First, Military Vehicles by their very nature are "systems". They are
not just a vehicle like a Mustang or a Corvette. A 1/4 ton truck issued
to a military organization is issued as a 1/4 ton with a series of other
components that are manufactured at a variety of different locations and
is assembled by the using unit to form a "weapons system" or an
operation system on the TOE of the using unit... Your standard M-151
jeep will be issued with a wide variety of radios from the standard
tactical radio to a collection of radios to include both fm and am. In
addition, the vehicle may be fitted with chemical detection devices,
wire laying equipment, searchlights, tow missile launchers, recoilless
rifles, or medical equipment. Each of these configurations are known as
a different vehicle to the using unit with its own designation, but they
are all based upon a standard M-151. If one was going to do a "factory"
restoration of an M-151 it should be done with out any of these add ons
as they are not factory original equipment. Therefore a "factory
restoration" of a M-151 would be rather bland in nature, very plain
jane.
What makes military vehicles interesting is the variety of operational
missions that a vehicle can accomplish and the various configurations
both official and unofficial one finds in the operational units.
Second, I have found that went I showed my W.W.I ambulance based on a
Ford T chassis, I found all kinds of experts who would tell me that this
or that was not factory original on the chassis. For example in 1917
one could find two types of leaf springs on the vehicle. I have heard
judges tell me that both were incorrect for the 1917 chassis. Yet I
have a photo in my collection that shows two vehicles being assembled in
France that are setting side by side being uncrated with one sporting
the "taper" leaf springs and the other the "square" leaf springs.
Clearly both the expert judges were incorrect. I also found that there
was a tendency to over restore the vehicles well past the original
specs...
-- Joe Baker Major, Infantry, USAR=== To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.