We MLUers frequently comment on the charity and helpfulness of our fellow MLUers. I suspect that the ROT (rusty old truck) and the creeping olive drab disease must affect us all in a similar way. I have met some very friendly and helpful folks on all sorts of military vehicle fora as I have tried to track down the ARN for my Ferret over the past month and a half.
For those not familiar with it, the ARN is the British equivalent of the CAR/CFR number used in Canada. Unlike our seven digit code (year year-type type sequential number sequential number sequential number ie 54-77321) system, the ARN is a digit digit letter letter digit digit system ie 01AA23. Up until the eighties it had some coding assigned to combinations as they were assigned in blocks to purchasing contracts and certain letter codes were reserved for specific things such as "RN" was Royal Navy. After some point in the eighties it became purely sequential as vehicles were accepted into service so you could have a firetruck have an ARN one digit different from say a new tank. Thankfully my Ferret predates the new system.
The British Army did not record hull numbers in cross reference to ARNs so if your data plate is missing, as is mine, all you have is a hull number and, depending on when it was built, a rough date of manufacture (early Ferrets had no date on the hull number plate which is permanently welded to the hull). Adding to the confusion is that the ARNs were only painted on and not stamped anywhere permanently so if there is no ARN under the layers of paint... yer screwed!
All this to say that on several sites on the 'interweb' I was able to track down the block of ARNs assigned to Ferrets produced in 1963 (mine is 8/63). Some chatting with the chap who runs the Ferret Registry, Matt Taylor, revealed that there were a few with hull numbers close to mine which might give a hint as to the ARN. I met another great guy on HMVF who has a hull number close to mine. What I have so far is:
Hull 3323 ARN 18EA36 is a gent named Paul on the HMVF (griff66);
Hull 3327 ARN 18EA40 is our friend Jeff here in Ottawa. His and Paul's hull number and ARN are four apart;
Hull 3343 ARN 18EA56? is me and 20 more than Paul and 16 more than Jeff making me sure I'm 18EA56! Now the kicker...
Hull 3651 ARN 18EA64 is Matt so there must have been a break between mine and his somewhere to account for the big change in hull numbers vs ARNs. Matt is hoping to puzzle this out as the registry gains more details. There is also the chance that Matt's hull number is actually 3351 which fits the sequence exactly.
Paul tells me mine is likely one of 67 Mk 1/2s built to contract 6/FV/2146 in 1963. I expect the modification to Mk2/3 came later in the 60's or 70's.
Interesting that Jeff's and mine are 16 apart and both ended up far from home but both in Ottawa.
There is a chap in the USA who is planning to run off a batch of repop data plates so I hope to confirm 18EA56 and the contract number soon so I can stamp all my info onto the repop.
In the interim, mine will be 18EA56 until I learn differently and I'd like to give many thumbs up to the dedicated guys who run the various registries around the world. Without their databases anyone missing bits of important info for titling and registration would be lost. I encourage us all to register any old beasties we have on the appropriate registry... it pays off!
Tub thumping done... sherlock holmesing continues!
Cheers! Mike
