The famous (or infamous if you are General George Patton) "Willy & Joe" WWII
US cartoon characters had a method of chaining a jeep to a tree and mounting
an M1 carbine to the tree, pointed at the driver's position, with a string
tied to the trigger. There was also a chain attached to the steering wheel.
This cartoon was used on the back of the T-shirt for the 1983 MVCC
Convention in Vancouver, BC. The above method might be legal in Texas, but
definitely is not legal in Canada, UK and Australia due to laws. The
Canadian laws are why the Western Command Chapter in British Columbia
recently gave up the idea of hosting another MVPA Convention here. The gun
laws in particular make it impossible. If we did, US collectors could be
arrested for bringing in dangerous PROHIBITED WEAPONS such as replica
firearms (real deactivated machineguns and pistols are OK however), and
large capacity magazines (e.g. BAR, Bren, Sten, M16 20 rd etc.) even if you
do not have the weapon.
If using the above security method, don't be like the fellow in the USA who
booby-trapped the back door to his house with a shotgun at knee high level -
and then forgot about it ! :-(
All American Wonder Vol. II p. 254 shows an early Willys MB with one of the
safety strap eye-bolts mounted to the dash just above the bottom edge of the
dash, and below and right of the speedomerter. The shift lever could be
positioned next to it and a padlock installed. The same jeep also had a
slotted metal strap welded to the top of the fuel tank cap (remember your
welding safety around gasoline! Don't! Take the cap elsewhere to weld! ) and
the loop welded to the front upper side of the seat frame. This allowed the
driver to padlock his gas tank. Although the author Ray Cowdery does not
identify the jeep in AAW Vol. II, I suspect it is MB108362 USA 2033616 as
later described by Ray Cowdery in ARMY MOTORS # 55 page 26-27 .
All American Wonder Vol. II p. 257 shows a post-war civilian modifciation
(possibly from Mechanix Illustrated) consisting of a hole drilled through
the lever part of the late model ignition switch and padlocked to an eyebolt
mounted next to it.
Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) vehicle owners usually don't need to worry
as the right hand drive, awkward pedal arrangement on early CMPs, fuel
switching lever on the floor, Chevy starting lever (like a stumpy gear
shift) are so confusing that a car thief might be gone in 60 MINUTES instead
of "Gone in 60 Seconds" (as per the current release movie which trains kids
how to steal cars but fortunately does not teach them how to start CMPs).
Some collectors I know of have a hidden fuel switch cut-off on the vehicle,
within reach of the driver, but out of sight.
Maybe if you have a modern HMV such as a Hummer (Humvee) you could install
one of those newfangled sattelite activated imobilization controls. :-)
Of course, our freedom loving American friends might not like that as "Big
Brother" in Washington or Langley or ... (?) could also whow where you were
by reading the signals! :-)
Colin Macgregor Stevens
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor MAPLE LEAF UP (Est. 1977) newsletter
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
1944 Willys MB
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
=========================================
--- Original Message -----
From: Kelly, Robert <Robert_Kelly@FCEINC.COM>
To: Military Vehicles List <mil-veh@skylee.com>
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 6:57 AM
Subject: [MV] Vehicle security was "late model Mutt clamp & chain wanted"
...
> I would be interested to hear other methods of vehicle security used by
> listers for their vehicles, WWII jeeps and anything else.
>
> Anyone have any unobstrusive, non-permanent means of further
tamper-proofing
> MB/GPWs?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bob K.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 07 2000 - 22:15:54 PDT