Canadian Ferrets

[rob love]

John
That number is not a Cdn CFR...all the Cdn ferrets were in the 82XXX range.

The American style lights were never an official mod on the Cdn ferrets.....it was just a matter of fitting on what was handy. Often the lamps were mounted on the original ferret lamp brackets, although it should be noted there was a modification instruction to relocate the original lamps to a higher position.

The US style of 60 amp generator was an approved Cdn modification, and the regulator was removed when these were installed.

I believe the Cdn contract ran over the mk1 rectangular windows to the mk1/2 odd shaped windows.

The civilian turn signal arm was common on all the Cdn vehicles back then, including the ferrets. Common were the doray and the signal stat models.

The numbers stamped on the various plates are likely the part numbers for each individual plate of metal.

I have seen the odd Cdn ferret without the CFR stamped in front of the horn bracket, but the vast majority have them.

Of course, this thread is useless without pictures.

[shrapnel]

The "disused studs" you cut off... Could they be the studs used to attach the various interior bins and other equipment inside the ferret??? Cutting them off maybe wasn't such a good idea...

[jkftl]

Before cutting off any studs I checked two restored Ferrets and made diagrams. I now have places for about 6 bins and lots of nice open spaces. Most of the female 5/16" weld sockets were in correct places. Most studs (5/16 and 1/4) were Canadian mods and I could find no reason to retain them. As I mentioned, I counted over 50 little cut-off pieces after finishing. It looks SO much better, particularly now with the primer on whole interior. At this point photos show nothing but my efforts. As-received photos I took reveal nothing.

[Craig S.]

Hello all. I'm trying to interpret hull numbers and serial numbers (or any others?). Looking at some of the info in this thread got me out scraping and trying to find the ID of 2 Ferrets here in Gagetown. I found the CFR's stamped into the top of the hull forward right of the drivers position and stuck my arm and camera into the drivers front "window" to get a pic of the plate welded inside on the right. Are there any other locations? Also the welded plate with the markings (313.B.3.4.) in the picture I’ve attached below represent what exactly? It seems that this would be a hull number, but the amount of digits on the plate do not match what is referenced as a serial number on the DND database, with the matching CFR? For this particular Ferret, CFR 54-82532, the serial number is only 2 digits (forgot to copy them down before leaving work) followed by 'B' and another digit, ie.**.B.*. I took these pics of the Ferret's I'm referencing. Can anyone make this a bit more clear? Thanks in advance,

Craig

[Brad Mills]

Where is Colin when you need him? :-)

[rob love]

It is my belief that the first three digits are the sequential serial number of the ferret (313 in your case) and the other two digits are the month and the year of production. I have no idea what the B stands for.

It was quite common back then that CFR numbers were not assigned in order of serial number. Our ferrets were part of the first production, along with the Australians, as someone mentioned earlier.

[Jim Rice]

The Strathcona's Historical Troop restored two original Ferrets that were original regimentally used and ended up as display pieces in Martin Park in Calgary. They sat flanking the last Regimental Centurion for at least 15 years before we got the first one (with a welded on trailer hitch) and the Centurion running for the 1995 Reunion. I believe that the hitch was installed to tow a 25 pdr funeral gun.

We did use it again in 1995 for a funeral after Jack Guthrie's FAT crapped out.

I believe the other Ferret was restored once they arrived in Edmonton. We recieved about 15 Ferrets (for parts) prior to moving to Edmonton. Most were scrapped or became hard targets (in exchange for Sherman parts) as the junk was disposed of first by Suffield and I believe that the Strats got a second load of vehicles which combined with the original two make up the current display troop.