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irish peerless


railwaylad

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They have really done a great job on it and it looks fantastic.

 

I must admit that i have known about this restoration for a while but was asked to keep quiet about it, until it was finished.

 

The Irish Cavalry have a wonderful collection of MV's. These are not in a museum, just their own collection which they keep at the Curragh. They have a running RR A/C which was the one following Michael Collins when he got shot by the IRA. Missing from the collection is a Peerless A/C which is something they wished to remedy.

 

A running Peerless chassis was purchased from P Savory (who was i believe the founder of the Muckleborough collection) many years ago. There was a lot wrong with it (including an incorrect chassis) and a lot missing so the project never really got started.

 

A couple of years ago the Peerless project was looked at again and through a fellow HMVF member our name was passed on as Peerless owners. I met up with John who was overseeing the restoration and provided him with a manual, parts book and a pair of name plates. He went down to Bovington and acquired the manual for the armoured car and detailed measurements of the body. The problem still stood that they had an incorrect chassis, which might derail the whole project.

 

However, a few Months before this started I had posted this picture on HMVF:

 

DSCN4667-3.jpg

 

which showed two Peerless chassis which were about to be scrapped. A couple of quick phonecalls, a deal was done (for less than the scrap value i hasten to add) and a truck came over from Ireland to take them back.

 

Then it was just up to Johns team to do the work. What a great job i think they have done.

Now, if we could only get all three Peerless armoured cars together for a photo opportunity that would be something.

 

Tim

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thats great info (well done that man)my interest in the military stuf is only recent (apart from 1/72 scale)but i heard there was someone over in bovington with a measuring tape at the peerless i thought it was going to be a scratch build, i only posted the peerless cus i seen you were asking about it on these forums back in 07 i put it in my album i thought someone would have ask about it. she look well great to have one.

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Ahhh! Thought that would provoke a response. It is in private ownership and not all that far away from you. It is the one used in Michael Collins, which has a replica body (not as good as this one), but on another original Peerless chassis. That chassis sold in the UK in the early 90's and made its way across the sea.

 

You can see film of it Youtube at the football stadium massacre.

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Just as a matter of interest, I can tell you something about the origins of those two Peerless Chassis'. A few years ago, I was given the tip-off that two old "caravans" were being dismantled at Christchurch near Bournemouth - they had been used as holiday accommodation for many years and the site on which they were located was to be properly developed by Builders, so they had to go. The "caravans" were home-made and like so many holiday or temporary buildings put up at the time - probably 1920's or 1930's, they were erected on old lorry chassis'. Whether this was to get around Planning Permission - because the caravan/hut could then be considered as moveable and on wheels, I do not know.The "grapevine" was active again and a friend knew that in our "queue" of things to be done, we had a Peerless and that perhaps they would be of some use to us.

 

I went to see them - the wheels were pretty rotten - and there was really nothing there that we wanted apart from a few original Greasers and some sound brackets. On top of this, it appeared that the only way that they could be removed from the site was by crane. So apart from salvaging those few bits and pieces, we let them go.

 

Sometime, later another friend contacted us as he wanted an original WW1 lorry chassis to adapt it or use it for something else - and we gave him the tip-off about these Peerless'. He recovered them, but ultimately did not use them and they ended up as shown in Tim's photograph above. It is very satisfying that one has survived "to fight again".

 

One very interesting thing about one of those two chassis' - it was heavily re-inforced with a lot of additional steel. Now some Peerless' were used as Gun Lorries and we wondered at the time if that particular chassis could have been one of those - with all the additional steel inserted to cope with recoil? I guess we shall never know.

 

And how many other chassis' are there still scattered around the countryside, hidden under old sheds or caravans? Please keep your eyes open and be aware!

 

Tony

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A Pierce Arrow chassis for one of these would be nice!

 

pierce_arrow_bw2.jpg

 

From http://www.landships.freeservers.com

thats a great link rlangham i have that same pierce arrow photo in a early armoured car book by e bartholomew from the 80s i remember trying to stratch build little scale model from old photos with very little info. its great to have all this info/photos/scale drawings/chat,,,at your finger tips.

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Just as a matter of interest, I can tell you something about the origins of those two Peerless Chassis'. A few years ago, I was given the tip-off that two old "caravans" were being dismantled at Christchurch near Bournemouth - they had been used as holiday accommodation for many years and the site on which they were located was to be properly developed by Builders, so they had to go. The "caravans" were home-made and like so many holiday or temporary buildings put up at the time - probably 1920's or 1930's, they were erected on old lorry chassis'. Whether this was to get around Planning Permission - because the caravan/hut could then be considered as moveable and on wheels, I do not know.The "grapevine" was active again and a friend knew that in our "queue" of things to be done, we had a Peerless and that perhaps they would be of some use to us.

 

I went to see them - the wheels were pretty rotten - and there was really nothing there that we wanted apart from a few original Greasers and some sound brackets. On top of this, it appeared that the only way that they could be removed from the site was by crane. So apart from salvaging those few bits and pieces, we let them go.

 

Sometime, later another friend contacted us as he wanted an original WW1 lorry chassis to adapt it or use it for something else - and we gave him the tip-off about these Peerless'. He recovered them, but ultimately did not use them and they ended up as shown in Tim's photograph above. It is very satisfying that one has survived "to fight again".

 

One very interesting thing about one of those two chassis' - it was heavily re-inforced with a lot of additional steel. Now some Peerless' were used as Gun Lorries and we wondered at the time if that particular chassis could have been one of those - with all the additional steel inserted to cope with recoil? I guess we shall never know.

 

And how many other chassis' are there still scattered around the countryside, hidden under old sheds or caravans? Please keep your eyes open and be aware!

 

Tony

think im going through the middle age crisis (AGAIN) this is very interesting stuff, i have worked on a couple or classic car restoration so im always looking over the heage and through the gaps in the side of old barns to see whats there.

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Ahhh! Thought that would provoke a response. It is in private ownership and not all that far away from you. It is the one used in Michael Collins, which has a replica body (not as good as this one), but on another original Peerless chassis. That chassis sold in the UK in the early 90's and made its way across the sea.

 

You can see film of it Youtube at the football stadium massacre.

i have got more info on this site than i have from my own neighbours i'll have to give the camera a good service and hopfully get some photos next year. at the start of this year i thought we had no peerless it turn's out we have two.i have only ever heard rumors about a armoured lancia and through this site i discovered there is one in a private collection in england its not for public viewing but its nice to know there is one still around.

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