willysmjeeps.com

Need help with a Hood number on an M38A1. DOD 5/55 84090. Thanks

Just to give you a close reference, my confirmed hood number is 2A3514 for DOD 2/55 81433.

Assuming you tried to lightly sand your hood to see if anything could be revealed? My son and I tried on our 1955 MD85578 but came up empty. We eventually created a number based on period correct numbering from photos and the serial number plate from our original tub.

If you have no true idea what your jeep's hood number was originally then the best solution is a "Contrived Number" using the first period correct 3 or 4 digits combined with jeep's serial number. This way 10 years from now when a hobbyist recorder is trying to build upon his or someone else's database that person will recognize the relationship between your between your hood number and your serial number to understand that it is a contrived number and does not help his database.

May 1955 MD84090 would have had a hood number in the 2A7XXX range thus when combined with your serial yields 2A7090 or 2A4090.

It is actually for a customer we have. He is missing the original hood but does have the data plate. Harold West has fixed me up on the best range of numbers for him. Thanks for every ones help. Matt

Remember, when you estimate and pick a random number and paint it on that hood then ten or so years from now a database builder will find a real one and then see this one and scratch his head for several months. This is why so many folks come to our web sites looking for help & history and become disappointed when they find how inaccurate the histories are because folks stole number out of the air and painted them on a hood they never rode on and swapped serial plates all over the place.!

It is routine for us restorers and collectors to calculate Registration numbers for WW2 jeeps, and I do it for M series vehicles as well. These aren't rare vehicles and what does it matter if someone in the future finds one I restored? Putting the serial number on the hood is just not something I am going to do; it looks strangely wrong.

Hello dpcd67???

Well not only are we the best post WWII M series Willys/Kaiser mjeep informational web site but we try to endorse honesty in everyone's work as well.

These aren't rare vehicles

I beg to disagree with your point here! These are rare and classic. The names "Rare & classic" apply even when they are being utilized as plow jeeps, or rock climbers or just being abused & battered. They will remain a "Rare & Classic" vehicle until they are melted down and become part of a different platform.

The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions as well as the opinion of the web site's manager/owner. And my name is:

I don't have a huge amount of experience in this area, but I don't see where Wes general recommendation for contrived hood numbers (period correct prefix plus serial number) would look 'out of place' - it seems to me the only context where you'd see that is when specifically looking at the data plate and realizing there is an impossible match. Now - if you used a date or just the serial number without the period correct prefix, I could see that looking out of place.

I also agree with Wes that "don't muddy the waters/do no harm to the general historical data collection" is something we should all be able to live within without any detraction from our own personal goals.

dpcd67 wrote:It is routine for us restorers and collectors to calculate Registration numbers for WW2 jeeps, and I do it for M series vehicles as well. These aren't rare vehicles and what does it matter if someone in the future finds one I restored? Putting the serial number on the hood is just not something I am going to do; it looks strangely wrong.

Well if that is the way you feel, but like Wes has said, it does muddy the waters when people are trying to build data bases for know numbers. As someone who produces decals and paint masks for vehicles, I always urge the people to not just pull random numbers out of the air or to copy a picture they have seen. Heck I have even had someone send me an order form with the hood numbers off one of my vehicles because they found it in a google search and just used those numbers. I have been building a data base for known registration numbers for the M715 & M725 for several years and it is amazing how many people don't know the originals and send me obvious ones that don't match or that someone before them just made up. The practice of using the last of the vin with the proper prefix makes it very easy for me to spot them when doing the research, yet makes a registration number that 90% of the public and collectors would never know the difference.