Penguin Mkll

[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.

[David Dunlop]

Is that a racoon's face just above the track, below the back of the red cross?

[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?

[David Herbert]

Rob,

What a great vehicle, I had always wondered what happened to the Armoured Snowmobiles. Do you have the tracks for it or will you be making them?

The primary WW2 use of Cadillac V8s was Stuart tanks (series 42) and Chaffee and LVT3 (series 44). I believe that the core engine is identical but the 44s have a drive shaft with universal joints threaded through under the inlet manifold. This is to drive the fans on a chaffee. The LVT3 inherrited this arrangement and I would expect that the Armoured Snowmobile / Penguin did too. The Hydramatic gearbox used in Stuart had a reverse gear but the ones used in Chaffee and I believe LVT3 did not have a reverse gear, this was done in the 2f + 2r transfer box. This engine was also used in infantry landing craft but presumably marineised to some degree. One of the nice things with these engines is that the exhaust manifold was black vitreous enameled and bolted on with stainless bolts - Cadillac had their standards to uphold !

I love the "spot the racoon" side to this thread, what happened to the photo of them looking out of the road drain? From a British perspective they are just cute!

Really looking forward to the you being able to get into the restoration of this machine and posting more photos - thanks for going public.

David