Re: [MV] 1984 Mutts?

From: Jim Gilmore (jgilmore@oeonline.com)
Date: Mon Sep 04 2000 - 20:31:32 PDT


Julian wrote:

> In the later 70's, the bodies were Z-Barted which is a
>undercoating material. They were done by a aftermarket dealer right there
>in South Bend who set up shop at the factory.........

     The undercoating and rust proofing of MUTTS was also done at the
depot level and below. There was a TM issued that gave the procedure for
the jeep and other vehicles.

> ......There were also some
>galvanized jeeps (lower portion only) but those were few and were mainly for
>export and experimental towards the end. AMG realized they had a rust
>problem for years and were trying to do something about it........

        There were replacement body "kits" that were galvanized. Four of
these showed up at my local DRMO about 8 or 9 years ago. I was
disassembling 35 M-151-A2's on the base at the time and we "peeked" inside
the crates to get a look at the bodies. The outside of the crates had
stencilling denoting that these were galvanized bodies. Unfortunately, the
DRMO got orders to scrap these bodies before they came up for auction and
sent them to the local auto shredder.

> ........The Z-Barting
>process seemed to quell that problem. Yes, there were replacement bodies
>(complete) and they were shipped singly in wooden crates. The gov't had a
>small quanity of them on hand for surplus and a few got out about 10 years
>ago. A surplus dealer in Florida got about 4 of them before the DRMO caught
>on. The rest were run over by a tracked vehicle to demil them as they were
>the main part the gov't wanted destroyed. Some may still exist in other
>places as they were advertised in Supply Line for I think $2500. The bodies
>weren't anything special as they were just the regular production and were
>pulled off the line for replacement status.........

     These were not just a "body in a crate" but were kits to replace the
unibody of a M-151-A2. They had a box of "goodies" in the crate which
consisted of such parts as suspension bolts, radiator hoses, motor mounts
and the like.

> ........The bodies had a body tag on the
>front-center firewall which serialized the body only for production reasons
>but was meaningless as a VIN number........

     I believe you are confusing the replacement bodies with the BUDD built
ones here. Only the bodies built by Budd Co. had a tag on the
firewall. You are correct that the BUDD # on the firewall was just a body
number and not the SN# of the jeep.

       The replacement bodies however, were AMG and had their tag on the
driver's side of the transmission tunnel. This tag in the production jeeps
corresponded with the actual Sn# of the vehicle. This only applies to the
AMG bodies. I owned one of these bodies in the crate and later sold it to a
fellow in Ohio who built it up into a complete jeep.

> Through the history of the 151, four
>manufacturers made the body tub. (Ford, Budd, AMG and I forget the other)

        Ford Motor Co. did not manufacture the bodies for the MUTTS. All
production bodies for Ford were made by the Budd Co.
   Fruehauf built bodies for the Willys , Kaiser and AMC M-151's. I have
SN# plates and body # plates for these in my collection. There was also a
small company in Ionia, Michigan that reportedly (so they say) built bodies
for MUTTS but I have not been able to confirm this yet.

>AMG made all of theirs in house and none were made for them by another
>manufacturer. I have been meaning to see if I can find out about the
>drainhole on the side of the 151 A2 as the earlier production didn't have
>it. I'm not sure if AMG made it both ways or did all production with the
>drain hole. Ford made the A2 for a very short period and don't know if they
>did the drain hole any or at all. The person I need to see may be deceased
>but I will find out. The data plate was the only VIN number on the complete
>unit. ....

                   Jim

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James T. Gilmore
2565 Wiethoff, Inkster Michigan 48141
313-5618826 (Voice)
313-730-1652 (Fax)
jgilmore@oeonline.com
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