Kleiner Panzerfunkwagen (Sd.Kfz.261) Ausf.B- 5.Serie– Breaking News

The chemical rust stripping of the Typ v Fahrgestell for the Foundation’s Sd.Kfz.261 Ausf.B to allow the major surgery required to return the chassis to a roadworthy condition has provided a pivotal revelation. While separating the chassis into sections we have continued to clean and address the problem areas. Separating the frame into sections allow us to get closer and handle the chassis more easily. Over the years the Foundation had sourced two of original, and rare, Getriebe (gearbox) for Typ v chassis. The two gearboxes represent a wide range with Getriebe Nr. 731 and 1014. Prior to overhaul we had to decide which gearbox would be closer to the correct period of our chassis number 8110027. Both were obviously a long way off from the chassis number, so a final check was required to ensure that the chassis number was 8110027. The chassis was now in a very different state to that prior to being sent to the chemical rust stripping specialists. The number had previously been wire brushed to attempt to break through the rust and allow us to read it, but it was now crystal clear. There was no rust sediment in the numbers which had been stamped into the frame. Please refer to the image alongside of the Fahrgestellnummer as seen prior to the chemical rust stripping process. This appears to show 811 0027 and was recorded as such. “I was requested to confirm the Fahrgestellnummer yet again for our research group. the workshop team provided a powerful lamp, and one was delivered and held in the appropriate position for us to confirm the chassis number for the last time. To my great surprise on the clean chassis, in the comfort of our workshops, under the lamp, a completely different number 8110827 was clearly visible”. (see attached image). The third last digit was clearly a number 8 and not a zero. This Fahrgestellnummer 8110827 pointed to a chassis assembled much later than our earlier observed chassis number. The chemical rust stripping also revealed a corresponding frame number 927 previously hidden which further confirmed the newly revealed Fahrgestellnummer. The immediate concern was our previous identification of this being an Sd.Kfz.261 chassis. Referring back to our Research Team with the new Fahrgestellnummer propelled us back in to our large and growing database of Panzerspähwagen. Our previous analysis of this being a chassis for a Sd.Kfz.261 was fortunately proven sound. This a very lucky moment for us as the body panels we had collected over a long period for this project were from an original Sd.Kfz 261. We now had a much later Kleiner Panzerfunkwagen (Sd.Kfz.261) Ausf.B- 5.Serie. The excitement was even greater when the database revealed that we had a vehicle with much of its paperwork and records intact. This will be covered soon in a forthcoming article.

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