willysmjeeps.com

If you own a jeep you believe was an Air Force M38 can you please send me a PM on your hood number, serial number, contract number and date of delivery.

I am attempting to correlate some factory data before deciminating information.

Thanks for your assistance.

Ryan,

I think you have my data. Also I think I sent you Data about another jeep that I have seen as well.

Here is another one http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... light=blue

Ryan,

PM wouldn't send!

M38 USAF jeep located in the UK.

Hood Number: using 20826057 (original not known)
Serial Number: MC-26057
Contract Number: DA-20-089-ORD-4601FS
DoD: July 1951
Engine Number: RMC-118825

Registered for civilian use in May 1958.

Hope this helps you.......

Here is a link to the number found on the door of my USAF M38.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=58 ... 58&theater

US AIR FORCE
52K-16497
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

MC-60093 found on the patent plate.

The hood number is further back on this link.

There are a few other pictures of the tub up there also.
Hope this helps some.

Cheers
Pat

Pat,

That m38 looks great. I find it strange how your Hood number starts like mine but the reg. number on the door is different. I wonder if the door came from a different jeep.

Guys,

Thanks for the information. I ran across some factory info (a blue print) on hood number ranges that were listed for multiple M38 contracts, but I do not have vehicle serial numbers. One contract lists some N- AF hood numbers with a hood number range.

What I am trying to do is get a better idea on the serial number range for these hood numbers if possible (I don't know if the jeeps would have been made consecutively or throughout the contract delivery).

If I release the information now, then anyone in that contract could slap a coat of blue paint and a hood number in this range and say it was an AF jeep.

The data I have is not from an actual contract, but from a blue print - the actual contracts have not been found as of yet - so this is not conclusive evidence, but it is to me very indicative that there may have been a batch of M38's that very probably were blue with yellow hood numbers.

I just don't want to lose the potential history if we ignore this - at the very least we can document/ correlate it with jeeps we are seeing and then keep looking for any further factory/military documentation to support this theory.

I am not trying to stir the pot on Strata blue vs. OD2430, but just want to report what has been found. I would like to have a lot more hard data, but these things take time and the rest of the factory/military data may not exist anymore.

In the meantime I have only gotten about 3 responses between this website and the G503, which has surprised me seeing how much everyone has argued the point in the past.


Respectfully,

I think I have argued the point the most , with most saying it did not happen. I think the other problem is a lot of people when they restored the jeep with with Army markings and paint and didn't take Much notice of the USAF markings. I know of one such jeep in the Club I belong to, but since all the info in long lost we will not know for sure, resto to an Army jeep happened 20 plus years ago. I can probably still get the serial number and contract number however, just no hood number.

The key to Ryan's research is the USAF hood number. Without it the other ingredients are useless.

To date not a single factory document has been found that says any M38 was painted overall strata blue. There are blueprints showing directions to apply USAF style registration numbers to the bumperettes with no mention of blue anything. There are several blue prints with amended data in the 60's that added strata blue to newly supplied factory parts like wheels.

The only personal testimony from a Willys factory employee to date on the topic of Blue M series Willys jeeps leaving the factory clearly stated he only recalled seeing blue jeeps after the introduction of the M38A1.

And yes I am one of the folks referred to above that felt it is not very likely but I don't recall saying it "Never happened". I know the USAF purchased their replacement tubs in strata blue. I personally witnessed USAF jeep tubs be stripped in large stripping vats for refurbishing and repainting at base motor pools where I was stationed during my 22 years in the USAF. So although we cannot prove it never happened we can explain how some of the all blue tubs found their way out here. On the other side of the coin producing a solid blue tub without any trace of OD does not prove it did happen.

Hi Bill F

The hood was on the jeep along with the Arctic Top and the numbers were found when stripping the layers of paint from each part.
I have no idea why there are two different numbers on the same jeep, possibly it changed hands in the military?
The Arctic Top is still in the same condition as the pictures. Most top bow holes were filled with plugs and the footman loop holes were braised up.
The one other thing is the axe head sheath was removed from the tub and I found this odd as there was no reason to remove it in my mind.
The top is complete with all attachments and I may restore it back original sometime in the future as the winters here can be a bit cold.

As I stated before, I have a Canadian frame and the body and engine were salvaged from the original jeep to be used on my wife's jeep. The jeep will be a Canadian jeep in military green. I will cover the script "jeep" in the front of the toolbox with a layer of bondo that can be removed if a future owner wants to return it to a "US" jeep.

I have documented the numbers found and the paint colours of the body and top during the restoration.
I hope to be back working on it in the coming months as I have finally caught up on my "Honey-do" list.

Here's a question, was there any numbers stamped into the frame of the US jeep similar to the Canadian CFR number on the Canadian version of this jeep. I ask this because I know where the frame and axles are for this jeep and I could get any info required from the parts if there is any interest.

Cheers
Pat

Pat,

Numbers stamped on the frames was a Canadian thing, not U.S. Military.

Wes is right - we don't have any data on strata blue.

What we do have is a blue print on bumperettes with notes written in the margin - listing the first 4 delivered contracts with hood number ranges for each contract

1. W-20-089-ORD-4758 HOOD NUMBERS 2365142 - 2369141
2. DA-20-018-ORD-9196 HOOD NUMBERS 2384962 - 2392995
3. DA-20-089-ORD-4601FS HOOD NUMBERS 20890479 - 20904235
4. DA-33-019-ORD-43 last entry dated 8/29/51 HOOD NUMBERS 20911245 - 20929382, 1 COAT W.O. SPEC J-302 WHITE LACQUER FOR 800861

4. CONTINUED - USAF N-XXXX thru N-XXXX
one coat W.O. SPEC J-205 "CHROME YELLOW" NO. 120, USA SPEC. 3-1 FOR 801971

The 4th listed contract lists a regular format hood number range and then lists a hood number range with N-XXXX - N-XXXX


Now we have members with jeeps that have been noted with no OD on them, only strata blue AND they have hood numbers N- that are in this range AND they are in that contract AND they are realtively close in serial number.

Gentlemen, the odds of this being a mere coincidence are not very likely.

Take for instance the AF did get replacement tubs - would all these jeeps be in a close serial number range after being distributed by the Army and then to the AF to who knows where?

I would like to get more data to further investigate this. If more jeeps show up in this hood number/serial number/contract number then that improves the chances.

I am hesitant to release the hood data as of yet, becaue I don't want people to just put a hood number from that range on a jeep in that contract and say it was an AF jeep.



I AM NOT TAKING ANY SIDES HERE BUT MERELY REPORTING WHAT HAS BEEN FOUND. THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE WEBSITE AND THE PROCEEDS FROM THE M38 BOOK.
I FEEL WE WOULD BE REMISS IN IGNORING THE POTENTIAL HISTORICAL DATA

RESPECTUFLLY