I am very interested in the Manitoba Dragoons because they took such an active part in the liberation of the eastern part (where I live) of  The Netherlands. I own a Staghound Armored Car, of course in the vehicle markings of the Manitoba Dragoons. I have gathered photos and documentation concerning the Staghounds and the Manitoba Dragoons. What I've got consists basically of general information on the Staghound and a restoration report of my Staghound 

 
The Dutch Army had about 110 Staghounds in service in the period after the war. All these Staghounds came from huge Canadian vehicle stocks based in Holland. Most of the Staghounds served only a couple of years as most where put out of service in the early fifties. Some were stripped to bare hulls and used as "bunkers" to create fortifications around airfields. I know of at least seven of these "fortifications" which survive up to this day, but out of a car-restorers point of view these "vehicles" are only interesting because off their history, and not as a restoration project.

 
My Staghound ended its career in 1954 as a target on an artillery shooting range. See photo named "As-found1" and "As found2" I found it sitting there in 1995, so it had been there about 40 years. As a result of this 40 years in the open and the shooting it will be clear that there was much to do to get this car running again, but most of the parts where still there, although damaged. I found out on the data plates on the engines that these had been rebuild in 1953. Some of the interior parts still had paper labels attached showing dates of 1952 and 1953! I even found new parts in its original packing in the vehicle. It's really incredible to rebuild a vehicle to drive it to a shooting range!

 
I transported to the hulk to our workshop (As-found3). First I sanded the car to look for wartime registration numbers. There is another Staghound in Holland, and that one still had the original markings hidden unther several layers of paint which identified it as ex-Manitoba Dragoons! Mine had been sandblasted sometime, so no wartime numbers appeared. What did show up was the Dutch registration number 34909 but no history could be found as the Dutch army destroys the vehicle archives at the moment these go out of service.

 
Work on the Staghound started in May 1995. The first thing was to dis-assemble the vehicle to a bare hull (see Hull1 above) and inspect all parts to see if they were fit for future usage or for the scrap heap. Disassembly took some time because most of the bolt/nuts were rusted solid. I can remember spending a hole day with a friend "playing" with the gun mount to get it out of the turret, and ending up with 16 blisters in each hand (see Turret1 above).

After disassembly the hull was the first item to pay attention to. A lot of damage was done by the shooting on the range. There were about 50 holes  which had to be welded. There were (only) two hits through the engine compartment but one of them penetrated both rebuilt engines, reducing them to scrap (see Engine1 below)!

 
Nearly all the attachment brackets (and there are many, see Hull 2 above) were rusted so badly they had to be re-made and welded in. The engine mount had to be re-fabricated (see Hull3 below). Also there were some dents in the 3/4" thick side armour of the hull which had either to be pushed out with a 200-ton hydraulic jack or cut-out with a flame torch after which a new plate was welded in. All the work on the hull was done only on Saturdays (because of the hull being located 15 miles from my home) and it took me about 350 hours of grinding/remanufacturing and welding before the hull could be sandblasted
and painted (see Hull-restored below). In the meantime new parts had to be found and collected from all over Europe.

During the restoration work, new parts had to be found and collected. Previous restorations brought me into contact with a lot of parts suppliers, which now paid off because I knew the where-abouts of many Staghound parts even before I found a restorable example of this car. So it took just a few telephone calls to check if the parts were still there. To my luck, everything was still there so arrangements could be made to collect the parts.

New engines, transmissions, generators, front axle, transfer case, instrument panel and many small parts came from the U.K. I visited the U.K. about six times with a van to collect all the parts. The steering gear and new silencers came from Italy, a new rear axle from the U.S.A. Also, parts were found in Belgium, France and Australia.

Despite the fact that these parts were new, everything was completely taken apart to be cleaned/checked/restored/sandblasted/repainted and re-assembled. As per standard, all leather oil seals were replaced by modern ones, the engines got new bearing sets, crankshafts were balanced and the cylinder heads were ported and equipped with hardened valve seats. The axles got new brake-linings and all the rubber parts in the brake-cylinders and boosters (hydro-vacs) were replaced.

That also consumed a lot of time, especially because a Staghound has a lot of "double" parts, it has 2 engines, 2 transmissions, 2 generators, 2 radiators, 2 hydro-vacs, double electrical wiring, etc.

 
The turret basket (the crew-compartment untherneath the turret) was a real puzzle. It collected a couple of hits on the shooting range, and as a result, half  of it was gone, and the other half still remaining was badly damaged and rusted. So it took a lot of studying in the manuals to determine how things had to be restored. Finally, after panel-beating/grinding and welding all things came together. The photo shows the basket just before sandblasting and painting.

In the meantime assembly of the major parts (such as axles, steering gear, engines and instrument panel ~ above) on the hull could start. After that, the electrical wiring could be fitted. This involved a lot of work because all the wires are shielded and the presence of twin-engines.Also, the working position  (up-side-down with your head in the engine compartment) doesn't help in getting things done quickly, and dropping tools in the compartment may keep you busy for half an hour to get them out again!

 
But we were getting somewhere, and around Christmas 1997 the Stag was on its wheels again. The restoration has been going on now for 2.5 years.

In the beginning of 1998 we had to move from our old workshop to a new location. This meant a lot of work had to be done on the new workshop (we actually had to build it from the ground up), and that the restoration of the Stag stopped for about half a year. The photo below (on its wheels) shows the Stag in the new workshop, next to the M4A1 Sherman tank, a earlier project, and a lot of parts which still had to be sorted out after moving to the new workshop in May 1998. That's me you're looking on the back! I've been losing more hair since!