WillysMJeeps :: David Wigham

This was the inside of Lotty when she first arrived in the UK via my good friends the penny family in Eeklo (Belgium). As you can see the Greek weather meant there was relatively little rust. But photo's can be deceptive and every assembly required a rebuild.

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Once 'other' projects had been moved the body engine and transmission were all removed and the rolling chassis was sent for bead blasting. You can just see my home made towing rig on the front bumper. Why make such an odd towing rig?... so I van use it on any jeep, thats why. It's canted over like this so I can paint the bottom of the chassis and the nooks and crannies.

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One of the many rebuild plates which are attached to almost every assembly. They give the rebuild dates to the day, and the number of the 'shop' some actually name a place rather than a number ie. I think this one says Pusan if memory serves me well, March 55 to April 55 which you can just make out. I think Japan Ordnanace Command must have controlled shops all over the Far East

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When I said rebuild every assembly I meant it. The only part of this axle that is original is the backplate, shims and axle case, the backplate is for the M38A1 brakes which I only found out when I tried to fit my M38 brakes. Everything else was bodged or damaged in some way. Only after the rebuild did I work out the cost!!

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The extreme lengths that the US mil went to to rebuild this jeep are staggering. Take a close look at this dash, the hole is hand cut and is not as round as it looks here. The internal tub is no different. I took the choice to maintain all these repairs as that is part of its history. I think the the little holes are for the dash plates?? if you have any other ideas please let me know.

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The front differencial. Yes, after a rebuild. Looking at this I'm just wondering.... should there be some locking wire there? will have to check.

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Brand new valves and springs and one of the valves jams open!! Damn. Luckily I drowned the cylinder with REDEX which is a fuel additive we get over here, and then loads of WD40, and then some diesel. Eventually it loosened up. Made a bit of smoke when started though!

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For the British M.O.T. the lights have to have a perfect 'dip' and 'main' pattern. Impossible on the US LHD. lights, luckily I have a mountain of M series lamps with the correct pattern but they all have the later connectors. The douglas lamps I have all dip the wrong way, so I just keep them for show.

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This is 'Lotty' in the yard at my good freinds the Pennys in Belgium after she had been brought back from Greece by a Netherlands dealer. Interesting Greek camo scheme copied from 4 colour US pattern

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The engine once fitted. This was the first set just to get everything running. You'll notice the Solex carb, wrong X-over and a few other things, but in this form I started the 'shake down' and she passed her M.O.T. and could now be registed.

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A rubbish photo I'll replace later. But this is how she started to look as the paint and stencils went on.

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And from the other side. I spoke to the few remaining Korean Vets I knew of, and I knew that the Commonwealth Brig. bought a 1000 new jeeps in 51/52 from the US while in Korea but nobody could say if these were Cj2A/Cj3A/M38.

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Most of the Vets spoke highly of the 8055th Surgical Unit and the 42 EVAC. Both of which looked after the Commonwealth Brig. and the Belgies and Dutch. And having met an ex. Dutch Medic veteran I painted the jeep in those colours. Can you work out the name??

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The next time your wife complains, show her this photo. This is the view from our bedroom window, the camo jeep is an M201, then M38, then plain green M201. The M38 is not one of mine but another ex.Greeke one I found in Belgium for a good friend (Lew). It is now getting a serious restoration slightly north of here in Scotland. That's my Bantam T3 and a random M35 wincher at the bottom of the drive.

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My 'Wincher' Reo this is actually No2 as i sold the first one and regretted it ever after, so I built another. The extended sheets are normal, over here every 10th truck would be a 'machinery truck' and had an extended canvas to allow people to stand up in the rear.

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This is my M41 doing what it does best. Charging across country full of Grunts. This was at Harperly MVT show and I almost got the whole truck airbourne that day. There are photos to prove it! The previous photo on the reel was used as the poster promo for the 2005 event.

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This shows the difference in sheer size between my M35 WO/W and my M41. yesthe camo scheme is 'odd' but its genuine 'Red Desert' as per some of the REFORGER trucks had when they arrived in Germany and I was a young Brit squaddy. Note the 2 different 4 colour camo schemes.

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This is a close up of the Red desert 4 Colour Camo scheme.

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Long Tom Sleeping!! Jaap tried to reverse his Long Tom with the Mack back up onto the low loader. What happened next depends on where you were standing.

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M201 + Mack NM + Sons + Sister in law. 2005 Coxhoe (UK) VE. Day celebrations on the raod outside our house awaiting the 'OFF' 'Mum, is sitting at the dinner table on prozak and gin.. 0900hrs and it's already been a long day!!

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