The strategy the Society uses when performing major restorations is to strip a hull, or take it down to a frame, removing major components or systems as larger units. Once that is done, then, we take those units down into smaller parts for sorting, cataloguing and evaluation
this way, we can get down into the project “quickly”..and evaluate cost estimates if we come across something major. An example of this is the Societies Mk 6 Alvis Saracen, which we discovered , had major corrosion issues between the original hull plates, and the add on armour that was an upgrade against AP rounds. This added much to the cost of the restoration, as we needed to remove and later re-weld, large sections of the outer hull! By doing a fast strip down, we spotted this early in the process, and could make allowances for time ….and of course $$$!
With the M3 , things are moving in the same fashion, and we are now taking the larger sections, stripping them down, and boxing them by system for later resto as we move along . some areas are still stubborn…see drilling !, others yield great discoveries that just are not found any longer, such as the Hull Plate Hardness Testing and armour batch lot numbers. This set of numbers is located under the Cowl armour, where the windshield frame attaches to the cab, the instrument cluster and wires box hid this from view until it was removed !
We love the fact that although she’s almost 100% stripped, we still find surprizes like this !
