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The Project Well it looks like I've been outed on a couple of threads, so here we go with an FV4101 Charioteer restoration I actually bought her unseen when Lance had to sell up, taking a bit of a risk in doing so. The priority of getting married that month saw me unable to visit, and a very understanding other half said "go for it". It still hasn't really sunk in. :wow: I plucked up the courage to visit when I got back from honeymoon, wondering if I was looking at trying to recoup the pennies through scrap and sparing or whether I had a viable project. Luckily I have a reasonably good hull and a large collection of bits that Lance and Rick had managed to strip and/or collect together. Why a Charioteer? Normally I'd be all over the prospect of doing a wartime spec Cromwell, but this is an unusual beast. It's a) one of the Charioteers that was sold onward and modified by the Jordanians, seeing action in the Jordanian-Israeli conflict, and b) it's an early Charioteer with no fume extractor fitted to the gun. This makes her a bit of a rarity. Given the number of Charioteers out there, and with none apparently restored into running condition, I just can't bring myself to destroy a bit of history. We're both preserving the modifications and restoring her as a Charioteer. This includes the weird and wonderfuls that were done to her during the conflict. What's the plan? The plan is 1) Get the mechanicals sorted and get her driving, including restoration of the hull so they don't have to come out again. This should see her trundling around. 2) Overhaul the suspension and re-rubber the wheels. 3) Restore the turret and detail the vehicle. Sounds easy doesn't it? :nut: Luckily, professional Cromwell-wrangler Rick has agreed to carry on doing the major works, as he's both done it before on his own Cromwell and has the space and help to run though it. The history A decent collection of the work has already been done when Lance was intending her to be a Cromwell. You can see some of her history in the old thread here - http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?43059-MK-IV-Cromwell. I'm not continuing that thread as when we looked at it, it was going to get *really* confusing now that she's going to remain a Charioteer. Whats next? I'm obviously now after a completely different collection of bits and information, so chirp up if you've got any. :thumbsup:
