willysmjeeps.com

I have posted this before and have been told this is not possbable but I believe some m38's might have left the factory blue. I cant find any green paint on my tub and it is blue in places that repaints never get such as the hat channel where the body meets the frame and under the dash/cowl

Dash/Cowl pic


Passenger Side floor


Hat channel center of floor going to driver side floor (Removed yestarday so I can fix rust)


I believe I am forming a strong case that at least some m38's came from the factory in blue for the Airforce, now if there where some factory documents to back this up it would be great. Tub has no previous body work and just a coat of red paint on top of the blue in some places. Outside of tub has been sandblasted so I dont have any pics of that to go with. All m38's that I have ever seen are always still green under the dash/cowl

Results of yestardays work

Bill,

That is a very intersting finding on your jeep.

I don't envy you as that is a quandry as I would not know what to paint it as if it were my jeep.

Maybe some documentation will turn up.

It is going back to strata blue and marked as an airforce jeep

Bill_F wrote:It is going back to strata blue and marked as an airforce jeep

Woo-Hoo YEAH! Way-2-Go, Bill!

This is what I have been doing today. Ran out of gass of the mig so I am done for today. Only burned through in a couple of spots but was easy to fix. I am really enjoying this, kind of fun right now but still have lots to do.

Hey Bill,
Sorry that you ran out of gas, I thought there was enough to do what you needed. Just finished packing for the trip. Load the M38 in the am.

There is no written evidence that any M38's left the Willys Factory any color but 2430. Not even the USMC units. Don't take this the wrong way but the USAF was slow converting it's stuff to strata blue after the 1948 War Dept / Pentagon shuffle. The Army was still prime contractor on it's tactical vehicles. Thru 1954 in Korea the USAF jeeps were still OD.

In at least two of the photos I clearly see traces of 2430 with the blue.

Wes point out where in the pick you see the green. I have sanded and ground and can not find it anywhere. Heck it was blue where the body mounts to the frame. You might be seeing it in the picture but it is not there in real life. They may have been slow with their current fleet and repainting but what if they ordered something new from the factory? On the tool box where it was not sandblasted it goes red, blue, red primer, bare metal.

Larry I hope you enjoy your trip. I am not able to get any further on the m38 this weekend and dont know when I will work on it again. Passenger side is going to take a lot of work.

The main thing to remeber is that we will never now for sure what colar this jeep left the factory. I just know how I am going to paint it and what I feel it orginally came. I might be wrong, then again I might not be.

First I wonder if you could not track it down by it's serial numbers? Does it have a factory fitted plate under the hood showing paint numbers. Second its blue alright but is it strata blue?

Wes- What colour was that M606A1 in your photo of a US Air Force jeep, what year was it taken?

Cheers Chris

The m38 does not have a paint code plate on it. Sure would have been nice if it did.

Did you see the pics Wes posted on my enqiry about a USAF M606A1. Same colour. (same forum)

Bill, I know this is an old thread, but I recently purchased a M38 for parts. The jeep is basically a body and rolling chassis. All the sheetmetal is there, but missing most of the military bolt on parts. After further investigation I have found strata blue under a thin top coat of a civilian paint. I bought it for the hood, grille and some other small parts and because the tub was unmolested and fairly rust free. I just last night had time to start looking around the body and found not only strata blue but some yellow lettering at the drivers door sill. I will try sanding on the hood next to discover if there is more lettering on the hood. But I also discovered, like you that there is not a single spot of OD paint on the tub. Everywhere I look there is blue, under the dash, wheel wells, in the glove box etc. If I scrape off the blue I find red primer then nothing but metal. There is no OD under the blue. Further investigation shows me that bolt on parts like the tool box lid, fenders, hood, grill, etc. have OD under the strata blue. This USAF M38 sounds alot like what you found. I was wondering like you if M38's at this time going to the USAF had the tubs painted blue by the factory and the rest was OD painted blue because they where bolting on parts from inventory that was already OD. My M38 is #59960 del. date 3/52. I can post pictures if anyone is interested? I have about decide to keep this M38 together and not part it out now that I have discovered that it is a USAF M38.

I am new to MV's and this forum. I anticipate this forum will be of great value. My thanks to Wes and Ryan.

Richard Taylor

51 M38 MC25149
52 M38 MC59960

Mine is a 2/52 and I dont believe the serial numbers are that far apart. I would love to see pics and what your hood number is. Mine is N-1346, unfortunatly my jeeps tub was mostly sandblasted when I recieved it so I cant find any markings on the side. I am very glad to hear that someone else has found another blue m38. Where do you live?

I would like to see a few pic's. I would also like to know who the responsable agency is and contract #'s on the Data Plates? My serial number is close to yours and found NO blue paint anywhere.