Need help researching a USMC M38A1

Avalon01 · Post by **Avalon01** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 4:13 pm

One more question.

Anyone know about how many USMC M38A1's there were?

I found production numbers for the Army M38A1's, and I belive the USMC bought their M38A1's from the Army.

I have not been able to find out how many were purchased by the USMC, however.

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Avalon01 · Post by **Avalon01** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 4:17 pm

One more post about the bumper.

On the back of the bumper centered in the middle, I found a triangle metal tag. I can't read what it says - it's too far weathered away.

Any idea what the tag might mean?

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Post by **Ryan_Miller** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:00 pm

Wes has told me before that the Army was the procurement organization for the M38 and other branches obtained M38's through them.

I am not sure, but on the M38A1, the different branches may have been able to order thier own, but the majority were still obtained through the Army.

Wes can shed more light on this.

As for the tag, can you post a photo?

Post by **wesk** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:56 pm

If the contract number on the dash serial plate starts with DA- then US Army procurement procured the jeep. Weather for the Army, Navy, USAF or Marines you will have to look at the reponsible agency tag.

Avalon01 · Post by **Avalon01** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:25 pm

wesk wrote:If the contract number on the dash serial plate starts with DA- then US Army procurement procured the jeep. Weather for the Army, Navy, USAF or Marines you will have to look at the reponsible agency tag.

Responsible agency is the USMC - "Marine Corps".

I still can't find any info on how many the USMC purchsed from the Army.

Any ideas? Would any of the '52 M38A1's been in Korea?

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Post by **wesk** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:22 pm

Getting a count of how many M38A1's were procured by the Army for each of the services is going to be very difficult. That information will only be found on the contracts themselves and inter office memos and such in the Willys Factory files. I am sure someone, somewhere has access to copies of these contracts. Untill they come out in the open we may never know the answer to your question in our lifetime. It is a shame that this info remains hidden all these years out of ignorance or greed.

By the way the Army was not the vehicle Dealership for the armed forces. They were the primary point of contact for procurement of TACTICAL wheeled vehicles for all services. The other services would bring their needs to the attention of Army procurement who then would consolidate those needs into a single contract. DOD paid the bill and billed each service accordingly.