Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

With the chassis at the sandblasters it was time to start pulling the fittings off the hull. We set it up on two large saw horses which gave a bit of room underneath but did not make the hull too high to work on.

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The Blitz in the back ground is a C60S, WO-78, No.6 Artillery Tractor to tow the 40mm. Bofors Anti-Aircraft gun, a project for the future (maybe).

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The grey vehicle on the left is a rare one. It is a fully optioned 'HJ' Holden GTS wagon. One of 4 built for GHM executives in 1974. It has all the Monaro extras including a 308 V8, M20 gear box and 3.6 limited slip diff vented guards and full Monaro interior. I suppose you could call it an 'HJ Holden GTS Monaro Wagon', but it was never released as such. I restored it for my No.1 son but he did not look after it and I so took it off him 14 years ago.

Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

First it was a job to free up all of the hatches handles and linkages etc. There was quite a lot of oxy acetylene heat used to do this. I think that every nut and bolt was heated up to red and allowed to cool down. This was to break the rust and it was quicker to heat every one instead of hoping that they would undo like the ones on the chassis. The grey thread protector paste was quite visible on many of the threads and most came undone without too much trouble.

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The hinges were all hard to free up and plenty of heat was used on them. There are springs in the latches for the drivers, gun hatch and commanders hatches so they were just warmed up so that the spring, if it was saveable, did not loose its spring.

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The handles for the hatches were also seized and had to be freed up with heat and straightened as well. This was done whilst the hatches were closed and the mechanism of the handles could be lined up correctly.

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The hinges on each hatch and the two door are not only bolted but welded in place as well. I had to remove the doors, but I had fitted them years ago so that wasn’t much of a problem.

Regards Rick

[lynx42]

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Gun hatch being freed up.

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The drivers hatch has the fitting for the protector-scope. The hatch is opened in three parts and all were seized solid.

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As I gently heated and moved things to free it up I discovered that the rubber vibration pads were still there.

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This was removed carefully and the hatch freed up.

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Rick

[lynx42]

The finding of the commanders left side hatch panel was told in #7.

I had already had replacement a panel produced by a firm in Melbourne’s south east using the cut-off right side piece as a mirror patten. They wanted $713.00 for one cut to shape with a garnet/water jet process. The main cost was the setting up of the computer program for the water jet machine. I had a brain wave and had 9 produced for only $130.00 more. I needed only one for the left side but quickly sold the other 4 sets (Left and right). One went overseas and selling them gave me some extra restoration money. I had them made slightly over size as no two Lynx hulls would have been cut exactly the same way. They needed trimming on the bottom and rear sides but the top and where they met the front armour was correctly cut with the correct angles. The surrounding panel then only needed trimming at the bottom and rear to suit each vehicle and the placing of the hinges and the bullet splash strips on the inside. All the holes were drilled during production as well.

Here is the new panel welded into place with all holes etc in place.

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Buried for close to 50 years didn't do too much damage.

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It was amazing that even the light weight splash guard was not rusted through.

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A bit of heat soon broke the rust and I was able to remove the hatch opening mechanism, lock plate and splash guard.

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Rick

[lynx42]

I completely stripped the original left panel and re-used the hatch, hinges and other fittings. This involved unbolting and then cutting through the welds. I cut through the welds to the bullet splash protection in the inside and the angled piece at the top where the roof sits when it is closed.

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There were two types of shims under the hinges to allow them to line up and fit closely to the hull.

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The original hatch ready for the sandblaster.

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Here the reclaimed bullet splash guards and roof support are tack welded in place on the replacement left side. Still to be welded in properly and to be cleaned.

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The car, (yes I know it is out of focus), is a rare one in Australia. It is a 1964 Chrysler, Plymouth, Valiant, Signet 200V convertible, with a 273ci. V8 and 3 speed push button auto gearbox. No others are known in Australia. It has been converted to right-hand drive.

Rick.

[lynx42]

I originally thought that this hull was a change over from the Lynx I (mk.II) to the Lynx I (mk.III*), as this hull has indication that it was one of the original hulls with the vertical rear grill

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and was modified to the later horizontal grill version.

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There are 3 hinges on the rear hatch not two.

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Both sides of the rear of the engine compartment have welded up holes and newer drilled holes for the horizontal grill mounts.

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Left side.

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Right side.

Mike C. tells me that the Lynxes’ supplied to Australia were of two rear body configurations: the early vertical rear grill and the later horizontal rear grill. In October 1944, a modification was authorized for all the early type to be converted to the later configuration using one of two Ford-supplied retrofit kits, either the C19SR-16604 or C19SR-110895. In theory, all Lynx were then converted to the latter type rear grill configuration which gave much better cooling performance, but I doubt that the ones held in vehicle parks ('Command Depot Stock') were high on the priority list, and possibly escaped conversion.

Cont.

[lynx42]

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More welded up holes.

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Oxy cuts to the rear engine hull plates not guillotined of as when new.

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Welded hood locks not the original bolted on latches.

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and oxy cuts to the corners where the new shaped hood sits.

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All very interesting. Thanks to Mike C. I now understand a bit more of 1726's history.

Regards Rick.