carrier wanted

peter smith · #1 16-03-10, 10:10

Gents (and Ladies as i am sure there must be some out there reading this), Does anybody know of a restorable British carrier for sale in the UK. I am now in a position to take on a restoration. I know they are very thin on the ground but thought one of you folks may decide against rebuilding an old wreck laying out the back of the workshop. If i dont ask i dont get. Any leads would be great. Mr ever hopeful.
Thanks Pete S.

Lynn Eades · #2 16-03-10, 11:50

It might be sensible to clarify just what you are after. It seems to me that there are very few British carriers in the U.K. I'm led to believe that most of them are Canadian built.
Good luck in finding what you want, and with its restoration. I hope to see its progress here in the future.
Welcome to the forum

peter smith · #3 16-03-10, 12:41

Hi Lynn,
Thanks for the nudge, i dont spend much time on forums and just thought i would stick my neck out on this one as all of you guys seem to be helping each other. You are of course right, not enough detail in the post, what i am looking for is the classic "universal carrier" not a T16 or Windsor. If it is British made even better. if its in the UK better still ! MK1 or MK2 complete vehicle or major parts, its hard to rebuild a carrier from the 2 wheels i have.

Pete Smith
Bedford OY 1943 GS

RichardT10829 · #4 16-03-10, 17:00

Peter.

You will have to be lucky to get any mk1 or mk2 in the UK that said they do turn up..... problem is getting folk to let go of them, and to do this it can get expensive. I imported a 1942 Canadian Mk1 Universal Carrier from Ontario but this was after a years search and an aweful lot of let downs........ things you need to consider are:

A) your budget

B) your access to toolage

C) your skill level for prefab etc

my carrier was very cheap but there was not much left of it..

If you Contact John at www.midwestmil.com and let him know you are looking for a carrier to restore, i am sure he will keep his ear to the ground for you.

last unit he sold was a beautiful mk1 3"mortar carrier which was circa 9K (then add about 3K to get her back to UK soil)

another contact is Dirk Leegwater at www.lwdparts.com he recently sold a mk1 tub and last year had a very complete mk2 unit which was 15.000 euro (obviously you would offset the shipping against bringing one back from Canada or Australia.

if you have to have British then Australia is your best bet as most of the Pattern carriers seem to end up there (plus they have also got LP carriers too)

carrier owners here in the UK and on this forum include

Kevin Powles
Martyn Tasker
Barry
Nick
Shaun Hindle
Nigel Watson (Author of the carrier books vol 1, 2 and soon to be 3)
Ron
and me.

pretty much a carrier platoon now

there will be others so sorry if i have missed them.

my point being get in touch with all of these people who can advise and share their experience with purchasing carriers and owning them.

sorry for the torrent of info but i can spend hours on the subject of looking and buying hahahaha.

cheers

Richie

Ron Pier · #5 17-03-10, 11:09

According to an article in the latest MVT Windscreen mag, there is a faily complete carrier laying in a hedge in Sussex.
It could be for sale, and enquiries in writing to.
Mr Peter Haining
The Claude Jessett trust co.
'Brasherlands'
Main Road,
Hadlow Down,
Uckfield,
East Sussex, TN22 4HS

Aparantly the carrier is missing it's gearbox which was removed to complete another vehicle.

Ron

RichardT10829 · #6 17-03-10, 11:59

Ron the chap will not let go of it if you refer to Kevin Powles thread the images of it are there, they were a bit cagy even letting me take measurements from it. the remains of the engine are there and the road wheels are good on it 90% of the track is there and the track guards need replaced, top armour is there but the tub is otherwise bare.

I offered a massive sum of money to see if they could be "bought" on board, but the trustee of the carrier will NOT let it go and stopped all corespondance and would not return any of my calls. he made it very very clear that this was not for sale.

unless it was my Geordie accent which drove him up the wall, or he dispises Northerners (ie the bit of the Uk beyond Manchester

)

peter smith · #7 17-03-10, 22:48

Richard Hi,
Many thanks for the sound advice. The letter was been written and sent for the carrier from "windsceen". i expect it will either be gone or as you say not for sale. i will keep you all up dated when i get a vehicle.

Pete Smith
Bedford OY

eddy8men · #8 18-03-10, 20:09

sent my letter off this morning too, hope mine gets there first

martyn · #9 18-03-10, 20:20

bugger why am i the last to know i have only just got my windscreen mines in the post tomorrow

I stand no chance then unless like you say richard it isnt for sale ive had this before people list stuff then change there minds, me and a friend both rang about a dodge WC 63 from a chap he went all the way with the sale till i we said where is it i am on my way then it suddenly wasnt for sale? Maybe there just teasing us all ................

RichardT10829 · #10 19-03-10, 10:23

well I will be mighty pissed if he sells it after all the effort i went to explaining my situation and even offering a hansome sum for it....... looking at the track guards it will need a floor too methinks nothing major though psml

RichardT10829 · #11 31-03-10, 12:52

So.......anyones letters get a response ?