M-H 'DINGO' off to Cairns.

[Jan Thompson]

It is great that it is still in Australia. Too many vehicles are exported overseas.

[lynx42]

Jan, you should know me better than that. I would be the last person to let a vehicle go overseas. As you say, it happens far too often although a steam traction engine has recently been returned to Australia from England under the movable heritage act.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jan Thompson

It is great that it is still in Australia. Too many vehicles are exported overseas.

As we all know, it is most often a simple matter of supply and demand: items for sale flow to where the most money can be had for it.

Australia now seems to have a collector who has the cash to spend on expensive items like German tanks. Good for you, but us in other countries have the same sentiments. While being named after a quintessential Australian animal, the Ram Kangaroo should have been denied at import as it really does not belong there

BTT: the Australian Armour & Artillery Museum has done a great and quick job on that Dingo!

[lynx42]

Another photo of 77212 at the museum.

13620063_1065979056771688_372949982610290902_n.jpg

It took me almost 40 years to find all the bits for this one but ill health meant that the job was too big for me so I passed it on to the Museum where they have set it up as part of a dislpay of Australian Armour. Well done Rob L. It is No. 77212 out of 245 built.

[Mike Cecil]

Both the one I had (77210, ex-Tasmania) and Rick's 77212 have the flat armour plate mudguards, whereas the surviving paperwork indicates that above approx 77200, the guards were lighter sheet steel and rounded, installed in an effort to make the vehicle lighter. (Shows how much you can rely on the paperwork!!) I only ever saw one survivor with the light sheet steel round guards, and the remains of that belonged to Colin Anderson: does anyone know where that ended up?

Nice to see 77212 on display.

That's at least two on display now: 77160 (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL23826/ ) at the Australian War Memorial and 77212 in Cairns. I think the Merredin Military Museum in WA also have one, but I'm not sure how far they have progressed with it. That museum generously loaned me the Bren magazine rack many years ago which I had copied for both mine and the AWM examples.

77210 ended up in Qld: I sold it only partially restored not long before we moved to the USA. Like Rick, I'd been collecting 'bits' for years, including all the fitout items such as the spare vision blocks, No.19 Mk2(Aust) wireless, AFV gas masks, flare pistol & holster, Bren mags, great coats, blankets, POL cans, pioneer tools, and so on.

The Cairns museum appear to have a way to go yet to complete the external fitout, which I hope they will do soon: a vehicle looks so much more 'complete' with its issued 'kit' stowed in the right spots.

Mike