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I went to see another M8 that is for sale over the weekend and thought I'd
bounce this off you listees.....here it is in brief:
The owner characterized the vehicle as perfect and provided me with 2
pictores of the exterior of the vehicle. Initially I had been told that
pictures would be provided if I sent disposable cameras (which I did).
Later I was told that the owner was too busy, but that "no pictures were
needed....it's perfect....you don't have to do anything to this one...just
get in and drive." The owner did tell me that "the front axle is missing".
When I questioned this he said that he had been told that the axle just
added extra weight so it was removed. I explained that he must mean the
drive axles were out of the "front axle"..to which he responded that he did
not know anything about mechanics, but that was what he was told. He had
had it for several years and would not be selling it except that he had
obtained another. He said that the one for sale was the nicer of the 2. The
one for sale is from Italy.
When I got there, the vehicle for sale looked ok from the outside. The
interior was nice and white with most of the interior stencils in fair
shape (none were on the turret ring). The engine had some surface rust,
but this was not surprising because it is stored under a tent in the
driveway. The engine was supposed to have been recently rebuilt. It
started without problems. It drove pretty well with no obvious brake
pulling, clutch or shifter problems, or engine problems. It had the breach
ring on the gun and a trolley on the ring mount. A 30 cal barrel was stuck
in the turret mount and there was a telescope (no light for it however).
The protectoscopes were ok...not too cracked or clouded. It did have a
turret cover (canvas) and 4 interphone boxes with 2 broken microphones. The
boxes were not hooked up. It did have 2 extra headlights one of which was
a black out light.
In addition there was:
1) no front propeller shaft-I could move the u-joint mount in the fromt
differential a few degrees so I suspect that the drive axles were present
or the differential gears are frozen and the drive axles are out)
2) no hand brake handle (hence no emergency brake)
3) no front hatch locking mechanisms (they hold down the front hatches to
the front armor plate)
4) no hydrovac-had been replaced with a standard auto/truck brake booster
and was mounted under the battery.
5) no generator-had been changed to alternator
6) no voltage regulator - changed to internal one on alternator
7) no "headrest pads" for the protectoscopes
8) no battery "hold-down"
9) one of the 2 dash light switches was broken
10) possibly post-war tow loops
11) no tow cable
12) no title
13) no "extras"-all the 37mm shells, the stuff to strap on the turret, the
2 extra protectoscope lenses, the 50 cal cradle, and various other things
could be purchased for additional fees. ($2 for a 50 cal shell, etc.)
AND THE PRICE-$45,000...nothing less..it would probably cost about $2000 to
get it to Texas...anyone want to give me a dose of reality?
****************************************************************
* Dean L. Kellogg, Jr., MD, PhD *
* Department of Medicine *
* The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio *
* 7703 Floyd Curl Drive *
* San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900 *
* (210) 617-5311 FAX (210) 617-5312 e-mail:kelloggd@uthscsa.edu *
****************************************************************
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