[MV] M43 Made It Home

OConnor, Dennis (DOconnor@SIKORSKY.COM)
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:22:47 -0400

Hi List,
As promised an M43 update: it showed up Sunday afternoon and boy;
are we glad we didn't choose to go get this beast! It took the hunters 8+
hours with a light construction trailer (diamond plate deck, extra heavy
axles, etc.) and a 1 ton Dodge rigged to tow to get it back from out yonder
and they were VERY happy to get it off their rig. The truck's driver said he
hadn't relaxed since they started out at sunrise (and this was three o'clock
in the afternoon) because all the weight made it a horrible trailering job,
especially when any wind showed up.
The ambulance is in great shape and very complete. Even when they
took a piece off they saved it, like the surgeons light lens and retainer
that was carefully placed in a side compartment. It is an M43 (not a B1
model) that was delivered 2-12-53 and shows 21,952 miles on the odometer. An
overhaul tag on the dash says the MICH ARNG (Michigan Army reserve National
Guard?) worked on the truck when it had 5,190 miles and is dated 5 April
1960. Everything inside is like the day it was surplused except for age and
wear. There's even a shipping tag on the wall behind the driver's head that
says it was shipped from USPFO Michigan to USPFO Pennsylvania but no date,
just an invoice number. So far cleaning and inspection shows it needs some
reflector lenses, one windshield pane, interior door glass, and some light
bulbs including headlights/searchlight. Some electrical work to put the
starting circuit back on the military harness and remove the fire department
lights doesn't look bad and the brakes need to be overhauled (probably the
master - keeps losing fluid) but we'd already figured on that. I'm sure some
regular maintenance wouldn't hurt it either but the hunters took good care
of it - better than the fire department even. The truck isn't running
because the batteries had gone dead from sitting ("2 new batteries this
year" must have meant "it needs 2 new batteries this year" but who cares)
but its complete under the hood and looks very good overall. Damage isn't
bad: front of left fender bent down, right rear corner of ambulance box
rusted through and poorly patched, and the edge of the ambulance box roof
(the rounded part) is dented a bit like they hit a tree limb or something.
Aside from some little dings it's in good shape otherwise and the single
layer of fire department red is already peeling off by itself. What's the
plan? Who knows at this point, there's plenty of them floating about though.
The hunters already asked if they can come over and help on it and promise
to bring the Dodge genius with them to make it run and fix the wiring. They
also promised to bring the spares tires down next trip and find the manuals
for the truck (the gas heater TM was in the compartment) and another
volunteer wants to remake/restore all the small webbing.
So some work and a lot of TLC and it should be pretty nice. A few
questions for now:
Can anyone translate the USPFO for us? (United States Post Financial
Office?)
Any ideas on removing the red & white without removing the OD?
Sources for the 24V bulbs (big & little ones)?
May replace the left fender if price is not too bad - any suggestions or got
one?

Enough for now,
Dennis O'Connor

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