willysmjeeps.com

I understand that early M38A1's had a shorter front bumper - the carcass that I'm picking parts from was built 10/52 and it has a shorter one. I wonder whether the long bumper was ever retrofitted to Jeeps from early production runs later during their service life?

Tim

I can't say for sure about the old jeeps and bumpers. When I was in the Army, we would use what ever parts we could to fix vehicles (as long as it fit and worked)

The early M38A1 short bumper was the M38 bumper. It was superseded by the long bumper and the long bumper became the service replacement for both jeeps.