Canadian Ferret surfaces in NJ

[Robin Craig]

Dear Paul,

Great to see you here and posting about your Canadian Ferret.

Its 630 here on a Sunday and I am up and off to volunteer at an event for the day, we were called out at 3am this morning to a medical call on the Fire Department, I told you I was a busy boy.

I am now going to go look at mine this afternoon when I get home for what you have found in the same place.

Trust me, yours is a Canadian vehicle, of that I am most certain.

Dan McLaren (sp) posted a picture somewhere from Soest I think it was of a Canadian Ferret with slanted side hatches, that is the one you sent to me, we should put that one up here.

More to come later today

[Paul Salaterski]

Hey Gents,
I decided to spend some time on the Ferret after work today. Almost a full shift later and I've had mixed results with those numbers. What I did find is that all five of my external compartment latches have the same number stamped in them. They are also all individually stamped. The first stamp in the photo above is clearly visible while the remainder are extremely light. They are visible, but the stamps are NOT deep. It would be very easy to remove them with a little too much pressure. I NEVER would have noticed these if that first latch stamp hadn't been struck so well. I used a little bit of aircraft stripper to lightly soften the paint and then used a pocket knife with light pressure. I don't believe that a manufacturer would stamp the same part number into both left and right-sided latches and stamp them individually and so poorly at that. I'll post some more photos as soon as I'm back home. Thanks, Paul

[Wayne Hingley]

The Ferret CFR listings on Ramtank show 82559 having S/N 36BA33 and last unit being 12RBC in Valcartier. I'm sure other people on here can help get more info.

[Paul Salaterski]

Hey Wayne,

Thanks so much for the assistance. I don't quite understand why a Canadian vehicle would have both numbers? I'm assuming that other set of numbers you've given me is from the British Army. I'm going to have to read up on this. Thank you again for your help. Paul

[Wayne Hingley]

I do not know anything about Ferrets, but I suspect the S/N listed would be from the manufacturer and not the British Army. Is there a Daimler data plate on the vehicle? If so, it should have a serial number on it, and with any luck it matches the number above.

[rob love]

While your vehicle does have a serial number, the British assigned it a registration number before it was sold to Canada. Canada wrote that as the serial number when it assigned a Canadian Army Number (CAR). That number later became the Canadian Forces Registration number when the Canadian Army, Navy, and Airforce unified in the late 60s.

The Canadian number of 54-82559 has some meaning. The 54 is the year it was accepted into Canadian service, and the 80,000 was a block of numbers saved for armoured vehicles. The ferrets ran from 82500 to 82623.

Your number 82559 would have been on license plates when the Cdn forces began using their own plates instead of provincial plates.

If you go to the ramtank page ( http://ramtank.ca/ferret.htm ) you will see photos of many of Canada's ferrets.

[Ed Storey]

The serial number for your Ferret 54-82559 is 36BA33, it was disposed of in September 1982.

[Paul Salaterski]

Hey Robin,

My apologies for not responding sooner. Glad to hear from you! Please tell me if you find anything on yours. I'm crossing my fingers, but PLEASE be gentle as I've recommended previously with removing the paint. The stamp is barely visible with the naked eye once the paint is removed at least on four of my latches, but they are there for sure.

Wayne,
No aluminum data plate inside the vehicle, just the welded tag with hull number and date. 464 . B . 8 . 4 ..

Rob L.,
Thank you. Now I understand! That explains a great deal to me. I'm going to visit that link you left for me as soon as I'm finished typing this.

Ed,
Thank you for that info. Every bit is really helping me out. Do you think there might be any other records of release or disposal to be found from 1982?

I've contacted Bovington Tank Museum in the past with regards to this Ferret, but they were unable to assist due to my not having the registration number for it. Unfortunately, the hull number and date on tag was really of no assistance to them. Now that I have the registration number, what are the chances of them having a previous photo of it? I REALLY want to know
so much more about it. I'll post some more info in a bit. Have to get back to work. Thanks again and best regards to all of you, Paul