[Robin Craig]

So the nugget of information that the Saracen was alleged to to be at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology (CMST) in their reserve collection has rattled around my head for a good number of years now.

I no longer live in Ottawa and trips to that town are less frequent and making appointments and travelling for a specific purpose gets awkward so I have not ferreted the vehicle out, until recently.

I was waiting for a supplier to perform a task and I was spinning my wheels, so I dropped by the CMST admin office and defeated the impervious exterior and the no doorbell ploy and made multiple phone calls on the provided office phone in the lobby (who can afford a reception desk these days) until I reached a human and pleaded my case.

Human first person interaction was quickly achieved with Gordon Perrault who is the Director of Conservation and Collection Service. He was very pleasant and despite my lack of an appointment was very willing to help me as he realised that being from out of town and my employment vagaries hindered that.

He arranged for staff member Phillip Craig, an Artifact Handler to escort me through the reserve collection and show me the vehicle, which while he wasn't sure about Phillip reassured him they very much had and he knew about it.

I then went to the storage facility and met with Phillip who was a very pleasant and knowledgeable gentleman, not surprising as he shares my last name.

The CMST is in a state of change and rebirth as the new museum has recently opened and the reserve collection will also move there into a new storage facility in the coming months / year.

We passed many significant artifact as we walked and squeezed past items under wraps I recognised many from visits many years ago. He switched lights on as we went deeper into the depths. Finally we arrived at a very dusty lump under plastic. It was the Saracen.

I was giddy as the proverbial school boy and started discussing and explaining the base vehicle as Phillip wrestled with the huge sheet of plastic and the the cover under that. Obviously it was fairly hemmed in and photos were not the best. However Phillip said he had at least one picture in the online museum catalogue but there may also be other shots on the museums own data base he could let me have for use on the forum and elsewhere with credit.

Once back in his office he found the photos and emailed them to me.

These pictures were taken during a shuffle a few years ago and the vehicle was not running. So, with credit to the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology and with my most sincere that to Gordon Perrault and Phillip Craig, here is the radar Saracen.