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Rebuilding FAV # 90

signalcorps

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Longwood Fl
I've been a member here for almost 10 years. I rebuilt FAV #90 back in 2016 and included photos in the 1/4 ton vehicle forum because there wasn't a FAV forum at the time. Thank you to Mogman for getting it added. I will be re-posting my build photos here so members can use them as a reference or guide. I also built fastattackvehicle.com and a lot of photos and manuals from that website are now in this FAV forum which is good. I'll add more.
 

signalcorps

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Longwood Fl
How I found my FAV.

For those of you looking for a FAV, this info might help you. This is how I found my 1st one. If not, go to the next page.

When I started looking for a FAV in 2010, there was no website or information about them on the web. Just a few photos but no history or documentation anywhere. The first thing I did was contact the museum at Fort Lewis and began a close friendship with the curator. He gave me a lot of info and photos about the 2 they had on display on the base. It made me want one even more. I started contacting every military museum I could find. I finally found Russells Military Museum and they had 2 FAV'S on display. I called them and they said they actually had 4 additional FAV's and several Navy robotic vehicles "behind the wall" that would most likely never get restored by the museum and they would sell one to me. They were just starting to move the museum from Wisconsin to Illinois (just a few miles) and they could not sell me the FAV until they got to the new location. It took 1 year before I could get my FAV! It was worth the wait.

During the wait I started looking for documentation. I contacted Emerson Electric and Chenowth looking for the historian. Neither had one. I sent regular mail and email to them and asked that my mail be forwarded to anyone who could help me. That worked. Phone calls didn't. Emerson sent me a original brochure and some documents on the contract bidding process. Chenowth sent me a contact in the TAC (transportation) group in the U.S. Army. That lead to me submitting over 25 FOIA requests for Information. More than a year later I started getting information back. Most were documents describing the tests at Fort Lewis and Yakima. I also sent emails and regular mail to the 9th Infantry group asking for stories and any documentation. That really was the break I needed. Many soldiers sent me stories of their time testing the FAV. Great information. Another sent me the training manual and another sent the maintenance manual. I put all of those documents on my FAV website fastattackvehicle.com and let anyone download them. You can see many of them on this and other sites today. Since putting the website up in 2014 I have made many friends who either tested them at Fort Lewis or found one to restore and needed help rebuilding it. My FAV ended up being a testbed example for helping others put their FAV back together.

If you want an authentic FAV, one of the 120 that were built, make sure they are not a fake or a standard Chenowth. The FAV had several modifications to the standard Chenowth frame. I will make a list of what to look for and add it here.

Building my FAV # 90 was one of the best projects I have done. The day I sold it was a very sad day for me but I needed a roof on my house and had to let it go. I am happy to say I have found another FAV and will begin the rebuild in a few weeks. My #90 now sits in a private museum collection. Sad. It was meant to be seen and driven. #91 will be a keeper.
 
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signalcorps

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Location
Longwood Fl
Russells sent me these photos of my FAV before I bought it.
 

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signalcorps

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Longwood Fl
Here is the day it was delivered to my house in Orlando.. Anyone who has had a vehicle delivered sight unseen knows how special this day is. They brought it in a 10-car open transporter. The extra parts, fuel tank, lights, suspension parts were all stowed inside the FAV on the floor and seat. Everything made it here just fine. I got a bill of sale from Russell and that what I used to get a title issued in Florida as the 25th vehicle to receive a "Former Military Vehicle" tag.
 

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signalcorps

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Longwood Fl
This is "behind the wall" at Russells in 2012. This area is not open to the public and are vehicles that may be restored or used for parts or sold at some later date. Zoom in on the area circled and you will see 4 FAVS. Mine is the one on the left. It sits next to a pile of tracks that you can see in one of the previous photos here.
 

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signalcorps

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Longwood Fl
These will all be #90. A lot of them were posted here back in 2012-2015 before the FAV section was added. I think back then there was a general category of "other 1/4 ton vehicles" that I put thm in. Have no idea where they are now! Thought I would put them back on the site now that there is a FAV group,
 

Crapgame

Well-known member
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Location
Navarre, FL
The bumper number, CS16, is likely Combat Support Company FAV16. Back in the 1980s the Infantry Divisions were organized under the H Series TO&E Table of Organization & Equipment. You would have 3 Rifle Companies then the Combat Support Company which had a Heavy Mortar Plt of 4 4.2in Mortars, am Anti-Tank Plt with M220 TOW systems (jeep or M901 ITV), and a Scout Plt. So CS16 could be either a Scout MG carrier FAV or a TOW carrier FAV.

SignalCorp stated he has seen the so-called 'black boxes" on only a few of the FAVs he has encountered. We know from documents that approximately 80 FAV were outfitted for the M220 TOW system, which required a DC charger for the batteries used in the Missile Guidance Set. Its possible the bottom "black box" not the battery balancer, may have something to do with the M220 power or the mystery box that was fittted to Company Commander FAVs that Veterans talk about.

One Veteran account on the 9th ID Facebook Group claims they had FAVs for some of the mortars "mounted on the side". Obviously you cannot fire either the 60mm M19 or M224, nor the 81mm M29A1 or later M252 "from" the side cargo baskets. "Mounted on the side" may just be where they carried the disassembled mortars for transit between Mortar Points MP. The TO&E back then were in a massive state of flux, reorganizations going on throughout the Regular Army and AR/NG force. Mechanized Infantry Companies had 3 81mm M29A1 mortar systems mounted in the M125A2 Mortar Carrier variant of the M113. Although most of the time, we humped them behind the dismounted Rifle Platoons we were tasked to support. Then in the Combat Support Company would be 4x 4.2" M30 heavy mortars in M106A2 mortar carrier variants of the M113. Light and Airborne Companies had 3 or 4 60mm Mortars depending on the time period. Then 3 or 4 81mm M29A1 or M252 depending on the time period, sometimes carried in M1025 HMMWV. The Mortar elements in the Fast Attack Bns hasn't been found in the documentation or Veteran accounts as of yet.

Carrying a 60mm M19 Mortar on a FAV makes more sense, as it can be set up and operated by just 2 soldiers, the 81mm M29A1 and M252 you need a minimum of 3 if not 4 crewmen. In the Mortar Plt assigned to Rifle Company, we practiced for what was called a "hipshot", a hasty fire mission conducted while the mortar vehicles were in transit between MP. You would stop the truck, the crew would set up the mortar while the Squad Leader began plotting the mortar location and target location then setting up the plotting board to get the data needed to drop the round on a target being called in by an FO or responsible NCO or Officer in a Rifle Platoon being supported.

I can see Attack Company FAV mounted Mortar for the sake of being capable of keeping up with the attack, then stopping to conduct fire missions, tearing down the mortar then bounding forward to keep within range of FLOT in order to maintain fire support. Back then Night Attack facilitated by NVD was still new, most of the time night operations were conducted under artificial illumination provided by the Rifle Company 60mm or 81mm Mortars and the CSC Heavy Mortars firing Illumination Rounds, "Battlefield Illumination" fire missions is what they were called. The mortars within the Bn could coordinate to fire a combination of illumination rounds to light up the battlefield then others can be designated to fire HE on Priority Targets or Targets of Opportunity to suppress or destroy the enemy.
 

Crapgame

Well-known member
635
329
63
Location
Navarre, FL
Re: Your Rebuild/Reset Plate: I had new rebuild plates made for the 180 M1025A2 Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV HMMWVs that were sold off of Letterkenny Army Depot that look close to what you had on #090:
LEAD Tag comparison3.jpg
 

signalcorps

Active member
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Location
Longwood Fl
That brings up a funny story about how easy I can get confused... When I got my FAV delivered I noticed that tag on the dash. I have seen it on other FAV's too. I was trying to figure out what it meant. I saw FL on it and as a person who lives in Florida I naturally thought that somehow this FAV was rebuilt in 1985 in Florida. We do have a ton of sand rails here so I figured I should dig a little deeper and find our where in Florida. I checked with a friend in the Army reserve and he said that the IMO was the Information Management Office but had no idea what the W after FL was for, perhaps west coast of Florida near Tampa and possibly McDill AFB. That made sense so I went with that. I few phone calls later and no one at McDill knew anything about IMO or FAV's. I finally called my Friend, the curator at Fort Lewis and he said the FL W on the tag meant Fort Lewis Washington. How stupid did I feel?

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