You have done an incredibly-faithful clone, much more intense than I ever had patience for... Instead of building an A1 clone, about 30 years ago I built what is dash-tagged an M38A5... It has my old crusty trusty '75 CJ5 as the base, which I bought near-new.. Because I did a lot of long interstate road trips towing loaded jeep trailers and quite a bit of intermittent on-off road activities with it, I kept it's 232 (now 258ci) straight 6, with its original grannygear 4sp tranny and orig transfer case with the hidden low range 2-wheel drive... (i forget the model nums) .. We kept the orig frame and axles intact but did a number of militarized body modifications.. (including flattening and covering the "Jeep" fender embosses).. At the time we had an M135 parts truck but very few M38A1 parts.. The M135 provided the needed electrical items and wiring harness.. The 135's gauge cluster was installed which gave us a spot for an extra fuel gauge instead of air press.. We kept the stock rear tank, added an underseat tank, and cut the panel for a M38A1 fillerneck housing... The "jeep" tailgate and hinges were removed and instead we fabricated a pair of slide-up channels, narrowed a pioneer tool carrier to fit, and welded 1/8" steel sheet to cover the carrier's backside. An M38A1 spare carrier was mounted on the drivers rear (opposite, I know) and the jerrycan holder was mounted on the right to detract from the orig tank filler cap below it.. On the adjacent corner a complete 1950's M38/38A1 antenna setup was installed including radio mount on top of right inner fender, no rear seat as it's usually carrying stuff.. Rear bumper area got dressed with all the necessary parts including M38A1 bumperettes, tow rings, and the orig rear lights replaced with a matching pair of 1950's Stop/Tail/Directional/BO lights in the typical A1 low position... The orig wide front bumper was retained but M38A1 tow rings installed, frame extensions fabricated for a between-frame pto winch, and the ends angled identical to M44-series and M39/M809 front bumpers. (artistic license
) ..... The original grille was retained because the large directional/marker holes were perfect to mount the M135's front lamp housings with the lense covers flush, not recessed, as are the M135's old headlight cans/rings, in a look reminisce of straight M38's and M151's .. (another artistic license utilized
) .. Of course a M38/38A1 BO drive lamp sits on the fender, no jeep looks right without one.. Steering column keyset hole was ground flush, holes blanked out, got the typical hose-clamp military directional switch, Dash got the obligatory B/O light switch, Accessory Switch, and M44/M39-type pushbutton for starter. Battery was kept under hood but an A1's cover was permanently bolted down where one would be... Due to the high-speed useage of the jeep, the windshield frame and wipers were not replaced but a "split" divider was fabricated to give it the look.. For a time when we were doing river running, it sported a M135 stack just ahead of the windshield as on M44/M39/M809, which looked great, especially on cold mornings streaming a long white cloud rearward .. Sorry I don't have any pics handy at this time.... As mentioned, you certainly have built a faithful beautiful clone which will likely fool the experts at first glance !!
