willysmjeeps.com

Looked at a jeep for sale today, which appeared to be a M 38. It had the hinged grille, lifting loops on the frame front horns, etc . but had been modernized a bit with new tail lights, and an F head complete with butchered hood and a tall radiator.

What threw me for a loop was that the headlights were recessed. I had a M 38 grille on my GPW so I remember what it looked like , with the single headlight guard bar on each, etc..but this looked much like a M38 A1 syle light unit....

The jeep had a WWII windshield and a set of WWII fenders (even with the headlight brackets on them still) so it appears to have been put together somewhere there were a lot of jeeps to choose from...

So....do the recessed A1 buckets bolt to a M 38 Grille? I don't remember seeing any bolts showing as if the recess was built into the grille. (It had the blackout parking lights too, so I think it is a M38 grille and I doubt the A1 grille would have bolted to WWII fenders....????

I wish I had taken some pictures...

A picture is really needed here to solve the question.


M38A1 Grill


M38 Grill


CJV35 grill

Any of these the one you saw?

I put headlight buckets from an A1 on my M38. I believe the deuces used the same units....

Looked like the A1 headlights in the M 38 grille... I didn't realize the recessed part was removable, hence the question. Sounds like Rick has the answer.

The bucket that Rick refers to is the common bucket to all M series trucks shown below. The indented portion of the headlight mounting on the M38A1 grill is an integral part of the grill and is not a bolted on part.

I'm definitely going to have to take a second look at it. Something is not right. .It had a very clean M 38 tub, four seats, no toolbox lid, and a tailgate with no script on it. It had the M 38 style dash in it, with the removable cluster and the small glove box which was missing its door. Also had a cowl mounted battery cover, which appeared to be removable, not welded in place. Price was less than 1500, for a rust free tub and a questionable f head motor. Unfortunately no title. Was school owned supposedly. I only had a couple of minutes to ask about it as I was on a schedule.