Two more wrecks in my yard

[RichardT10829]

the floor is only made from 3 - 5mm plate beleive it or not so would not be an expensive job... and no one would be the wiser if it was replaced if you look on some of the castings you will get dates ie the gear lever casting that mounts to the floor, this item would rarely be changed during the carriers life the code may start with FMco then a two digit number ie on mine it is FMco42 (made by ford motor co 1942) it may assist with a rough date for the hull. looking at the front idler setup you have something a bit more special as they were changed out to the type i have (and most other people) the idlers you have on that hull were used on the Bren carriers and were only ever used on a small number of universal carriers (to use up the stocks) infact you may find a lot of the components within have different part numbers, or numbers which relate to being used in Brens rather than Univesal.......... have i sold you yet ?

the side armour will be a sinch to do in the scheme of things then you will have a majority genuine hull rather than a Mk2 with incorrect armour from a mk1 on Bogeys and wheels etc i have found are fairly available still so you could either borrow them from the remains of the Mk2 or preserve the mk2 (for later restoration wink wink) then collect bits for this rare Mk1

[Lynn Eades]

There is no doubt that this is an early U.C. I would like to hear a bit from the history guys. According to Nigel Watsons book, there was a batch of 300 U.C's built by Nuffield, Hull numbers T8120 to T8419. May be this was sent to Canada for trials etc. Maybe this is the reason why it has a "C" suffix.
Richard. dating by part number has its draw backs. 1942 was the height of manufacturing for many military vehicles. the most Jeeps, the most Dodges, and who knows what in carriers. I would put this carrier as 1940 or 1941. When did production start in Canada? It was already up and running in early 41. Was this carrier built in Canada or the U.K?

[RichardT10829]

if i read the lists correctly by tying up serial 777 to its ct number (CT 42895) it was made by Ford Canada, now with that in mind did Canada ever produce the earlier Bren ? According to the Book Canada were asked to produce Carriers from June 1939 however thanks to British Beurocracy (sorry guys) the first carriers were not made until circa 19th June 1940 and these initial ones were made with British componentry fitted with the lucas lamps etc etc. So potentially this carrier could have been from the first batches of Mk1* made by canada ? on page 110 there is a photo of a carrier CT43054 (from same batch as CT42895) used by 7th Recce Bat and the hull has all the same features as serial 777, photo is taken on tour in france

on Page 114 and 115 of Carrier book Vol 1 there are some production pictures of early Canadian Mk1s I am still reading through for references to the rubber gun rests rather than the wooden ones.

i totally agree with regards to the numbering on casts my thoughts being that unless the gear lever housing was changed the date could potentially point out that the hull was made no earlier than that on the housing, but like everything with these beasts that I have learnt, nothing is final or foolproof