Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Ford Mk VI 

My dad fought in these antiques at the Battle of Kipushi, Congo 1962. His section of two Fords fired 48,000 rounds in support of Irish and Gurkha troops. He won the DSM for his bravery and leadership in that action.

Ahhh the "oh bugger, the vehicle is on fire". I missed that segment! It's been a while!

The correct term for manual steering is "Armstrong Steering".. If you don't have strong arms when you start, you will after you're done.

My first thought on seeing the thunbnail was: "There is an amoured version of the 2CV???" 😂

Also, giben the contortions the chieftan does, he really should consider starting a 'Chieftan does Yoga' series - so you too can contort yourself into your local 1930s ergonomic Dali masterpiece

ANY armour is better than no armour, especially if the opposition has none.

Even though they were camera shy it was awesome of them to give you access! She's a beauty!

So this is essentially the same thing as a Soviet BA series armored car, which were built on GAZ chassis, which were just Ford AA truck chassis. Except they used the heavier three-axle varient. The layout and concept is almost identical. Or rather it's similar to the BA-20, but on a heavier chassis, without the heavier cannon turret armament that the Soviet truck-based armored cars got). Although you could say it is similar to the FAI-M armored car, in that the chassis is longer than the hull and sticks out behind it. Which is interesting because the FAI was based on the Soviet copy of the Ford Model A automobile, while this is a truck chassis like the later BA-3/7/10 (although really a Ford AA or AAA truck is pretty similar to the car, it just uses thicker steel for the frame, stronger springs and different gearing in the axle and transmission). The FAI-M ended up with that shelf because they switched to the newer generation car chassis when Ford came out with the 32 Ford chassis, which was a bit larger, so they just took the valuable and expensive hulls they already made off of the old chassis and adapted them to the new, longer ones (which makes you realize just how amazing the amount of equipment they produced during the war really was, when a few hundred armored cars was considered a major expense a few years before that, and the US was building tanks by dozens, not thousands). So im curious if something kind of similar happened here, they designed the hull to fit a car chassis, and then someone decided it really want strong enough, so they just switched it to a truck chassis without changing the design at all. Anyway, if you just want a vehicle to patrol the roads and guard convoys, these work quite well, and are much cheaper than purpose built off-road types. I like to speculate just how miserable it must have been trying to drive something like this in snow or mud. Two wheel drive, skinny tires with not much tread, no modern snow tires, and it has the weight of a fully loaded truck. I have to assume they used tire chains, because that just wouldn't work well.

Commendable that they used welding which was only beginning to take over in British armoured vehicles when they were first made. Especially as the British shipyards were offering good money to welders at the time and I dare say most Irish welders went there to benefit from good wages.

Go back in time, make a tracked variant so we can have a track tension segment

if he fits, he sits

Thanks Nick, as usual, you're sense of humour shines through. Oh, happy fathers day to all the dad's out there.

The Americans who shipped these to the Congo were utterly amazed at this junk being brought out that far. The Irish were offered better vehicles and the Govt refused. Our troops went out with no artillery or anti aircraft cover and paid for it, because of penny pinching by the State.

Even in Denmark, during the German Occupation, the Resistance Movement built an armored car for the End-Fighting in Denmark, during the war. It became used and it is still to be seen outside the new Resistance Museum in Copenhagen (The first Museum became burned from arson, some years ago, as it was built from wood!). Finn. Denmark

This and the Swedish KP car was probably the coolest vehicles on 1960s Congo 😅

nice bit of history. hope we get to see the other bits of kit they have at some point.

Every single Ford flathead sounds the exact same, lol. Sounds just like my grandfather's 1936 pickup starting. So much of this thing is stock late 30's-early 40's ford pickup, it's cool

Thompsons of Carlow; they were and are an engineering firm and they also made landmines, gunshields and any other engineering requirement of the Irish Army of the time.

The oil on the floor confirms that it is a Ford.

A vehicle where the engine and reliability may be somewhat more bulletproof than the (not armor grade) armor :D Really enjoyed seeing this

Ah, so THAT'S where Lancia got the idea for the control layout of the Stratos rally car!

23:27 "Oh bugger, someone fookin farted in this thing."

Thank you for the “unusual vehicle” walk around🤠 This is a unique example

The left seat position reminds me of nothing so much as David Fletcher's remark about the similar crew position in the Charioteer tank: "They've done away wth the front hull machine gunner, although they sometimes sat a man in there, in supreme discomfort."

8:00 A Colles Fracture (a specific type of wrist fracture) was known back in The Day as a chauffeurs fracture. I remember the phrasing used back in the 80's by older colleagues.

On the subject of European Fords, how did Ford USA deal with Ford Germany, during the War? The proclivity of hand-cranked Ford engines to kick back and break the cranker's wrist was infamous as far back as the Model T. In Buster Keaton's silent 1920 short 'Neighbors,' a character appears with his arm in a sling. When another character asks him what happened, he replies - via intertitle 'card' - "I bought a Ford."

Oh this is awesome! I love seeing these oddball vehicles.

A modeler should be able to scratchbuild one of these relatively easily from sheet stock on the truck chassis as kits of that vintage truck seem to be readily available. The only complex shape is the turret but it’s a simple cone and all the other small stuff like the tools and tow hooks could be scavenged from in-period tank kits. What a cool old vehicle. I have the same soft spot for oddball military vehicles. More please, as you find them.

At 5:30 the image of the front drum brake shows a bolt head in the upper right corner of the brake backing plate. That is the brake adjustor, on the other side is a snail cam that interacts with a post on the brake shoe. as you rotate the bolt, the cam engages the brake shoe post and push the brake shoe out, till it locks against the drum. Same system as on my series Landrover. The handcrank is very useful for setting valves

This thing is evidence of "you fight with what you have - not what you want". For fighting light infantry or paratroops with no heavy weapons - this ain't too bad. The water-cooled Vickers keeps going as long as it has ammo to shoot - and some water in the jacket to cool. If you run out of water - some other readily available body liquid will do.... The armor isn't great - but to stop some small-caliber bullets or light shrapnel - it does the job. Plus: In an environment with some cover (like buildings in a city) and with quite good mobility - it's a lot better than nothing. If you as a commander know and understand the limitations of your gear (in WW2, the British in particular were very good at that) - and use it accordingly - it will be a lot more effective than most people give them credit for.

"Stamped pattern" = chequerboard / checkerboard. You're welcome! :-) Interesting vehicle - a bit different. Good presentation, Chieftain. Again.

Definitely. better than nothing. I noticed the driver's seat has an adjustable back, so you may find that the driver can slide in and out of the seat and adjust it to suit.

Cool to see how much of the original truck was used. Looks like stock fenders, lights and running boards.

25:35 "Too much money to replicate." I think that if I had an old truck with approximately the right wheelbase I could replicate this for filming purposes on a long weekend out of a bunch of old refrigerator shipping cardboard boxes. Nearly everything is a straight, flat edge. The hardest part would be the fenders, but any civilian truck and many civilian cars of this era could donate fenders that would look convincing enough.

The red lever on the dash is a battery dissconnect "Key", the key can be removed but only locks in the "on" or "take out" position. It's not spring loaded like a typical car key. I have the very same one in my GTO as a battery disconnect .

"I've been in worse Irish vehicles..." Oddly specific--and restrictive--categorization. 😀

We had a 1967 Dodge van with the same suspension. I remember it developed a steering shimmy which was fixed by the highly skilled application of a sledge hammer.

The chassis is a Ford 3/4 ton truck with the body on the mk6 being built from Thompsons in Co. Carlow. @Karl Martin has a video on RU-vid with a handful of the running vintage fleet on parade on Cavalry Day. Great video and thank you for your content

That bracket behind the seats scares me a bit. If you stop suddenly, I could see a skull fracture or broken neck in the future as your neck and head whipped backwards fast. You would a good protective skull bucket to avois that. Maybe it was heavily padded originally?

That patterned flooring is called "diamond plate" in the trade, Nick...

I particularly enjoyed this episode because the creation of this vehicle was less an exercise in marshaling specialized industrial resources to produce a specialty military vehicle but more an exercise in industrial ingenuity. When people have to do what they can, where they are, with what they have we start to see all sorts of creative thinking coming into play. I'd like to see some comparison with this and other examples of converting civilian manufacturing capabilities to making military vehicles. Maybe look at the Fahd APC? This might be an interesting opportunity for another collaboration with Perun where you could expand the subject to look at common chassis systems like the Stryker, Patria, and Boxer.

Crank handles survived into the 1960s because they were useful for turning a petrol engine over during the piston-decoking process and for setting valve or distributor timing. I did all of that with my first two cars, in the 1980s. This is why … if your vehicle comes with a crank handle, you keep that tool. Much handier than leaning over the radiator and mucking around with accessory drive belts!

I absolutely love armored cars from the interwar and ww2. They have a cool style and are so interesting. I really hope you have the opportunity to make more videos about armored cars

Thanks for sharing this. Always love seeing the different vehicles other countries use/used.

18:20 A Bob Semple Tank would be the holy grail, right?

Imagine that having to face Pz.Kpfw. IIs let alone even early Pz.Kpfw. IIIs or IVs.

As an Irish man who is from where the unit was built, its more of a mystery / a rare opportunity to hear a flathead V8 running when it's out on parade.

I would hope they wore hearing protection. I would imagine the noise from firing even a medium machine gun would be horrific in that acoustic environment. I am also noticing no brass catcher on that gun which to me implies those firing cases would be pelting everyone inside the vehicle.

Why, yes. It's a lovely little Emergency armored truck. Gotta pester a friend of mine now and have him design and 3D print it for me.

I love armored trucks and cars like this. Its such an interesting middle ground for armored vehicles and we just sorta passed them by. Largely because war didn't break out in the 20s or 30s where they would have been most useful. Its just always interesting to think about.

That driving position sounds very familiar to anyone who has driven an old-style Mini.

From the outside it looks like a Dalek is driving. Truly terrifying in the 1960's

What a neat historical vehicle! Happy father's day!

Yes Dunlop still makes them, many kinds of farm equipment still use them to this day. "Cant fix what isnt broken"

Well that’s a crazy design

Another rousing edition of "Can The Chieftain fit?" 😅 Definitely an odd little armoured car. But, the Bob Semple Tank makes this vehicle look like a Tiger in comparison. 😎👍

A little detail you overlooked, or may it was removed and not replaced. The Ford didn't have synchromesh, of course, but just under the gear-lever knob was a tab that operated a clutch brake, which helped the driver when double-declutching.

Ohhh man, is so lovely!!

In that color it looks like someone took an ice cream truck and bolted on some armor on and fitted a turret

Shame they missed armoured cars out of the jadotville film

Please tell us your going through the whole collection?

Nice looking vehicle for what it is.

That vehicle would look so cool with a wooden back cargo area like a Hillbilly truck, overhanging the rear axle. Nice video, thanks.

Its a Grand look'n Yoke boy!!

I hope we get a closer look at those AMLs soon!

Never knew they did a cav day!

Quite an elegant vehicle

This looks a whole lot like Soviet FAI armored car. Parola museum in Finland have a nice collection of Soviet armored cars. Would they be accessible to Chieftain?

I wouldn't know what it was, if not for remembering this odd duck from your video on the history of Irish armored cars.

Thompsons of Carlow in fact.

This “hot rod” is cooler then cybertruck and I guess not as heavy

Would love to see a video on the AML series. Was always curious about them

Thompsons of Carlow, also wings for Bristol fighters during Ww1

Cool

If only Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie and Clyde) had one of these. He had a passion for Ford flathead V-8 power!

Ok, now I really want to rock up to Tesco in one of these.

Greetings, all!

The bike brake solution is something straight out of a Spike Milligan sketch.

thanks the gods, another upload!

Can't forget the tail light!

Fires right up built Ford though baby

8:24 That's the snazziest gauge cluster I think you'll ever see on an armored car

The seat back looked to be able to fold down which would have made things a lot easier. Thanks for your videos.

It does look a little Hot Rodish from certain angles . in a Wacky Races sort of vibe .

8:14 I should call her...

Love how the hood acts as a bullet funnel directly into the windshield 😂

The emergency, by hell my cousin still has her granfathers emergency medal strangely though it's got 1939 to 1946 on it. Even more bizare sat watching this with a drop of Kilbeggan in my hand.

Could block average AR ammo but not even M80A1 still looks good , nice video

A very beautiful car - I reckon the Chieftain will fit too lol.

As a fort man, I would totally buy it.

Didn't two of these manage to damage a Fouga Magister at Jadotville?

Ford and Toyota make the best trucks currently, so it’s no surprise that the thing is based on a ford cv.

Love these improvised civilian vehicles. Wonder what an armored Raptor would look like today?🤔 Not the one already made for VIP security but built for actual scouting purposes.

There is a replica Bob Semple tank just outside of Geraldine, NZ.

He is back to his roots 😂

Was this for the 1968 Lemans? I can guess what the race strategy was but I don't recall the FIA's rules for adding ammunition during the race at pitstops.

Im really glad you made this, i have been kind of wondering what the interior of the BA-20 and other Soviet armored cars looks like, and this is probably pretty much the same idea. It's hard to find images of stuff like that. Hard enough to find info about the interior of major tanks, armored cars are even more neglected. I assume the dashboard is just the factory equipment refused in the modified vehicle. It's all designed to work already, you already have it, so why bother changing it?

the turret was basically hefted around by the gunner. he might have got a hand from the third crewman. it had no traversing gear.

Very good👍

Looks like the perfect car for driving Uber in Memphis.