Canadian Ferret surfaces in NJ

[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

[Paul Salaterski]

By the way, Robin had previously mentioned that this Ferret was in a well known paint scheme. Which paint scheme is it? Does anyone have a photo of the paint scheme as it would have appeared on a Ferret? Thanks!

[rob love]

I think I posted the Ferret paint scheme about a decade or so back, so I have it in my file cabinets at home somewhere. The Canadian ferrets were painted in a pattern of black/flat green/light off white in the late 60s/early 70s, and changed to the more standard black/flat green and Canadian olive drab.

Alternatively, depending on the time period you want to rep[resent, it can be in the British semi-gloss Green, or after repaint, the Canadian semi-gloss green (much darker than the US semi-gloss green and without the brown tint).

I suspect the CFR number stamped on the bins was to prevent swapping between vehicles. The bins were subject to damage, and the armoured corps was always big on presentation. Especially that long bin over the side escape hatch.

[Paul Salaterski]

Hey Rob,

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with the paint scheme. I'll try looking for a few photos on the net. Your thoughts concerning the CFR's on the bins was something I had never thought of. Excellent!
I did spend some more time looking for numbers last night. I decided to change things up a bit and spent some time on the interior. What caught my eye this time was the small metal tag with the hull # and date. My interior was painted white at some point, so I have an extra coat of paint that helps hide things. I noticed that there was what appeared to be another digit on the tag above the date so I pulled my knife out and started scratching away at the top layer of paint. What I found was three additional numerals above the date. I believe that it might be 8 26. I'll post a couple photos. Has anyone any idea as to the meaning of these? I'm having a little issue reading the first digit, so I'm not exactly sure whether it's an eight as of yet.
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