Military Vehicles, January 1997,: New Finds

New Finds

Chuck Chriss (Chuck_Chriss@qx.com)
9 Jan 97 9:48:21

Some days are diamonds ....

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Out for a drive today on various errands, and decided to
take a different route than what I normally take. Boy, talk
about "you never know just what you might find"!

I came across the following, sitting in front of a
boarded-up house:

One 1942 Ford GPW, w/ pintle mt, wirecutter bar, and a
tow bar that I've seen illustrated as being used to hook
up to another Jeep's towhitch, so that combined, they
can tow artillery pieces. Pretty good shape.

One Ford GPW, year unknown as data plate was rusted
pretty bad. Would be good for various parts from
firewall forward, and for a good chassis, but someone
made a homemade hardtop out of 1/4" plate, complete
with doors. Did a pretty good job, but I've never seen a
picture of this as military.

One 1942 GMC `Deuce, hardtop, pretty good shape. Some
unit markings still readable. Cab is tight, as interior looks
really good, considering.

Three Studebaker `Deuces. Years unknown. One open cab,
the bed has rotted, and has collapsed onto the frame.
Looks pretty good otherwise, considering, as the
remains of the soft-top has helped out some. Second has
no bed period. Third had the bed replaced with a platform,
with a *HUGE* generator or compressor mounted onto it.
(This was covered with a tarp, so I'm not sure which.)

One WC-51, year unknown. Pretty good shape, but it was covered
pretty tight with a tarp, so I couldn't get a date.

One WC-54, year unknown as it had evidently been refurbished
in Germany, as most plates were in German. Interior in really
good shape, still had three stretchers inside.

Two M100 trailers. One is toast- total rustbucket. The other has a
tarp over it, and is in good shape.

I couldn't find the owner, so I stopped at the post-office, to
see if they knew, and they told me. In talking, the postmaster
asked why I'd wanted to know. I told him about the vehicles, and
that I was a collector. He then told me that he has a Ford GTB that
he wants to get rid of, as well as an M10 ammo trailer. I got
directions to go look at it, but didn't have the time today. So I'm
not sure of their conditions.

So you can't say that there isn't stuff still floating around out
there.