Hi Mark,
I agree, I can't see why the doors wouldn't have been left functioning. Not much use on a "convertible" however!
However, if the Brit crews were as inventive as our own guys they might have found a use for them? I have not come across any anecdotes though.
In my recent document reading I can see that in August of '44 the orders were given to create 100 Ram personnel carriers and 56 Ammunition Carriers. The original specs for the Ammn Carriers were to have "doors" cut in the sides of the hulls. As this was not deemed practical they opted for a covered turret aperature with a square hatch. All the Ammn carriers in the intial order were built from later model Rams with no doors (CT numbers range between 159507-159905)...?
I think it is odd that if you want a carrier with doors in the side you wouldn't at least think about starting with a hull that had doors already built in? Though I can recognize that that pre-existing doors in the early Ram hulls were probably too small to be useful. for the passage and stowage of ammo boxes. Also, I see a mention in that the batteries would be moved up to the sponsons from the floor making side door access difficult.
Bill