rmvivas
New member
- 40
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- 0
- Location
- Columbia County, NY
I've acquired my first military vehicle.
For quite a while now I have been wanting to try my hand at learning how to work on motor vehicles and at the same time indulge my interest in miltary hardware.
I had been collecting US military small arms for about 20 years and built up a museum grade collection. Eventually I wanted something that would provide the same thrill and enjoyment but perhaps on a slightly grander scale and with some useful skills (like learning how motor vehicles work and are maintained).
It probably didn't help that one of my customers at my gunshop dropped off a box of gun magazines and mixed in were some copies of Military Vehicles Magazine.
I suppose that like most folks I figured I wanted the classic jeep. However, I really did sort of like those M37's. I didn't help that one of the neighboring districts has an M37 they use as a brush truck (a surprising number of these things are still floating around in the fire service).
So, I started watching for M37's. I just missed one a couple years back that was for sale a couple miles from my home.
I watched the Internet classifieds and every time I found an M37 that seemed promising it was located too far away and I was perpetually cash poor and gun rich.
Circumstances change and I started selling my gun collection, leaving me with a small amount of spare cash.
So as I floated around the Internet I found a seemingly nice M37 for sale about 250 miles away. I made a deal for it and went and trailered it home (an absolutely miserable journey that I am trying to block out of my memory like a car wreck or a tour in 'Nam).
Anyway, epically bad trip aside, I finally got this thing home last night. First thing I have learned: A garage that will hold my wifes Chevy Trailblazer comfortable is pushing the edge of the spatial performance envelope to hold an M37. I now understood why serious automotive hobbyists have large garages.
So now what? The vehicle runs, which is great. None of the lights work, not so great. Supposedly a previous owner had started to replace the wiring harness.
Some of the wiring appears to be, if not original, then NOS wiring as it has the small metal tags on metal plates on the wires. I understand these are to identify each wire.
The oldest vehicle own is my 1990 Ford F-150 so understanding concepts such as, oh, say, a 'choke' require a little bit of reading and practice.
The vehicles is mostly, I think, original. There's a Raritan Arsenal rebuild plate from 1968. I was told the vehicle is 1952 but a fragment of an old registration says 1951. There is a non-original bumper w/plow mount and a winch that doesn't look original, but I'm not sure. There is a layer of OD green paint over a layer of red over a layer of yellow. A large star on the passenger door still shows through as does a faint ghost of some numbers on the side of the hood.
It sports absolutely wicked non-military tires and lock-out hubs. Good thing too as we had to use it to tow the 10 foot U-haul AND trailer 2 miles through the snow!
My plans for it? At the moment I'd just like to get it all squared away and have it as an occassional driver/utility vehicle. I'm not sure about getting it back to it's 'fresh from the armory' days.
Right now I'm spending all my spare time looking at downloaded PDF files of the various manuals and such and contemplating how to make more room in my garage so I can walk around this thing.
For quite a while now I have been wanting to try my hand at learning how to work on motor vehicles and at the same time indulge my interest in miltary hardware.
I had been collecting US military small arms for about 20 years and built up a museum grade collection. Eventually I wanted something that would provide the same thrill and enjoyment but perhaps on a slightly grander scale and with some useful skills (like learning how motor vehicles work and are maintained).
It probably didn't help that one of my customers at my gunshop dropped off a box of gun magazines and mixed in were some copies of Military Vehicles Magazine.
I suppose that like most folks I figured I wanted the classic jeep. However, I really did sort of like those M37's. I didn't help that one of the neighboring districts has an M37 they use as a brush truck (a surprising number of these things are still floating around in the fire service).
So, I started watching for M37's. I just missed one a couple years back that was for sale a couple miles from my home.
I watched the Internet classifieds and every time I found an M37 that seemed promising it was located too far away and I was perpetually cash poor and gun rich.
Circumstances change and I started selling my gun collection, leaving me with a small amount of spare cash.
So as I floated around the Internet I found a seemingly nice M37 for sale about 250 miles away. I made a deal for it and went and trailered it home (an absolutely miserable journey that I am trying to block out of my memory like a car wreck or a tour in 'Nam).
Anyway, epically bad trip aside, I finally got this thing home last night. First thing I have learned: A garage that will hold my wifes Chevy Trailblazer comfortable is pushing the edge of the spatial performance envelope to hold an M37. I now understood why serious automotive hobbyists have large garages.
So now what? The vehicle runs, which is great. None of the lights work, not so great. Supposedly a previous owner had started to replace the wiring harness.
Some of the wiring appears to be, if not original, then NOS wiring as it has the small metal tags on metal plates on the wires. I understand these are to identify each wire.
The oldest vehicle own is my 1990 Ford F-150 so understanding concepts such as, oh, say, a 'choke' require a little bit of reading and practice.
The vehicles is mostly, I think, original. There's a Raritan Arsenal rebuild plate from 1968. I was told the vehicle is 1952 but a fragment of an old registration says 1951. There is a non-original bumper w/plow mount and a winch that doesn't look original, but I'm not sure. There is a layer of OD green paint over a layer of red over a layer of yellow. A large star on the passenger door still shows through as does a faint ghost of some numbers on the side of the hood.
It sports absolutely wicked non-military tires and lock-out hubs. Good thing too as we had to use it to tow the 10 foot U-haul AND trailer 2 miles through the snow!
My plans for it? At the moment I'd just like to get it all squared away and have it as an occassional driver/utility vehicle. I'm not sure about getting it back to it's 'fresh from the armory' days.
Right now I'm spending all my spare time looking at downloaded PDF files of the various manuals and such and contemplating how to make more room in my garage so I can walk around this thing.
opcorn:
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