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Below are the two marker lights that came with my M38. My jeep was converted to 6 volt some time in it's past. You can see that they are about half the size of an M series maker light. I always though that they were for an MB based on the cloth covered wiring but they are clearly stamped 24 volt. Any thoughts? Clearly not from an M38 but definitely military. Thanks, Marty

Halftrack?

Well I took another look at these lights. They are identical to those used on a Ford GPW. I even found an "F" script to the left of the screw hole beneath the layers of paint. Also inside the cover above the light lens it says "HALL LAMP" inside a stylized oval. Below the lens are raised numbers that look like 18454. This light is no doubt of WW II vintage based on the wires. It must have been on a Ford produced vehicle that was 24 volt. Any ideas?

They are from a Sherman tank.

radtech wrote:They are from a Sherman tank.

Wow! You have to wonder how they made their way from a Sherman tank to my M38. My jeep is really odd. At some point someone put a May of 42 Willys MB motor in it, but every internal and external engine part is GPW, as is the air cleaner, brackets, and carb.

You jeep is what the hobby refers to as a Frankenjeep! There;s no real wonder in it. It was all done by guys by the name of "Bubba". The Bubba's of the world have been blending and mixing vehicle parts together for over 100 years.

Back in the day we could get surplus MB and GPW parts at nearly every Army Surplus sales yards but not the M series parts.They would surplus incomplete or non running M38's and we used MB/GPW parts on them.Those small blackout lights were mounted on top of the Sherman tank headlight bucket.The army surplus yard I went to a a kid had a broken down sherman in the yard.

The WWII half tracks mounted them on top of the headlamp buckets also.

The US military has long been, and rightly so, a fan of using the same parts on as many vehicles as possible. It saves a lot of problems in the supply line having to stock one marker light to cover everything instead of different ones for every vehicle.