Military-Vehicles: [MV] some jeep facts
[MV] some jeep facts
Hayes-Holgate, Shaun (SHayesHolg@ea.com)
Fri, 25 Jul 1997 17:05:03 -0700
More unusual facts about jeeps - In the early 40's U.S. Army
officials used 'Peep' as the preferred name to classify the 1/4 ton 4x4
Command & Reconnaissance truck and described larger 1/2 tonvehicles as
the true army 'Jeep'. Unfortunately neither soldiers or the general
public saw it that way. The use of the name as a generic term for 1/4
ton vehicles was notofficially recognised until Colonel Claude A. Black
at Fort Knox formally accepted defeat on the matter in December 1943.
The 1942 Willys maintenance manual issued with each vehicle contained a
wealth of information relating to routine maintenance and repair. It
also contained tips foremergency repairs which included how to deal with
bullet holes in the radiator. (Now you don't get that in a modern day
Haynes manual !) Punctures are a nuisance at any time - but all the
more so on a W.W.II. battlefield with bullets and shrapnel flying.
Fortunately, the risk could be reduced by fittingbullet-resisting inner
tubes which were made of thicker and heavier materials than the standard
type with the result that bullet punctures were automatically sealed.
These tubescould generally be identified by their green painted valve
stems. W.W.II. jeep trailers were designed to float - useful if you
have to get them across a deep river - but how to get the jeep across?
Well it could be done by standing it on alarge canvas sheet which was
then pulled up around it to make it into a sort of boat. I have seen a
picture of this but don't intend to try it with mine. Mr Shafer,
President of the Horseless Carriage Club of Los Angeles, was one of the
first civilians to own a jeep before the war had completely ended. A
photograph ofhim proudly standing beside the vehicle on June 25th 1944
appeared on the front cover of the club's magazine in September the same
year. One could be forgiven for mistakenly thinking that more jeeps
must have been produced for use during WW II than any other military
vehicle. However, this is not thecase. In reality more GMC trucks
(Jimmies) were manufactured during 1939 -1945 in their various forms.
The MB jeep was used as the basis for the first prototype Land Rover
built after the war for Maurice Wilks, a Director of the Rover Company.
The prototype LandRover combined many jeep parts including the chassis,
suspension and transmission combined with a Rover engine, gearbox and
steering. He was so pleased with theresulting vehicle that the company
went on to design and produce the Series 1 Land Rover in 1948. When
it was launched in July 1950 the civilian CJ3 version of the M38 jeep
was priced at $1090 or =A3272. Prices seem to have risen somewhat over =
the
years and notjust for good examples of the full sized vehicle. Both
appeared in the range of Dinky toys manufactured by Meccano during the
1950's. W.W.II jeeps saw all sorts of modifications for civilian use
after the war. Perhaps the most unusual U.K. example was one fitted with
a body to carry shooting partiesabout on the Bowes-Lyons (Queen Mother's
family) estate in County Durham. It was subsequently used by a local
blacksmith as a mobile welding truck and its conditiondeteriorated until
it finally ended up in a scrap yard for spares in 1970. On the
subject of customised jeeps, the thought of seeing a six-wheel
conversion to an MB / GPW at a custom car show must be every military
enthusiast's worstnightmare. Amazingly, such a 6x6 beast was actually
produced during W.W.II by Ford. However, it was found during the 1941
trials that it had no real advantages over the3/4 ton Dodge Weapons
Carrier and so never went into production. French army jeeps often
have groups of twelve notches cut or filed into the steering wheel. The
notches do not form part of any approved military modification but
havesimply been added by conscripts recording the passing of the twelve
months duration of their national service.
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