I have posted this before but it has been substantially updated since I last posted it, this shows most of the Stags that survive today.
Tuesday 15 February 2022
Stag 1 - A new owner but the story continues.
So having purchased my second Staghound, a slight more complete example, I was unsure what to do with the first one. Initially I though of putting it back on its wheels and then looking to sell it as a static exhibit. I also considered restoring it as a command Stag, a sort of M20 armoured car version of the Stag, with no turret and an open top. Whilst there are no formal records of these ever being manufactured, photographic evidence exists of field conversions in war time use.
However after a chance phone call with a good friend of mine, one week later he decided to take on the project, and with the benefit of hindsight he was exactly the man for the job. Not daunted by anything, and happy to just see something run again, this was therefore an ideal project for him.
A month or so later all the parts were loaded up and delivered, much to the surprise of his fork lift that now has some seriously heavy metal to move about. After a few years procrastinating work got underway and has continued at a steady solid pace ever since. The first task was to re splice the upper hull and lower hull back together!
The sections of the floor were cut out as they had been weld in and then transplanted to the upper half of the hull.
This was without doubt a huge amount of work and all credit to the man who got it done!
The bonnets had been welded in place and these needed to be removed, another huge amount of grinding!
Wow - where has 7 years gone!
So it has been a while since I lasted posted, nearly 8 years in fact! Well as with anything in life things get in the way, but now the time has come to get moving with this restoration. I have been busily collecting parts over the past 7 years and now nearly have everything I need to undertake the restoration. Since my last post, I have sold the first Staghound to another UK based collector, who is also a good friend of mine. He is cracking on with the restoration and has given me permission me to post some pictures of the restoration of the stag to this blog.
The Staghound has been moved several times since 2014 and so it is now back on its wheels, well for the time being anyway. It is my intention to restore the Stag in time for the XX Corp trip to celebrate the 80th anniversary of WW2.
I have also always wondered what happened to the other Staghound that was sold at the Littlefield auction back in 2014, well it appears to have turned up in the Royal Jordanian Tank Museum!
Anyway I hope to be updating this blog on a much more regular basis from now until the end, so lets see....
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