. ":-)

:-) Took the ferret (02CC12) for a thrash across the fields last night , and was amazed how the suspension smoothed thing out. Its not been on the road yet (need to wire lights up), but I am almost there . Had a misfire on number 6 cylinder and a small leak on one of the engine sideplates, but considering its 20 year lay-up its not too bad at all. Question ? Whats a second hand de-ac browning .30 worth ?

Also matt on the subject of beer bottle tops mine had a couple underneath the engine as well (Towards the back, below the engine/ rad grill) - It seemed the rad grill metalwork was ideal for removing bottle tops whilst on exercise ! ) Mine were Herforder pils tops though. I am going to have another search through my pics to try and eliminate some of the reg numbers in the range. Have you had a look under the gearbox yet? jim

I used paint stripper on the rear panel of my ferret (The vertical bit beneath the number plate lamp) and took it right down to the original red primer. During this process I unearthed my reg number in 3 different layers , the oldest one showing the very first number plate from 1959 in 2 inch letters. I dont think the army spent much time removing paint, and from my own experience tended to paint over the number plates are re stencil them on afterwards. Hopefully if your hull has not been shot blasted down to bare metal then the eveidence should still be there. Good Luck. Jim

lOOKS IN REASONABLE CONDITION TOO !

If the engine is seized, what is the rest of it like? (Gearbox - brakes etc) presumably the same? I think the engine is the most straight forward bit to sort out. The gearbox / transmission and brakes get trickier . And then there is the wiring ... Dont want to put you off - if the rest is OK then the engine you can sort . Dont let a seized engine put you off. Check the rest out . Best of luck . Anyway if its not too expensive then it doesn't matter what shape its in .

A long flexible extension for the greasegun might help. I had my propshafts off when the engine was out, and at the time I looked at them and decided that you would never grease the rear U/J in situ , however there must be a way. We used to have a greasegun that had a 12" extension and it was really handy - Although it looks impossible, I doubt they would have designed the layout and made this inaccessible. Best of luck.

Well Shuey McFee made the movie for me - There is a great clip of a Mozzie coming in to land with a stream of smoke coming from the wing root , this was actually caused by Shuey burning an omelette on a gas cooker situated near to the navigators position.. He was responsible for all in flight meals and entertainment . It looked great on his CV and many years later Meg Richardson commented on his ability to cook one handed., whilst holding a map.:nut: Seriously though I love the mosquito, read about one disintergrating at high altitude over (India?) because the high temps had melted the glue holding some components. Catastrophic.

Hey ! Dont knock it - its one of my favourite films (warts and all !) Shuey Mc Fee's early flying career certainly wasn't mentioned in ANY of the crossroads episodes ( probably didn't want to talk about the war..) Its a great film - after watching that I developed a bomb release mechanism for my chopper and regularly bombed the cat.

Thats very interesting ! I am always keen to see pictures of vehicles in service - its diffucult enough with vehicles used by the British Army , but may impossible with foreign forces - Where could I look for photos of vehicles in service with the Oman forces ? I have had success with forums for ex British soldiers and regiments, is there similar out there for foreign forces?:-)?

Hello All If anyone owns ferrets 00CA43 00CA56 00CA46 02CC17 I have seen a pic of these vehicles together , taken with the 14/20 th ? Any takers ? Jim :-)

I looked through the lists of spares that are for sale as a seperate lot. Lots of them . The whole things great but may cost a fortune to move. I think the ferrets are over priced, but the spares ??? Whats a wheel station worth ?

I did the fuel pump on my ferret a few weeks ago and its fairly straightforward , however the only snag was you could do with a special spanner to hold the central rod stationary whilst you undo the nut that holds the diapraghm (?) in place. That nut should have been secured by centre punching or peening over the end of the threaded section of the central rod, and didnt come undone easily on mine . The correct tool must be like a cranked spanner. I would ask around to see if someone has one before starting the job. Here are some pics . On the pic that shows the main body dismantled (Bottom pic) you can just see the end of the threaded part. This is the bit that will need to be held stationary. On Andy Faulds EXCELLENT ! website there are some instructions for the overhaul, but it misses out the part about the special tool. I got around the problem by making a little spanner ( which I am darned if I can find !) Please see this link for instructions (Courtesy of Andys website ) http://www.ferret-fv701.co.uk/manuals.htm

Brilliant ! thanks Clive - definately on to something here ! I need to study the back of the turret. Jim

Here is what the plate looked like (It had 3 layers of this , all repeating the same ) Oddly enough there is a number 4 on the very first layer of paint , right in th middle of the plate. Maybe this was put on by Alvis, to Identify it in the factory? There are several layers of the same letters visible - sorry its a bit of a jumble.

Thanks Steve Thats knocked a few out of the running - Thanks !

I have linked up with Andy , it turns out he lives about a mile from where I work. If Clive does see this I would like to see the pic - Mine had a number roughly painted on the front - (a lot number ?) If mine is on the photo I can ID it from that number . Here is a pic showing the Saladin some years ago. Thanks for all the advice , please keep it coming . I would love to know where it has been . Looking forward to liftingb the gearbox out - may yield some clues ! Anyone know where Clive is !!

Thanks Steve If someone knows which hull numbers were sold to which countries that would pin it down . Anyone know ? Jim