In reverse order
C: The hood number is the army registration number, like a license plate
number. These were assigned, and painted on, at the factory in Toledo, Ohio
and stayed with the vehicle as long as it stayed in the army. The first
three digits mean something I believe (but I don't know what!). At any rate
most M38's are 208 or 209, but there are some 203 and perhaps 206 (sorry
been awhile since I last thought about this. Harold West knows more about
this (see below).
You can see a photograph of the first five production M-38's, on the parking
lot of the factory in Toledo, in the Dec 14th, 1950 issue of Life magazine.
Five is all that had been delivered by about Dec 4th even though they
supposedly went into production in Sept.
No one, so far as I know, has ever found a list equating these numbers to
where the jeeps were assigned initially, so they are essentially useless in
figuring out what unit your jeep served. If you can discover which unit
your jeep was in then I suppose it might be possible to find the vehicle
maintainence records for that unit and discover what was done with your jeep
while it was with that unit.
The alpha numeric unit designations were painted on the front and rear
bumpers (& bumperettes). Slow careful sanding can sometimes bring them
back. All I could find on mine was the number 1 and the letter A,
frustrating!
B: The M-38 was Willys model M(military)C(the third model) and production
unit serial numbers began with MC10001 in Sept (or so) 1950. The MA and MB
models were produced during WWII. Serial numbers were assigned sequentially
(and there is a rough but not exact corrospondence between the registration
number and the serial number) and it seems as though engine serial numbers
were assigned separately. So even if you have the original engine don't
expect it to have the same serial number. The engine serial is on the top
of the block just above the water pump and, if it is an original M-38
engine, will begin with the letters MC then a 5 digit number.
A: I believe this number is the government contract number, others more
knowledgeable may wish to chime in.
Harold West hwest@gfc.state.ga would like to have your numbers. He collects
them and has been helpful to many trying to fill in their blanks. He often
visits the M-38 tech help section at www.g503.com as do a lot of others
interested in the M-38.
A careful going over may reveal other clues as to the history of your jeep.
On mine I found a tag indicating a rebuild in dec 54 at the Pueblo Ordnance
Depot. My jeep was delivered in 6-51 and I'm guessing it was assigned to
the 11th Armored Cav Regt which was activated at Camp Carson just up the
road from Pueblo in late April 51. They probably beat it up in training and
left it to be rebuilt when they decamped and headed east in 1954. I have
some more research to do! The rebuild tag has 190 ORD on it and I would
love to find a reference to a 190th Ordnance Co (there was a 189th Ord Co
that served in Korea).
Lou
M38, MC24832, 20892858, del 6-51 and (soon) a 51 M100
----- Original Message -----
From: <PirschEng4@aol.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 3:47 PM
Subject: [MV] M-38 Numbers, what do they mean
> I am restoring a 1951 M-38 and am finding numbers on the hood and dash
> plaques. I am looking for information as to what they mean.
>
> A. Under the "1/4 ton 4x4 M-38" on the dash plaque is a stamped Number
> "G2740-8358318" It is above the ordnance stock # line. What does it mean?
>
> B. MFG. Ser. No. MC35670. Do the individual numbers each mean something
> like in a VIN. Number?
>
> C. On the hood sides, in the original paint, were the number 20902890.
I
> believe the Jeep started its life in NH
> if that is of any help. They don't seem to match any other numbers I
find.
> Are they a unit number or what?
>
> DEL DATE 9-51
>
> Thanks
>
> Peter
>
>
> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 05 2001 - 07:13:51 PST