I've been watching the chatter of the past few days & have decided to
look into my files to see what I can dig out regarding the first GPW
contract.
Point 1: chassis' were built and dated in sequence.
Point 2: bonnet numbers were NEVER sequential with chassis numbers.
They can be 1000's out.
Point 3: Some NOM plates have MMMYY others have MMDDYY. Often very
close together. I don't think this indicates a plant
identifier. The type of stamp used might.
Point 4: Although each factory was allocated a number to build I
feel they were not sequential. There were overlaps of
chassis', so each factory did not built x to x+300 jeeps with a
sequence or chassis register from new parts. I believe it may be what
they received from the main plant. The the US number added at this
point.
Point 5: As stated by others without a list of which US number was
built at what site, know one will know their jeeps origins.
Point 6: Each factory possibly built x jeeps for a theatre of ops. MI,
PA, KY & TX possibly building the European theatre jeeps, with CA
doing the Pacific theatre versions with help from MI or TX.
Point 7: New Guinea recieved some VEP jeeps. All came from a mid to
late contract US number range, yet these were VEP's.
Point 8: All of my data, has a mix of all pre GPW 15000 jeeps through
every US number range. But there a dominant groups.
Now for the fun bit.
Get a piece of paper, orient the paper in landscape mode. Longest side
towards you. You will need to draw four squares on the paper so don't
get to big on the sizes. Now from the top left hand corner to the bottom
right hand corner of the paper draw four squares that touch point to
point. Just like they would on a checkers/chess board.
Now the top left hand square is the VEP jeeps US numbers 2062xxx &
2067xxx from GPW 500 to lets say 3500.
The next square down one & right is the GPW 3500 to 5000 range. This is
US 2054xxx to 2058xxx ranges.
The next square down one & right is the GPW 5000 to 8000 range. This is
US 2059xxx to 2064xxx ranges.
The last square in the bottom right hand corner is GPW 9000 to 12000,
ranges 2064xxx to 2069xxx.
The scale on the left hand side of the page runs from the top at Feb 42
to the botton left 24 MAr 42.
This is the general idea of what the number pan out like. But all the
way through there were exceptions hence my comments in Point 4.
Happy drawing and be amazed! I thought that the US numbers started of at
2054xxx. That's life.
Regards,
John E.