VPed and I talked about posting pictures of this truck. I told him about the story I was told when I bought the truck not knowing if there was any truth to it or not. I told Vic I was going to feel pretty stupid if none of it were true. I was glad to see that the gentlemen who sold me the truck was not just making up the story
about it being one of 30 something that was produced as a prototype for the military contract. Vic found the original M956 thread on here which talked about
how the military was looking to get variations on what the next generation of truck was going to end up looking like and how it was going to be equipped. The owner
had done research on this truck before he bought it and was the kind of buyer who liked buying something out of the ordinary. He told me that they had also
produced at least one of these trucks with an independent suspension, this as far back as 1980 when this truck was produced. He wanted to use this truck in his business
as part of advertising and modified the rear suspension with a later 5 ton set up. The original suspension was just to soft to carry the loads he was putting on the back
of it and decided to make the change. When I bought the truck from him, I asked that he include any and all of the original parts that came with the truck. It has a 12 ft long Duece bed on it and he sold the drop down sides and modified it with rub rails as to be able to secure the loads on the bed when he hauled company deliveries with it.
Looking at the truck is like looking at one of those kids puzzles in the Sunday paper showing the same picture over and over with slight variations, and you find something
different each time you look. I am posting some of the pictures I have and will do more as I have time to really start looking the truck over.
The Cat 3208 coupled to the Allison 4 speed automatic transmission and the 2 speed manual transfer case make up the complete drive train. In what little time I have driven
the truck, the front suspension makes the truck an absolute pleasure to drive on the street and is as smooth as glass. The stock rear set up un-loaded, will still send shock
waves up your spinal column. The air cleaner and exhaust mounted on the passenger side was probably the most accommodating to the Cat engine set up. Pretty neat.
The side cut outs on the hood will make it easier for me to modify an air cleaner set up I wanted to try and they apply to my M939 trucks.
For those of you who know a lot more about the older trucks and have been aware and seen this type of prototype trucks before, I welcome your comments as
to what additional modifications that you might have seen that this one does of doesn't have.
I really liked what I saw in the truck and this lead me to buying it. Probably not a lot of these left anywhere.
Not so much with a 939-series proto.
