Re: [MV] 1942/1945/1952? Ford jeep

vanwert (vanwert@concentric.net)
Fri, 12 Feb 1999 16:10:12 -0600

This story is more common than most people would think. I have a "Jeep"
right now that I decided to part out. It allegedly came from the Greek
Army. It has an MB body (quite rusty), a Ford frame (quite nice) and an
engine that I'm not sure if it is MB GPW or post war civilian
(professionally rebuilt, never run, stored inside). If interested in this
e-mail me off the forum please. Lyle Van Wert
>
>> Dear list,
>>
>> Recently I was approached by a fellow Dutchman who is able to
>> buy a jeep. The jeep he has an eye on, raises some questions
>> though! Maybe some of you can help clear the sky around this
>> vehicle.
>>
>> The jeep should be a 1942 Ford GPW which was imported from
>> Indonesia to the Netherlands around 7 years ago. The papers
>> that
>> go with the jeep say (in Malaysian) that it is a 1945 Ford GPW.
>> But...the dashboard nomenclature plates have the year 1952
>> stamped in them.
>
> I'm not 100% sure about this but here goes..
>Our MB 43 an' 52 TRW were acquired from Pakistan and this is what we
>experinced :
>
>The MV's in question and a bunch more were old Pakistan military
>surplus/mothballed->retired . Now the drill there was that the military
>would auction the vehicles to the locals there (None -foreigners!) . then
>it was upto the locals that bought the vehicles , what they would do with
>them. Some bought them to fiw em and drive em, others would slap them
>together an try an sell them to people interested in MV's (rich locals
>and foreigners alike) . Being the developed country an all there was no
>regulation about the degree or accuracy that these vehicles were fixed
>up. As a rule NONE were ever really fixed up to original specs! Even if
>the people fixing them claimed it. Truth being that some just don't know
>what the original is supposed to be like they could not read nor did they
>have any documentation.... Others were in it for a fast buck. result one
>might be a proud owner of "something" that consisted of GPW, MB; Kaiser,
>Mahindra, suzuki and other misc. parts.... Then came the documents.
>usually the dócuments, titles etc were whatever happened to be at hand at
>the time. Before we bought our Mb, it was according to the document
>(mixed english and Urdu) and 1952 M-38. BUT according to frame serial
>number an MB . Engine too was MB as most other parts. It still has a
>bunch of GPW parts in it, as well as a coupl odds and ends. The odometer
>that our Mb came with was an old trashed one of an Indian "kaiser " copy
>jeep, an Mahindra.
>
>Oddly our jeep then didnt have any data plates. My father asked that
>plates be attached on and that they did. only prob was that one was an m
>38 plate .... and the list goes on...
>Paint that was on when we looked at our potential new "buy" was an ochre
>red. under that was an really faded OD. Now it sports a dark OD.
>
>Only after buying several books on Jeeps and MV's in general were we able
>conclude that :
>A) it is an MB frame
>B) MB engine
>after which we began a loong slow process changíng all non-mb parts...
>
>Lesson of story... find out the frame numbers... do not trust the
>documents as they are easy to forge. data plates can be always put on
>later . If its an MB willys the frame number should be on the left frame
>beam just near the junction of the front bumber. Also the cross beam
>under the radiator in an MB is round.... as for the more precise engine
>number data et all, someone else on the list may have the info needed
>closer at hand....?
>
>When we came to Finland an friend bringing an military vehicle had an
>"original" pakistani receipt for his car, which the local custom official
>took as a real thing (it wasn't and REALLY did not look it!). Eventhough
>the paper looked really crappy and suspect. Its amazing how much the
>bureucrats trust a piece of paper from some far off land with no regard
>towards written statements...
>
>But like I said I'm not exactly sure about Malaysia, though I wouldn't be
>surprised if it were like what we went through....
>
>sorry bout the length...
>--
>Juho Paaso
>-------------------------------
>http://www.dlc.fi/~jmpaaso
>OR
>http://trade.hamkk.fi/~paasjuho
>-------------------------------
>
>YOL BOLSUN !
>
>
>
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