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The M38 I am working on is a mish-mash of parts, but it looks good - the one thing that catches my eye is the dash. It has an older replacement tub, fenders and hood. The restoration was starts years ago and seems well done, frame up. The dash has a correct gauge panel, no 4" hole (although I have seen factory Willys with no hole), but it has MB/GPW glove box! It seems to be spot welded in when they made up the tub, not something that was put in by the previous restorer. All the rest of the dash holes are drill your own. There is no cowl battery cut-out, box or cover, but this isn't a CJ3A tub - it has tool indents on the passenger side. I am thinking, unless it was ordered that way because some 38s had MB/GPW glove boxes, it must be a mistake at the fab shop in the Philippines or where ever. Another question - how do you tell stainless steel? I pulled a fitting off weeks ago leaving bare metal and in this humidly it hasn't rusted. The metal on this tub seems thinner then sheet parts I have from the original, but just as strong. If you are going to ask about the data plates I have none and I am still working on clearing the title

Pictures?

As far as I know, all factory M38's came with the smaller glove box. I read somewhere that the very early MD Juan M38 reproduction tubs came with the MB/GPW style glove box; bigger glove box, and no cowl battery box.

My original tub doesn't have the 4" heater hole in the dash; according to Ryan Miller's M38 Reference Guide, those holes (and the cover panel for the data plates) were factory fitted from around September '51.

400-grade stainless steels are magnetic (like carbon steels), but a magnet will not stick to the more common 300-grade stainless steels.

Owen.

The M38 including the first pilot models did not leave the factory with MB glove boxes.
Repro tubs of the 70's and 80's commonly had mixed features that you are seeing. Glove boxes, un-drilled dash panels, axe/shovel indents on the passenger side & oddly drilled firewalls, no cowl battery box were all just how the repro bodies were being produced at that time.
Which features included or deleted varied over time.

Tom

I kinda had it pinned to a MD Juan fab shop -- and it is an older tub - as I said, the fella never finished to restoration.

Still not sure of the steel - I doesn't hold paint well, but that could be the prep - some places that have been exposed for a long time - maybe years have a little surface rust - sort of what a low grade stainless gets. Anyway I have what I have, and maybe I'll do have a proper small glove box door and with some surgery and patching I could change to that - the master backer plate for the data plates covers most of the cutting anyway. I doubt I'll put in a cowl battery box, but I will fit a cover as though one was there. I won't be going back to 24v (batteries are expensive and it isn't needed).

Someone said "pictures" - I haven't figured out how to attach pictures on this forum.