What is this painted marking on my ferret?

[Grego]

It's on the left side engine cover when opened. Found it while cleaning of some old paint. It looks like a white rectangle with a red circle? Looks like the flag of Japan turned 90 degrees. I plan on painting it back. 

[07BE16]

I believe it indicates the cooling system is filled with anti-freeze

[Grego]

Ahh ok. Kind of an odd symbol for that, but I'll make sure to repaint it.

[robin craig]

Yep, like what that guy said.

 

 

[REME 245]

They started using this symbol during the latter part of WW2 when anti-freeze was far from standard and drivers were meant to drain their vehicles on cold nights or periodically start the engines.  Quite why it was still required in the 1950's is unclear.   I assume your Ferret is an early one?

[10FM68]

If you look carefully at front-end photos of other 1950s vehicles, such as the Humber 1 Ton, you will sometimes see this marking.  Preventing freezing of coolant remained an issue much later  - it may still, I'm sure the ex-military guys on here who served, for example, in Germany where winters could get much colder, the pot of anti-freeze on the guardroom windowsill.  If it started to freeze out of working hours, then drivers could be called out to start engines.

[Grego]

It's from 1959. It was a Mk1, then converted to a Mk2, then Mk2/3. According to it's service records from Bovington it served various regiments in the BAOR until it was sold off on the 1990's.

[07BE16]

In the cold winter of 1947 my dad was a vehicle mechanic in the UK and got fed up of draining the vehicles each night so persuaded the MTO to buy some anti-freeze on petty cash.