Ace of Spades 5 ton gun truck

[Uglyranger]

Another picture of Ace tires

 

[73m819]

speaking of gt in nam, we had a m51 with built up sides , rear encloser and a armored headack rack, on the headack rack was mounted a mini gun with the gen. in the bed, that thing could putout some awesom fire

 

[kcimb]

Those are intimidating

hate to be on the receiving end of those.

 

[maddawg308]

What is the purpose of that weird notch on the lower left side of the armored gun shield? I recently owned a couple Vietnam-era gun shields from M113 ACAVs, and they were complete, without that weird notch...

 

[papabear]

Stand by fellers - there's another GT coming to Georgia soon and she's gonna be dedicated to the men who actually fought her - to the end.

 

[DDoyle]

The latest (couple of days old) Classic Military Vehicles magazine (published in the UK) has part one of a two-part series I did on the gun trucks in Vietnam. Predominately illustrated in color. Not enough space in a magazine to do this subject justice. Take a look at Jim Lyle's two "Hard Ride" books. Jim crewed on several of these, and the photo coverage is great.

Regards,
David Doyle

 

[emr]

My Buddy Sgt. Fred Caughlin, was actually one of the small group of guys to put together the first gun trucks in Iraq, He has had a couple of storys done on him by the Army and guard, one truck had reactive armor from a T72,He said it was a bitch finding someone who could weld it, to the bed, the 50's on the first 2 trucks were mounted on cut up Hemmit tow bars, just long posts in the back, i will get pics from him when i can, David U may be interested in talking to him, its a great thing they did, at first all they heard was" what do U think Your in Vietnam?" it took alot of old style bartering to get the welding and steel, and stuff to put the first 2 together, its a GREAT story, and one was the" Jersey devil," they did it and everyone thet saw em just like in the old days copied em fast. Randy

 

[emr]

Another story of a good friend.. George was one of the original guys to put armor on M151's, he said they thought they were all sort of it, untill the first convoy out, they found all the shooting was concentrated at them! so it became harder for them to find guys to take the mutts out, plus they were such dogs they couldnt get out of there own way, Randy

 

[DDoyle]

It should be noted that the replica at the top of this thread, as mentioned, was built by Sammy Seay. Mr. Seay has some experience with the Ace of Spades, as he served as gunner on the Ace of Spades back in Vietnam in about 1971.

Not only should the recreation garner respect, moreso the recreator.

Regards,
David Doyle

 

[Driver523]

The Nam replica Ace will also be at the Gathering--Aug 5th through the 9th 2008 in Pigeon Forge Tn.

Driver

 

[1917]

i was talking to a man that had a repo of his truck from nam at the army heritage center in carlisle pa.i asked him about the mini gun up front.he told me in nam he stole one off of a hilicopter and put on the truck.he stated that he started out with a duec but it couldint hold up to the weight so he switched to a 5 ton over in nam.the repo truck all so had 2 50s and a m 60 it was cool. wish i could remember his name and the trucks name.

 

[Driver523]

You must be talking about the Wild Thing--We had that one and the Ace of Spades there a couple years ago---Had a great time---from there we went to Gettysburg, had the trucks right out on the battelfield touring roads, then we headed for the Gathering that was being held at Fort Eustis---------Driver523

 

[1917]

yes it was wild thing and ace of spades. i have been look for the papers he gave me on the 2 trucks. very nice people showing the trucks. they left my at the time 10 year old on the truck.it was a nice day there. i was with my grandfather ww2 vet,father vietnam vet, and my son.
if any one goes there let me know it about 30 min from me.

 

[Uglyranger]

Here are Wild Thing shown by Randy Recht, Fremont, In and Ace of Spades, built and shown by Sammy Seay, Rogersville, TN.
Driver 523 has run with both these trucks, and knows more about gun trucks and their crews than most people. He helped building the Ace and a couple of other Vietnam era gun trucks. James Lyles, author of "The Hard Ride" spent more time on Vietnam gun trucks than anybody else.