Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

The hull was now nearly ready to take to the sandblasters but before I took into town I did a complete photo walk around taking photos of every stencil and sign on the hull, mudguards and lockers etc.

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The Hull number 1726 was stenciled onto the front of the fuel tank armour on both sides. Note the sand coloured base paint with green camouflage.

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‘Sling Here’ at the four lifting points.

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‘W/T’ on both escape hatches. Notice I did not say doors, these are just that, Escape Hatches in case of a roll-over.

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Tonnage and Tare on the out side of the fuel tanks. (TARE 3 tons 13 cwt 3 lbs.)
And other stencil’s in other places.

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and the unit sign of the 1st ARMOURED REGIMENT (I think) who went to Japan with BECOF in January 1946 as the 1st Australian Armoured Car Squadron – the vehicles were initially 18 Staghound Armoured Cars and 8 Canadian Scout Cars (Lynx). ( I am open to correction here as I am not up on Heraldry).

Rick.

[lynx42]

The chassis was ready to pick up from the sandblasters and with that out of the way I was able to take in the stripped hull, the front axle complete with springs and other smaller items.

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Once again a crew at the sandblasters was arranged and they did the heavy work as I took photos.

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The chassis came up a treat.

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At last I was starting to see some results happening. The chassis was taken home and set up ready to receive the many items as they were rebuilt.

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The front axle, hubs etc were all sealed up so that the medium would not get into the workings. Large coffee tins were just the right size to seal off the hubs.

Rick.

[lynx42]

Well believe it or not we were only 21 days (three weeks) after the Lynx was pushed into the shed and the chassis has been sandblasted and painted in undercoat.

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You do not realize how many parts there are until you completely strip a vehicle down.

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Many more small pieces were then taken to the sandblaster.

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The rear radiator armour is one heavy piece but I was glad that it had not been butchered as it lay out in the paddock for 40 years.

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The lifting rings. And there is a story. The hull had the two top rings with it when I picked it up so I had to locate two more. Tony L. in SA found one for me and I was able to find one in a farmers shed. This farmer had wrecked a Lynx many many years ago (Hull No. 718). He thankfully still had the drivers seat and a few small bits. I visited him one day and as we chatted in his workshop I saw one lifting ring hanging on a nail on a post. That gave me the four I needed.

I did know where the two original ones were off my hull. Charlie McCallum had welded the into a rear bumper bar on one of his Dodge Weapons Carriers as tow or tie-down rings. This Dodge is now in the Canberra area and I was offered the bumper bar but the rings had been well welded in.

Rick

[lynx42]

There were still plenty of bits to go on with whilst waiting for the sandblaster to get his gear repaired.

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The armoured roof was next to be dis-assembled. This is quite a heavy bit of ¼” armour plate which hinges in the middle and then folds back out of the way.

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Pulling this handle releases the two latches at each side to allow the whole thing to lift back.

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There are hinges, latches, pivot arms and plenty of other fittings including the earthing straps every where.

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Not all the nuts came undone, but I was pretty lucky.

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The latches were rusted solid and I had to get new springs made after pulling the whole thing apart.

[lynx42]

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The reason it hinges in the middle is so the front half can be folded back or with it in that position the whole roof lifts back and sits on a special rack at the rear of the crew compartment. Rubber head protectors were where the darker parts are. These pads were about 1/2 inch thick but very necessary when closed down.

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Plenty of rust to beat here.

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The Lynx Mk.II did away with the roof and partially closed in the top opening with rubber pads all around for protection. (Peter Duggan has that type).

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This is one from the web. You can see the rubber pads around the opening.

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On the Lynx Mk.I special locks are supposed to hold it in the open position otherwise you might be decapitated.

Rick

[lynx42]

Not all the metal in a Lynx is armour plate. There are the mud guards, lockers, many brackets, the under engine belly plates and the radiator grill, and a few other thin bits.

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I was lucky as when I located the hull at Charlies, the side lockers and mudguards were almost undamaged as you can see in these two photos.

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The full width front locker was still attached but had seen better days.

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The mudguards were basically straight but would take quite a bit of panel beating to make them good enough.

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No, that is not a dent or bend in this left side rear mudguard. It is the factory made clearance for the muffler which is seen on both the left and right guards.

Rick.

[lynx42]

The diamond pattern mesh grill only was slightly damaged and not beyond repair even though it was lying out side for so long. This grill is the same open diamonds shaped extrusion as a Chev Blitz radiator grill. Strange as it is a Ford product not a Chev. I will put up some photos of the grill in the next post.

I had placed all of these thin bits under cover back when I first picked up the Lynx and had not been near them since.

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I was very fortunate that whenever Charlie pulled something to bits, he put the nut and washer back on the bolt and threw them into a tin. Every bracket had the bolts put back into the holes in the bracket with the nuts and washers. Who does that? I might with some things, but Charlie was regimented in it. Most of these bits were scattered through-out the auction and as I said earlier, I was able to locate most of them, place them on one pallet and purchase then as a job lot.

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The front and rear guards still had their light brackets but the light were beyond saving. More on the lights later.

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The front guards still had the head light brackets which had been highly modified, the side marker lights which were rusted out and none of the locating brackets or footman loops for the 2 gallon cans which mount on the guards.

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The guards needed a good clean before being straightened and taken to the sandblasters.

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Rick.