A few nights ago I was perusing through my Instagram feed as I typically do after a long day of monotonous college work. As I swiped up and down through the never ending landscape, I came across what may be the coolest thing I have ever seen. Hidden behind the layers of stupid Supra videos, re-uploaded Tik Toks, and cringeworthy business philosophy, was a page ripe with hidden treasure: @meccanicshop, AKA my mechanic from back home. As I made my way down their page I came across something out of the ordinary. Typically their feed is composed of the many classic Porsche 911s, BMWs from the early 2000s, and the odd truck that come into the shop to have work done. But this… this was something I had never seen before. Of all the cars and trucks I have seen parked out front their garage, this was so unexpected I quite literally had to do a quad take to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Without further adieu, I present to you a Ferret scout car that was serviced by the same men who wrench on my semi-broken Mini:

Right off the bat, the Ferret demands attention.  Based on looks alone you’d think it’s some sort of Goliath of a tank or Cold War experimental vehicle, and if that’s not enough to make your jeans a little uncomfortable then frankly I don’t know what is. In reality, the Ferret is nothing more than an armored scout car, successor to the WWII-era “Dingo” scout car. Even still, it’s essentially an armored Jeep with a turret on top. And yes, they can be street-legalized. Taking all of this into account, the Ferret almost seems like the perfect daily driver. Visibility is a little tough, but you need to think of the pros here: it’s light, nimble, small enough to take into the city, and virtually no one is going to cut you off if you’re the one behind three inches of bulletproof steel and not them. That is until they show up in an M1 Abrams or the street equivalent, the Hummer H1 Alpha. 

I digress. The Ferret has some historical significance too. It was built for the Brits back from 1952-1971 by Daimler. Yes, the same Daimler that made classic beauts like the SP250 and Regency. This unique war machine was powered by a Rolls Royce B60 Inline 6 engine that made about 130 horsepower. It’s 0-60 time is unregistered… probably because it reportedly maxes out at 58 miles per hour, but we can look past that. Typical armaments consist of either a .303 Bren or .30 Browning light machine gun in the turret, six forward smoke grenade launchers, and a 9mm machine carbine poking out the front. That’s not including the crew of two’s personal weapons. Ferret’s are actually best-known for being the longest serving scout vehicle in British history, going into service in 1952 and exiting in 1991. All in all the Ferret is a quirky machine and screams late 20th-century history.

That brings me to the conclusion and true purpose of this article. By now you may be wondering what the hell I’m even writing this for considering this is a car page, not a war page. Well to put it simply: I am interested in this tank and need to discover more. I have no idea how this tank ended up in North Salem, New York, considering only about 4,400 were ever made, but I am dying to find out how it got here, why it’s here, who owns it, what it’s like to drive, and what history it has behind it. This article marks the beginning of a journey that I wish to take everyone of you on and also marks the beginning of Road’s Edge’s latest topic: cool and unique cars for sale. In this topic we will be posting about the cool and interesting cars we find on sites like eBay, Craigslist, Bring a Trailer, DuPont, and many more. But that’s all to come. To conclude, I will soon be reaching out to the guys at Meccanic when I get home for the semester, but until then, the story and legend of this armored menace will remain a crazy mystery.