From: Nigel (Nigel@milweb.net)
Date: Wed Mar 20 2002 - 02:48:07 PST
There is some confusion here - GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M3 is a halftrack with a
75mm gun mounted on it ( see p44 Standard ordnance catalogue) If this is the
case, sounds like you have a hybrid here. Thats a lot rarer than
the standard M3 halftrack in its various versions..
I guess this has no rear door? personell carrying M3's were converted by I
think a kit to turn them into M16A1's You are correct about the folding
armour not present on the converted M16A1- the Maxon turrets had an extra
raised mounting ring to allow them to be high enough to fire over the M3
armour without risk of damage.
I recall the M16a1 floor is different.
Is there a fairly thick power lead from the rear under the turret to the
engine compartment? If so its likely that this is a post war conversion -
perhaps by the French .
Bear in mind that it could well have been totally re-bodied.There is no
difference in the chassis and drive train. As a clue -the factory made M16
has a bulkhead with a radio box and no provison for a canvas cover even on
the cab compartment.
I think that the clue to dating is if it has conventional or de-mountable
headlites - the latter being after 1943 I think.
more I think about it, you have a GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M3 that has been
rebodied to turn it into a MULTIPLE GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M16
Hope this is of interest, NIGE
----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis S." <tls2771@attbi.com>
To: <mvlist@yahoogroups.com>; <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 10:08 AM
Subject: [MVlist] Halftrack identification
> I was just going to ask for help in determing the year of my White
halftrack but as I sit here studying the data plate I have more questions.
When I bought the track I was told it was an M16 and it look's like a
straight M16, it has the folding armor and all the armor on it is original
( non-repro at any rate). The mfgrs. data plate is steel and badly rusted
but I can make out the serial # 297973 and the Ord # 1820, these numbers are
small but deeply struck, this serial number matches the number on the frame.
Now the odd thing is that it's labeled GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M3 and then next
to the 3 a 16 has been struck ( no A1 though) the 3 is hard to see and I
thought maybe it was just the rust making a pattern and not really a 3 at
all, but now I think it is a 3 and the 16 was added.The thing that I just
noticed tonight is that there is also a second serial number stamped over
the top of the original one. These numbers are larger in size but shallow
and hard to see, the numbers !
> are 282810 any idea's as to what's going on here? I have a friend with an
M16 parts track and the data plate clearly say's M16 with no 3 and one
serial #. I thought that M16's came from the factory as M16's ( not modified
but purpose built) and that the M16A1's were made by modifying M3's because
there weren't enough M16's to go around. My track is stamped with a 16 not a
16A1 and besides, 16A1's didn't have folding armor. So is this track an M3
that was field modified into an M16, folding armor and all and then given a
new serial # ? If so I didn't know that it was done in this way.
> On another note, is there anyway I can date this track? Anything like
difference's in suspension or running gear or armor that might tell me if
it's early or late war? I'm going to apply for a title and I need to give it
a date, I'd hate to title it as a 44 or 45 and have someone tell me later
that it's clearly early war or vice-versa. I hope that some of this post
made sense and thank's for any help.
>
Travis.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
> Buy Stock for $4.
> No Minimums.
> FREE Money 2002.
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/BgmYkB/VovDAA/ySSFAA/9rHolB/TM
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> MVlist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> **Please trim your replies**
> **Do not post in HTML or "Rich Text" mode**
> **Plain ASCII Text only please**
> **Attachments will be stripped**
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Apr 08 2002 - 00:28:04 PDT