Canadian Ferret surfaces in NJ

[Paul Salaterski]

Hi Rob,

Are these fire extinguisher mounts and if so, are these the correct fire extinguisher mounts for the Ansul 5 pounders? The photos are from the left-side rear just behind the fender. The marks below the visible blocks seem to be grinding marks from previous mount locations.
AnsulLeft1.JPG
AnsulLeft2.JPG

[Robin Craig]

Dear Paul,

Great to see you here and posting about your Canadian Ferret.

Its 630 here on a Sunday and I am up and off to volunteer at an event for the day, we were called out at 3am this morning to a medical call on the Fire Department, I told you I was a busy boy.

I am now going to go look at mine this afternoon when I get home for what you have found in the same place.

Trust me, yours is a Canadian vehicle, of that I am most certain.

Dan McLaren (sp) posted a picture somewhere from Soest I think it was of a Canadian Ferret with slanted side hatches, that is the one you sent to me, we should put that one up here.

More to come later today

[Paul Salaterski]

Hey Gents,
I decided to spend some time on the Ferret after work today. Almost a full shift later and I've had mixed results with those numbers. What I did find is that all five of my external compartment latches have the same number stamped in them. They are also all individually stamped. The first stamp in the photo above is clearly visible while the remainder are extremely light. They are visible, but the stamps are NOT deep. It would be very easy to remove them with a little too much pressure. I NEVER would have noticed these if that first latch stamp hadn't been struck so well. I used a little bit of aircraft stripper to lightly soften the paint and then used a pocket knife with light pressure. I don't believe that a manufacturer would stamp the same part number into both left and right-sided latches and stamp them individually and so poorly at that. I'll post some more photos as soon as I'm back home. Thanks, Paul

[Wayne Hingley]

The Ferret CFR listings on Ramtank show 82559 having S/N 36BA33 and last unit being 12RBC in Valcartier. I'm sure other people on here can help get more info.

[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.