Military Vehicles, May 1997,: Re: [MV] My New Willys Original Paint Color?
Re: [MV] My New Willys Original Paint Color?
GIjeeps@aol.com
Sat, 3 May 1997 02:16:14 -0400 (EDT)
Congrats on your purchase! Interestingly enough I have an MB very close to
yours in Serial # and date of delivery. MB 354134. As far as your paint job
goes this is my understanding of the process. Every jeep made during WWII was
originally accepted for service, inspected, and registered by the Army
Quartermasters Dept (Early) or Army Ordnance Corps (Late) and then sent on to
whatever service was going to possess the vehicle. On the data tag it notes
the Supply Arm or Service Maintaining Vehicle- Ordnance Corps (on late jeeps
like ours) It was the same for Navy and Marine Corps jeeps and almost all
others. Otherwise you would see data tags for USMC and USN vehicles listing
them as the service maintaining vehicle.They were originally accepted by the
Army and given an Army registration # and then sent on to the Navy, Marine
Corps, British Armed Forces or whoever, and repainted or modified to the
specifications of that service. (There are exceptions to this rule, of
course.) As for Air Force jeeps I remind you that during the Second World War
there was no such thing as the "United States Air Force." It was one of the
three "Forces" that made up the United States Army. So your jeep's original
coat of paint should be lusterless olive drab no matter who wound up using
your jeep in service. Next I would mention that Post War USAF vehicles were
not, to my knowledge painted light blue. They were a fairly dark, shiny, blue
when stateside or on large bases overseas but this doesn't often include WWII
vintage MB-GPW jeeps. As for the ORD mark stamped into the top of the data
plate, this was an acceptance stamp used by the Ordnance Corps Inspector when
the vehicle was accepted for service. If you look carefully there is often an
Ordnance Corps cartouche stamped into the tag as well. (Just like a rifle
butt) As Todd Paisely mentioned the TM #s were also stamped into the data tag
at the bottom in the two spaces provided. These Ordnance Corps stamping were
added at the same time the registration # was assigned to the vehicle. Be
very careful when sanding the hood of your jeep the original registration #
may still be under there somewhere and great pains should be taken to
preserve it if possible. Keep in mind that if this registration # is lost you
will never know exactly what your jeep's reg # was! GOOD LUCK!!
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