White flag, with red cross and Union Jack in an upper corner sounds like the
White Ensign of the Navy. This would make sense especially if the junkyard
is near a naval base like Halifax in Nova Scotia. I was not aware of this
marking being used on M151A2 vehicles, but have one photo of it being used
on Royal Navy jeep at Gibraltar in WWII.. If you go back there, I'd love to
get a photo of that marking to add to the research file. :-)
The Canadian roll bar kit is different from the US ROPS kit by the way.
If any bodies are neatly cut, we have a chap in BC who has perfected a
reuniting process to make a whole MUTT out of two halves. Ideally one would
want to start with a matched set - i.e. front and back of the same vehicle.
Colin Macgregor Stevens
NOTE: I lost about 100 messages in early April, 11 or more messages on 2001
APR 30/May 1 and about 10 more on May 16 due to a server problem. If you
sent me a message during that time that was not answered, please resend it.
Thanks.
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor: "Maple Leaf Up!" newsletter & Webmaster
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
(Established 1977)
Pitt Meadows (East of Vancouver but not beyond Hope)
British Columbia, CANADA
Owner of:
1944 Willys MB jeep (ex-Norway)
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Club web site: http://www.westerncommand.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Trask, Todd (ELG/EGL)" <ttrask@gov.nb.ca>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 7:29 AM
Subject: [MV] M151 Junkyard Trip (long winded)
> I'm new to the list, with a new to me M151A2, and yesterday I made my very
> first scavenging trip to a junkyard, so I thought I'd share my experience
> and excitement, and maybe even put some other Mutt owners onto some bits.
I
> recalled the father of an old girlfriend telling me back in about 1987 or
88
> that a local yard had bought a bunch of jeeps and cut them in half and
were
> selling the halves. So when I got my Mutt, I called the yard, and they
said
> that no, they didn't really have anything left, just some sheet metal and
a
> few bits. I decided to go down anyway, as it's only a 60 mile drive and I
> needed an excuse to skip work for an afternoon, so my neighbor and I
arrived
> at the junkyard just after 2 yesterday. I found an employee, asked about
> the parts and he said that there is not really anything of value there,
but
> I could have a look and pointed me in the right direction. On the way
down,
> Pete (my neighbor) pointed out that the trip would either be feast or
> famine, but worth investigation anyway. Well it turned out to be a feast
> (in my eyes anyway)!
>
> We walked out behind one of the buildings and there in the corner of the
> lot, amonst various trees, crane parts and railway trucks were about ten
to
> fifteen mutt "halfs". Most were crumpled beyond recognition, and most
with
> the obvious parts missing (headlights, signal lights, windshields etc) but
a
> quick survey revealed that I would indeed find some bits. This put me on
> cloud nine, as I've been into antique bikes for a while, and I have a '46
> Indian Chief and a '57 Triumph TRW, and you just don't have the option of
> going to a junkyard and scavenging parts for these bikes, so this is a
whole
> new experience. Right off the bat I found three seat frames, which I
needed
> as mine had been removed (I took the third for good luck!). There were
also
> a few rims with tires on, so I got one, but most of the others had broken
> studs and I came sadly unequipped for cutting bolts (DUH!). I found a few
> blackout lights, most of which were pretty mangled, but I did get one
> complete one that should be able to be saved. I also got some hoses, hose
> clamps, nuts and bolts, gas guage etc. I also noticed an engine that
other
> than some weathering, looked pristine - almost no oil around the gaskets
> etc, so I suspect it was a recent replacement just before the surplus
sale.
> But the big find for me was that there were four or five rebuildable ROPS
> sets. Some rear halfs still had the back parts and there were some fronts
> that were piled against a tree. They will need tubing welded in to join
the
> front to the back, but that would still save ton of money as opposed to
> having a system shipped from the US (I'm in eastern Canada). So Pete and
I
> begin working on the bolts holding the ROPS to the rear half, and quickly
> found that most would simply break off with a good jerk of the wrench. We
> got the first post undone except for one bolt, and realized we needed a
> 9/16s box wrench to do the job right. So I head down to the shop and
borrow
> a wrench and am notified that I have 20 minutes to finish, pay them and
get
> the hell out. The guy asked me what I found, so I told him and he said I
> was looking at around $60 CDN (about $40 US). So I get back to the ROPS
and
> Pete who had since found some more bits for me mentioned that we had spent
> almost half an hour on that one post and would never finish getting the
> whole thing. Well I'm the stubborn sort, so I tackled the rear right post
> and just as I pulled the last bolt out, Pete mentioned it was 10 to five
and
> we had best haul ass. This really sank my mood, as we still had two posts
> to free, but I figured I'll just have to come again during my summer
> vacation to retrieve the ROPS. Well we drive out to the office and
> everything is closed up, the gate is across and there is not a soul
around.
> There was a house on site, so I knocked on the door and an older gentleman
> comes to the door and gives a really nasty look that made the now on duty
> guard dog look like a teddy bear. I told him what I was up to and he got
> very friendly all of a sudden and told me to have at it, so I wouldn't
have
> to make another trip down. So Pete and I re-attack the ROPS and we get
down
> to literally the LAST bolt, and Murphy's law takes effect. This is the
one
> bolt that rounds before it breaks. It's the one bolt that is tucked in
> behind the mounting plate and cannot be gripped with vise grips. It's the
> one bolt that is seized solid, and I have no bolt cutter, hack saw or
> chisel. I now had a personal hate on for this bolt, because we could not
> and would not get it out. We tried to remove the ROPS from the mounts,
but
> they were rusted solid. We tried rolling the rear end out to the truck,
> because dammit - that roll bar was coming home, with a rear section or
not,
> but there was too much heavier stuff in the way. So I proceeded to twist
> and jerk and tug and twist that bugger for about half an hour, tearing
away
> a little bit of sheet metal at a time, until finally, with one glorious
> whack of my 15" adjustable wrench re-assigned as a hammer, we broke the
ROPS
> free and hauled it off to the truck. We stopped into the house, paid the
> man his $60 and away we went with my treasure and an about a third of a
> mangled fender flapping in the breeze, attached to my roll bar by one
bolt.
> My next trip down I will definately take cutting tools!
>
> If you're still here, thanks for reading along, and have a beer on me as I
> celebrate my new (cheap) treasures!
>
> Oh yeah - for the guy with the painting woes - most of the jeeps there
were
> light green with flat black camo patterns - all of which were painted
> (poorly) with a brush, so I wouldn't worry too much about some pitting
> getting in the way of authenticity!
>
> Also - many of the bumperettes had canadian flag stickers on them, but
some
> had a white flag, divided in quarters by a thin red cross, with the union
> jack in the upper right quarter - can anyone tell what this marking
> represents?
>
> Finally - the halfs all have suspension - the fronts mostly have engines
and
> trannys. There were a couple with grills and there are a few wheels
around.
> There are three decent ROPS back halves left and a few fronts. I was told
> that the front halves USED to be $250, but were negotiable and the backs
> USED to be 200, but they had been so picked over that they would take any
> decent offer to load them on a truck, just in case anyone is interested!
> Those are canadian prices, so I would say a pretty cheap deal for any
> eastern US folks that are looking. Apparently they are slated for
crushing
> next spring.
>
> Regards,
> Tidman
> '74 M151A2 (Canadian)
>
> ===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 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:34 PDT