No vision of grandure

[HULLROAD]

I have an M38A1........The PO told me when I bought it it was assembled with surplus parts.....At some point the dash ID tag was cut in half for some reason and a vin number sloppily stamped into it with oversize (about 1in tall) numbers ......their is no tub plate on it. It is titled as a 52 and from what I see and read the frame is most likely a 52 with place for grill hinges and fender supports but my fenders have no supports to attach to the frame. The battery box has a cam latch and hinge and no place for hinges on the grill so I am pretty sure it is a 53 or newer body witch leads me to believe the PO story. The good news is that so far everything to put this together looks like it WAS military parts.............Any way as I said I have no vision of grand stories being found for this old frank-en Jeep. What I thought I would like to do though is paint it like the A1 Marilyn was in in Korea. From the pics I have seen so far I can tell she was in a Provo Marshal Jeep......Probably from "the firsts finest" but I am not 100% on that because the markings are blurred. The biggest problem is all the pics I have seen are black and white.....It looks like the jeep had a "v" pattern in white on the hood and then MAYBE red or even black between the "V" and the windshield. If any one on here has a color pic or if anyone knows the color pattern for the Provo Marshal M38A1 in Korea that would be great. Thank You

[53a1]

Post some pictures. You have the dates wrong - 52 & 53 had the hinged grill and no hinged battery box. You can't tell the year of the tub by the grill. Look for a bunch of holes around the battery box. It's a 52 or 53 if it has the holes. On both of my '53s they added the battery box latch later so that won't tell you anything.

It might be nicer than you think. If rust is minimal and it's an early tub and frame, consider yourself lucky.

[circleburner12]

not to highjack, hullroad mention his fenders did not have the fender braces, what year did did the a1's do away with the braces that bolts to the frame?. thxs

[HULLROAD]

Well from what I read...Please guys let me know if I am wrong.....It wont be the first time...the 52 was the ONLY year with a hinged grill ......My grill never had holes for the hinge but the frame does....In fact my grill was painted desert tan after the original OD and then the brown it is now.....It is the only place on my jeep that I have found the tan....My fenders were OD with red trim, just at the wheel opening, added at some point then brown. The body tub was OD and then the brown but no red trim like the fenders......Hood has just OD and then brown.....never looks like it was ever numbered but it does have the "secure hood" warning on the inside witch is a bit strange.. All this makes me think it was pieced from many jeeps like the PO said.......The other thing is I think in 52 the the A1 tub came with a bolt down battery top and the 170 came with the hing and latch.....I thought that buy 53 both had the hing and latch battery box. I was not aware of the fact that the battery cover might have been changed.....I will have to look up from the bottom to see if the holes to bolt down the cover ever existed and were filled.

I am REAL lucky with the condition of my body...My tub is very clean except for the hat channel under the driver and passengers floor had a wood piece inserted and that held moisture and rusted the hat channel and floor, someone "torched" the the taillight holes larger and the spare tire holder was attached without the support bushing so the hat channel is crushed. And of course I have a multitude of holes drilled in various locations that I am in the process of deciding what is original and what is "extra".... My tub still has a solid gas tank...solid floor under the tank and solid tool box under the passenger seat.

The thing that puzzles me most is my fenders..... I have the "Pieced together" design of early A1 fenders but not sure how long they used those....Mine does not have the extra long brace (hat channel) that I see on other jeeps that bolts fender to frame behind the front wheel. Does anyone else have fenders that do NOT bolt to the frame??? My frame has the holes to mount the fender brace but my fenders have no brace behind the wheel. They just attach to the tub at the back and then the grill at the front..... And no it does not look like it has been cut off. That was the first thing I thought of but the original OD pant goes right to ,and into, the end of my short hat channel. If they were cut is was before the fenders were painted.

I wish I could do pics for you all....My only camera still uses film and that is getting harder to find than A1 parts.........If I can one day I will try to go to a Kinko's and have some made digital to share but until then I will do my best to explain.....I have had this in storage since the late 70's and have finally enough time to mess with it. I even have some pics in Polaroid from when I first pulled it down to the frame that might interest some of you.
Thank You
Dan

[wesk]

The M170 was added to the M38A1 series in MAR 1954. It always had the latch type battery box and non-hinged grill.

The hinged grill was used from Jul 1952 thru Sep/Oct 1953.

The grill hinge bracket holes were in the early frame through about mid 54.

The fender long brace was used through MD60406 about Oct 53.

The change in the diagonal vs vertical overlay skin on the side of the fender was about MAR 1954.

Front clips are an unreliable age estimator since they are very commonly banged up and replaced.

The Army supply system after about 1960 began stocking and issuing only later parts that were supersedable which explains many jeeps we see today.

The paint discription you give for your jeep can lead one to believe that the front sheet metal was changed sometime along the way.

[HULLROAD]

Well I looked at the bottom side of the cowl by the battery box. My tub never had bolts to hold down the battery cover....it was always a cam lever and hinge type.

Thank you wesk..
....My frame should be mid 54 or older since it still has the hinge mounting holes
....My fenders , 54 or newer because they have the vertical body line and no long brace
.....My grill, after Sept/Oct 53
.....My tub, after Oct/Nov 53 because of the battery box
----And a Michigan title that says 1952...
WoW can't wait to try to unravel the motor, transmission, t-case and axles....As I said Frank-in jeep.

Anyway back to my original question If anyone can help me with the paint colors for the Provo Marshal M38A1 in Soul Korea on or around Feb 54 when Marylin visited the troops It would be great.....all I can find so far is Black and white of the M38A1 and Marylin....I mainly need to know what the color was behind the white V on the hood. While looking around I found lots of color pics of the M38...even seen one pic of a MP M38 that looked like it had a chome grill...Don't know how that got through but it did look good. Must have been a motor pool upgrade. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You Dan