Penguin Mkll

[rob love]

When Sean delivered it last week, he had hoped the mother racoon had come back the night before for her litter. Turns out she had not, but rather she had come back for a trip to Shilo. After being constantly bugged for visits for the next couple of days, including by my ferocious dog, they apparently decided it was time to move on. I spotted a young ball of raccoon run over on the highway nearby, so it looks like they headed west.

Anyway, with the racoons gone, I decided to try and recover any markings that I could find. The vehicle had been painted yellow overall, but the Khaki paint could still be seen in areas where the paint had peeled, as well as the lower suspension. This was an ambulance, so had numerous red crosses on all four sides.

I spotted some brushed on paint towards the rear of the left side, and sanding brought up the DND number: 95-391. There were few enough of these vehicles made that eventually I hope to spot a photo of it in service.

On the front, the remnants of the command shield could be seen. Some careful sanding on the little bit of remaining shield came up with green, so this vehicle had likely belonged to Western Command at some point.

On the other side, I found the unit marking of "18 Coy" over a square of blue over yellow, diagonally divided.

Here are some shots of the finds:

[rob love]

So today I decided to invest 3 quarts of paint and a couple of hours to making it look more presentable in the lineup of projects waiting. Nice thing with any army vehicle......they don't have to be perfect. This is just to help preserve everything as well as to maintain peace with the neighbors until I find parts sources needed to restore it.

[rob love]

While the paint was drying, I took a foray into the belly of the beast. Raccoon turds abound, so I must use caution in there.

In a survey of racoons in North America, the vast majority of them have Raccoon ringworm. A single ounce of raccoon fecal matter can have one million eggs in it. Ingestion by other than a raccoon becomes a serious matter as the larvae attack the host body looking for a raccoon, or else escape. They attack the central nervous system, the eyes,the brain, or leave rashes where they eventually leave the host body.

For more on this important subject check out Wikopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylisascaris

I will decontaminate the vehicle before working any further on it. However, I held my breath and got a few interior shots.

The vehicle was reported to Sean as having a thrown rod on the cadillac 346 flathead 8. I am on the search for one of these, should anyone come across a spare in decent shape. I would prefer the military engine, although I must do more research on this before I get too hasty and buy the wrong motor.

Interesting on the vehicle is that it has most of it's DND marked 1944/45 run flat tires remaining in good shape. They are 4:50 X16 made by goodyear. A search on google showed them to be starting to get harder to find, but substitutes can include the 16" hideaspares, or motorcycle tires. I will likely get them foam filled, so I am not dealing with flats in the middle of a Manitoba Winter.

[Bob Carriere]

In the mid 70s there were 3 or 4 of them. OD colored, in a scrap yard in ST Hyacinte....... I believe that scrap yard was the precursor to Sails store now... Only the top hatch was opened but we did crawl inside...... they also had 6 or 7 1941/42 dark blue Packard CLipper staff cars with USA marking.... apparently originating from a US based closing in Labrador ..

I remember looking at the Penguin engine with very squarish flat heads not rounded like a Ford...... had always assumed that Cadillac had ONLY overhead valves
V8 engines...... all been turned into Honda bumpers by now.

Strange to see they were using CMP seats....?

The yard was huge and you had to be escorted to the various areas of interest. The old gentlemen who would escort us was crippled with polio and rode a blue motorcycle with a side car..... and we would have to run behind him....and the yard was big.... we would go by piles of engines...piles of axles...piles of radiators...... I think he rather enjoyed seeing us out of breadth..... only thing I ever bought from him was the rear suspension of a WC 61 .... he had tons of them and they were fabricating trailers with the rear suspension for construction companies.


Bob C.



Bob C.

[David Dunlop]

Rob.

Would that motor be the same block as used in the Stuarts?


David

[Ed Storey]

Rob:

Here is an image of your vehicle taken 63 years ago on Exercise Sun Dog I.

ED

[Ed Storey]

Your vehicle was the only Ambulance Penguin on Exercise Sundog I. It is recorded as having broke down on 9 March 1950 which forced the MO to temporarily use another vehicle to extricate some casualties.

The Penguin was repaired but broke down again the next day on a move to Cape Churchill.

Your vehicle was also used in a film which was shot on 13 March showing the plasma arrangements inside the vehicle.

[rob love]

Possibly it is the same motor, or very similar. I think the tank engines had a generator running out the back end of the motor, where this one, I believe, had the generator up top at the engine front.

Here is a link to one, new out of the crate, for sale on the UK craigslist. Wrong side of the pond, or I would be on that tomorrow: http://edinburgh.craigslist.co.uk/ptd/3895747649.html

[rob love]

Wow Ed, you have certainly hit the jackpot for me. I'll be outside tomorrow painting the red crosses back in their spots. I could see them under the yellow paint, but did not know if they were there on the olive drab, or if they were over the later yellow.

What was the name of the film?

[rob love]

Originally Posted by rob love

After being constantly bugged for visits for the next couple of days, including by my ferocious dog, they apparently decided it was time to move on. I spotted a young ball of raccoon run over on the highway nearby, so it looks like they headed west.

For those who may have been concerned, I have an update regarding the above statement. I stopped on the highway yesterday to check on the situation, and am happy to report to all those who seem to think they love raccoons, that the cadaver on the road turned out to be a very young skunk, rather than a raccoon. Good news for the raccoon family, although not so good news for the skunk family.

On other subjects, I have sent an email to the seller of the Cadillac motor and will now await a reply.

[Lynn Eades]

Are Racoons better or worse than Skunks? Obviously the Racoon can make you dead, and the Skunk can make you wish you were dead. Do either of them have pluses?

On another note,I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

See here http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=46773 for another snow RAT. In this case, Remote Articulated Tractor, made by Canadair which has since been swallowed by Bombardier.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Are Racoons better or worse than Skunks? Obviously the Racoon can make you dead, and the Skunk can make you wish you were dead. Do either of them have pluses?

On another note,I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

Actually, I'll take the raccoon over the skunk any day. Both do get rabies in this area, but more-so the skunks.

I think back to when Gordon Falk and I were in Northern Ontario recovering Bren carrier bits. The skunks would come in the evening to our campsite, and take whatever they wanted with impunity. Gordon and I had been "tree'd" in the back of the pick-up box while the skunks hunted for the baloney sandwhiches we had just made. We held the lantern over the edge of the truck to see what they were up to, and the brighter the light got on the skunks, the higher their tails went.

If you shoot a raccoon, they bleed and die. If you shoot a skunk, it's muscles relax and it lets go. The area will stink for the next two weeks.

I'll take the raccoons over the skunks any day.

[David Dunlop]

Rob.

A few other areas worth looking into for the larger Bombardier snowmobile are St. Laurent and Gimli. Large commercial fishing operations in both areas. Also, there used to be a farm implement dealer on the north of the Trans Canada at Elie who sold a number of used Bombardiers a few years back. Think he also wheeled and dealed in Argos around the same time. Any Bombardiers you find would be worth a closer inspection. I would not be at all surprised to find a few original military contract vehicles made it into the fishing industry and may still be out there. Bodies would be easy to restore and the power plant was the trusty Ford flathead V8.

Lynn.

I have always wondered why the Canadian Military never used the name 'Raccoon' for any of it's vehicles. The little buggers are extremely resourceful, can go anywhere and can get into absolutely anything they set their mind to. There was a show on the National Geographic Channel a couple of years back about the racoon population in Toronto, Ontario. Wildlife experts claimed there were half as many racoons living in greater Toronto as people. So when you think about it, the name 'Racoon' would be a great name for a Recce or Commando vehicle.

Since fate has already named Rob's new toy the 'Penguin' (indeed odd for Canada), perhaps he should come up with a name for it. "Happy Feet" perhaps. Or how about "Chilly Willy"?

David

[rob love]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Rob.


Since fate has already named Rob's new toy the 'Penguin' (indeed odd for Canada), perhaps he should come up with a name for it. "Happy Feet" perhaps. Or how about "Chilly Willy"?

David

I think I will stick with "Penguin Mk2 Ambulance".

That is Luke's that you are talking about in Elie. I haven't seen any of the large snow vehicles there in a long time. I did stop there years ago for a can-am 250 part and sure enough they had it on the shelf.

[chris vickery]

Back to the raccoons...

Two stories. Firstly, I know of a fellow collector/supply guy who is in our hobby that got tangled up with a raccoon out in one of his storage trailers. while searching for a part in a dimly lit trailer, he reached up to a top shelf where, lo and behold a very pissed off raccoon was hiding out. It went up one side of him and down the other and during the process bit him. A trip to the hospital and some rabies shots...not nice.

Secondly, pertaining to the abilities of these creatures. I was camping in N Ontario one time and did my best to raccoon proff my campsite.
I went so far as to set the seat of the picnic table on top of my cooler so the weight of the table would hold my cooler in place to keep the coons from helping themselves.
In the mddle of the night I heard some noise outside the tent so got up with flashlight in hand to see what was going on. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a raccoon on his hind legs, forelegs grasped around the handle of my cooler trying his hardest to pull my cooler from under the pcnic table seat!
They are a pain but they are smart. Even more so, they are usually not timid of humans neither which makes the risks associated with them even greater.

Sorry to hijack your post Rob.