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New V-100

M813rc

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The OP says he has no problem with digression! This thread wanders about some as it is. :)

And yes, this is all cool, and fun when you find a picture like that last one.

Cheers
 

Barrman

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Thanks for posting that picture Rory. I have never seen it before. I will have to look for it, but there is a thread on the Zone about M715 gun trucks and if they ever existed. Somebody, I think Beast, posted a few shots of what looks like the same truck your picture shows in the motor pool surrounded by M35 gun trucks.
 

M813rc

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While my M270A1 is a great trailer, it is 50' long which makes it a bit awkward to maneuver around downtown and other places where we go to events. The rather high deck also makes for difficult loading and unloading of the V, needing a dock or loading ramp.

So, I found this one. It is an old commercial lowboy (1975) used by the military, its only 35' long, and way lower and has its own ramps. Now the V, and one other vehicle, can be easily loaded and toted to an event.
Since the M931 gets 10+mpg on diesel, and the V gets around 3mpg on premium gas, and my place is a ways out of town......

Agazza kindly loaned me his M915 for the 2000 mile round trip to pick it up. It went well, and including the fuel costs, the trailer cost half of what I can get one for locally, and it is precisely what I was looking for.

Meanwhile, son #2 does very well in Marine boot camp. I think he may be actually enjoying it, perhaps the first boot in history to do so. But he reeeally wanted to be there, so..
He tied with another recruit for company high shooter on qualification day.
Two weeks to go until graduation, I have my plane tickets, so off to California again. His brother should be there in his uniform to watch little brother pass in review.

Cheers

.
 

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mkcoen

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Congrats on the new trailer. At 10mpg the M931 beat my F250 on mileage for the MKT recovery as I only got 7.5mpg towing that brick wall home.
 

M813rc

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Thanks Scott. :D Missed ya at the parade today.

Mark, I was surprised at the mileage, and thought I had made a mistake on the first trip's math. On the second recovery trip to Ft Hood (M270) I carefully monitored coming and going, and it got 10+ mpg both ways. Trailer unladen, of course, but still weighs c. 17k#
But then again, no a/c and averaging about 52 mph, so... Call me Mr Milktoast if you want, but I'm pretty s-l-o-w when driving MVs.
Want to see this new MKT of yours, I keep hearing how nice it is. [thumbzup]

I failed to mention above, I'm pondering where and how to mount an electric winch around about the step on the trailer, since with that the trailer would be very useful for bringing home broken toys (not that any of us have ever broken down during an event and had to be towed home..) :whistle:

Cheers
 
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M813rc

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Patrick graduates MCRD

One of our nation's newest Marines Friday, with his now-corporal brother and college senior sister.

We had not thought Davey was going to make it to Patrick's graduation due to deployment conflicts, but he managed to get there in the nick of time. A pleasant surprise for all of us, but particularly for Patrick, since we had told him Davey was away.

Proud day to be a papa!

Cheers
 

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baseballump

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Rory That is a great looking group of kids. Tell Patrick was to go. Glad you could all be together on a very happy day. It looks like you did a realy good job of bring them up. Tell everyone to be safe and keep up the good work. Louie
 

M813rc

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My good buddy Dave, aka HellonwheelsV100, debuted his restored V100 at the MVPA convention in Portland last week. She is Proud Mary of the 560th MP, carefully restored to her original colours.
I was pleased to be present to witness the event. Dave and I have been exchanging parts, knowledge, and encouragement for years, along with JimK, who unfortunately couldn't make the show.

Dave's work is impeccable, the V is truly gorgeous. He was told by a V driver that they waxed their V's to a high gloss as a conspicuous 'nose-thumbing' to the enemy, so Proud Mary is shiny.

Dave's work was recognized by his V winning the gold medal in the Master Restored category. Well done!!! [thumbzup]

I'll post some more pictures later.

Cheers
 

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baseballump

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Rory Dave More Pictures At the 630th they wouldn't let us wax ours and they wanted the colored nose art off We didn't listen to well Our high ups said the nose art made us a target Like a 10ft. tall 8ft. wide machine wasn't a target. Looks great More pictures Rory you had to have known that I would want a better look see. Louie
 

M813rc

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More coming Louie! I am still on my marathon cross country drive from Oregon back to Texas. When I get home (tomorrow or friday) I will organize my pictures and post some more.
Maybe we can get Dave to start a thread of his own showing his work on Proud Mary.

Cheers
 

baseballump

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Rory So you went from hot and dry south Texas to the wet and cool north west. So did you stop and see much. Or, was it a drive thru with no time???? Glad that you are traveling safe. Tell everyone I said, HI. Louie
 

M813rc

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Going out, we had time constraints, so it was a marathon straight-through. I got back from California at 1:30am tuesday (due to a delayed flight) and Sam/Pawnshop picked me up at 6am! We switched off on driving and sleeping, with occasional stops for food/fuel/stretching. We arrived at Dave's in Oregon around 7:30pm local time (9:30 Tx time) wednesday, so about 33 hours of driving.

Coming back, we planned to leave sunday and take our time to stop and look at stuff, but we were having such a good time, we didn't leave until almost 1pm tuesday.
We helped move vehicles after the show sunday (Dave had three there) and did other stuff, so figured we would go monday. I got to drive Dave's Scout back to his house (around 25 miles. Woohoo!), after which we moved his V100, so I finally got to ride in the turret of one.
Then Dave happened to mention that the Spruce Goose was in an air museum pretty close by, so we went there monday instead.

We did more stopping on the return trip, and slept short nights in motels, arrived home around 2am friday. We would have spent more time on the trip, but Sam had to work friday at 9am (poor fellow). Me being a recent retiree, I spent much of friday sittin' and snoozin'...:razz:

For the trip, we borrowed Sam's girlfriend's car for fuel mileage, a diesel VW station wagon. We did 4857 miles total, fuel averaged out at 38.6 mpg.

I love cross country trips because you see so much. But my 50+ year old body has a bit of trouble keeping up when my 25 year old brain plans things.
Would I do it again tomorrow? Yep!

As promised, more pics attached.

Cheers
 

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