Faced with the requirement to update its light armoured vehicles post-WW2, the British Ministry of Defence turned to the Daimler company, whose experience in this specialised field included the successful Dingo scout car.

Development began in 1949 and the resulting Ferret armoured – or scout – car first entered service in 1952.

The Ferret shared many design features with its Dingo predecessor but incorporated a larger crew compartment and a small machine gun turret.

The six-cylinder engine was a Rolls-Royce B60 overhead-valve petrol unit developing 129bhp, good enough to endow the 3.75-ton ('dry') Ferret with a top speed close to 60mph.

Drive was transmitted via a fluid flywheel to a five-speed pre-selective gearbox (a combination Daimler had long been familiar with) and thence via a transfer 'box to all four wheels.

Including all marks and experimental variants, there have probably been over 60 different types of Ferret, approximately 4,400 of which were built up to 1971.

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