with music like that you should be in a leopard print spedo's with a glow stick in each hand dancing on the tank

It looks fantastic, all who save history are to be congratulated.

Hi Fitter Mat team, Myself and a work colleague (Tim) live in New Zealand and have enjoyed watching your BARV series of videos. We understand that you don’t know a lot about the history of your BARV but we believe that Tim can help you fill in some of the gaps. Tim is ex-Royal Armoured Corps and is a keen model builder and tank enthusiast. He used to live in north Devon near Instow where at the time (70s/80s), MTDE Technical Group REME, Fording Trials, had a base there. This is now known as ATTURM, which is Amphibious Trials and Training Unit, Royal Marines. Tim has a photograph of a vehicle he saw at an open day at that base in August 1987. There were two BARV’s there and the one he photographed has the registration 05ZR02. This matches the markings on your vehicle. We also have an image from the book ‘Modern Combat Vehicles: 2, Centurion’ by Simon Dunstan, showing the same vehicle. We can’t see a way to attach photos to this comment but if you send a contact email address, we'll send them to you. Hopefully this is of interest to you and it helps fill in some of the gaps you know about the vehicle's history. Cheers Darryl and Tim

Excellent work getting the old girl back to running condition and looking pretty again. I briefly served onboard HMS Intrepid in 1989 and her BARV lived on the lower tank deck where she towered over the land rovers and 4-tonne Bedfords she was forced to share the deck with. I remember the artwork the booties decorated her rear access door with; it was a cartoon of of the back end of a cat with the title “Pete’s Pucker” 😸. The other thing that I remember was the track linkages were flogged out; you could see about 1/4” of wear on the link pins! Unfortunately I never got to see her run ☹️

That door mat made me chuckle Mat, loving the updates fella.

That's true, any parts that failed QC were used for Meteor production, though not actual Merlin engines as they rotated the wrong way (They changed the rotation of the engine when they developed the Meteor for tank use). It also had cast and not forged pistons and any Merlin blocks that were crack repaired were often used for Meteor production too (when planes crash landed or ended up on their nose they often cracked between the block and the propeller gear case so a steel bar was fitted between the two in the middle of the two banks of cylinders and of course two stromberg carbs were used whereas Merlins from about '42 had an early form of throttle body injection which was fitted onto the supercharger.

WELL DONE ! 😊 👍

Having subscribed right from the beginning, it's great to see an update on the old girl. Amazing what a bit of old fashioned elbow grease can achieve. Shame so many of these historic vehicles have been left to rot. But you guys have certainly found a niche and your skills do you all credit! Great channel and great content. Cheers 🍻

great job well done it look great Big Trev South Australia

I know I'm late on this one, but wow, I wouldn't have thought that possible. It looks marveklous.

spankingly gorgeous and the BARV looks great too - no sign of any beers in there - please correct lol

Looks fantastic. Such a difference from how it started!

I came across you guys early in the BARV project! Cheers from the northwest corner of the lower 48!

I can't believe how good that looks ! Very well done to all the chaps that were involved. One point though, those tracks look a little too tight, you'll knacker the final drives if they're too tight 👍

7:20 It's not an old wives tale. Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust No35 The Rolls Royce Meteor-Cromwell and other applications has the full story. The TL:DR version is that RR developed the Meteor but the MAP wouldn't allow Derby to produce anything other than Merlins. As a result RR set up a plant at Bobbers Mill Nottingham to build Meteors while Meadows, the selected builder, set up facilities. At the time they could build about 10 engines/week. Parts not up to standard for the Merlin but were OK for the Meteor were sent across supplemented by components removed from crashed aircraft and engines damaged in service. Some of the grey-heads I've worked with started at Bobbers Mill, great stories but there is little left of the plant now.

All credit to you all for your dedication & skill for saving an incredibly rare machine. 👍

WOW! What a great job on the BARV!

Brilliant job. Thankyou for saving another piece of history. Pains me to see old kit going to rot

Can't beat a bit of bronze green

Excellent job, you boys are good!

Marvelous job, hard to believe it's the same vehicle.

Fantastic restoration work!

Bloody well done boys!

Nice touch with the door mat. Have to remember to wipe the's feet.

Amazing job, I watched from the beginning love your channel .

Really enjoyed the restoration on this, well done to all muckers

Fantastic job, looks unreasonable from what it locked like in the first few videos. Great work 😎🍺

Perfect on the throne length vid and stunning job on the barv too

Absolutely fantastic job by you guys ..would love to see the collection of vehicles you all have worked on and restored

Awesome thank you for your hard work

Looks awesome. Such a difference inside and out.

Outstanding job , she looks new again .

Nicely done guys, she's looking great. An awful lot of effort has gone into this project and you should all be very proud of what you have achieved. I look forward to seeing the BARV running and moving sometime soon.

Absolutely stunning. Glad it is not going to be a museum queen, that meaty meteor definitely needs to be heard. When I first saw it I thought what an ugly piece of junk, but thanks to blood, sweat and blasphemy she’s now a peach. Congrats.

You’ve done well with her👍 But you do ave to take it into some water at some point 😁

Transformed to what it was in the beginning ! great job !

Wow,fantastic guys 👍

Looking really good, nice work guys. Edit: just seen the doormat and I take it all back! 🤮😁

Great job looking good now where is the compulsory kettle for tea as all British tanks must have

Bloody lovely, great job guys, many hours in that, well spent! Been watching from the beginning. 👍👍

When I saw your first video on this snored vehicle it was a rust bucket and I dreamed of the day it would look brand new

great job, would be great to see it first hand . . . but being in Oz . . . a bit far away for that.

It's hard to believe it's the same vehicle. You guys do amazing things.

That isn't a old wife's tale . You said it spot on about how merlins became meteors. Can you imagine though what kind of power the barv would have if it had the blower still on the engine....

Thant's a more useful asset than a deactivated gun MBT, IMHO.

Great job considering what you guys started with.

Bloody brilliant result Lads. This was the beast that got me following your fookin' abaht! And long may you do so... 🤭👏👏

Omg great job I remember seeing it way back , that's what got me watching you guys , great transformation give yourselves a pat on the back 👍 😀

What a machine.

A really bad idea to go drive that into the sea, but, kind of has to be done ^-^

Brilliant job.

Looking nice!

Top Job chaps....

Amazin t see it now well done lads 👊

congrats lads, looks fooking mint!

Top job guys, really impressed how the Barb turned out. My dad who served in RE told me the same thing about the merlin engines being reused in tanks.

Eehh lad she's scrubbed up right nice😉😉 please post from inside when you fire the beauty up next 🔥keep up the awesome work guys

Great job ! Looks fabulous 👍

She's looking sweet. Well done.

Just needs its own extra deep wading pool to frolick in..........

bloody marvellous , nice job

Looks like you could go camping in it, beautiful piece of work.

You have done a great job. Well done-the first of many?

Beautiful!!

Looks bloody brilliant I reckon. Have watched this transformation from the begining. A lot of hard work and skill gone into it, well done to all. Looking forward to some Chieftain vids now hehe....

Great job boys!

Very well done lads. Congrats!

Looks very good

very nicely done!!

Excellent job lads 👌

Awesome Matt!

Matt you said that you wanted to give these vids a proper go and you are. Nice one, keep them coming 👍

Outstanding work on the BARV well done chaps 👏🏻 incidentally I've almost caught up with your videos after discovering you through tiktok. Keep up the great work 👍🏻

Ooo shiny!

Great video!

That beast turned out absolutely fantastic, well done to you all, if you need a assistant driver, I will put ,y hand up, best regards from Australia.

Superb job lads.. Tracks look a bit tight?

I think you’ve done a fantastic job painting inside and out but how in gods name can you paint in all the nooks and crannies.

That looks so good from we’re it was Well done you guys 👍👍👍

So when will it swim again?

😎👍

Looks incredible compared to what you started with.

Great job lads! What a difference, esp to the inside. Out of interest, did you have most of the kit with it on the outside or have you had to source that?

Ah crap, the Mrs now know where her Live.Laugh.Love mat disappeared to.

There is more room in Barth engine bay than the cent

I have to say that is the ODD'EST vehicle I have ever seen!! She'll DEFINITELY not win any beauty pageants that's for sure .... but MAN what a transformation you guys have done to her !! YOU GUYS DESERVE A PAT ON THE BACK AND A BEER !! Hope to see her at the show and MAYBE wangle an inside view !! CRACKING JOB !!

How long does it take for you guys fix it up like this good?

What was this tank's original designed purpose ?! What purpose did it serve ?

Looking great but could we have some nice diesel engine music please.

could this tank float?

I like your channel, it's unscripted and real which is great. However I do feel that this has the potential to be an even better channel if you were to show even more of these restorations. We see quite a few up to a certain point, then nothing. This is a good example, we saw a good bit of the BARV being taken apart etc. then running, but then nothing until it's all done. This isn't a criticism of your current content as I say I enjoy it, but just a suggestion to consider for the future of the channel content.

Prediction; within 10 years, you’ll be painting it in rainbow colours.

Interesting video. As usual. Not sure about the poofter dance music. not that there’s, uhm, anything wrong with, that.

“Cue the Music”, you really needn’t have bothered!

The stuff about "recycled Merlins" is kind of true. I got lost down an internet rabbit hole while watching these guys ( kzfaq.info ) and read something saying that.

The only thing about the BARV I do not like... it is too clean!

Are you listed on this link? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_armoured_recovery_vehicle thats all I know , whats the history on yours? Astonished that some WW2 BARV were in the Falklands !!! BTW thats a fine restoration.