M38 Canadian
 

Hello all

Couple questions about an M38CDN

Here is what I have found so far about the vehicle:

Serial # F-100296
Date of delivery 4-8-52

Patent plate missing from right rear wheel well, holes present but no plate

Jeep script clearly embossed on front of tool box

Tie down points on the frame

No CAR on left front frame rail.

Appears to have never been registered in BC, at least not under that serial #.

The last owner believed it came from the Mount Lolo radar station. Do I have any hope of finding out any more of the history of this vehicle from what I have?

Regards
John

M-38
 

Hi John, you will need to do some wet sanding and see what colors you have in the paint , vehicle may be RCAF, everything is in the paint , without a CFR you will never even find a in service photo so you start sanding,

John, The lack of a CAR/CFR on the top of front left frame is typical of the first 300 or so M38CDN jeeps. Your serial number F-100296 has not been previously reported although an early MVPA Directory lists F-100297 as owned by a Mr. Watkins in BC. There will be holes for the patent plate but the Ford M38CDNs never had a patent plate installed. The only clue to its CAR/CFR would be from residual stencilling on the side of the body or hood or perhaps ownership papers. I suspect the inspector was number 102 (see the serial plate) and his tiny stamp probably appears on the top of the front left frame where later M38CDN's would have had their CAR number stamped. ....... Brian

Unfortunately not much left for paint on the vehicle. I will try to see if I can raise anything off the side of the body, hood has no paint left and is in tough shape. The poor thing was definitely used hard on the farm after it's service life but I am going to make some attempt to bring it back to life. Will have a closer look for the inspection stamp and will confirm the inspectors number from the data plate. So far the only history I have is anecdotal involving the Kamloops area and the Mt. Lolo radar station.

John

John,

Funny thing , Mt- Lolo radar station ? Never heard of it. Was it Pine tree line or Mid-Canada line ?

Also, lolo in French is slang for a woman's breasts...Hey , she has got nice lolo's but I would never use that kind of language in front of the ladies..

Mt. Lolo
 

http://wikimapia.org/1246321/Mount-Lolo seems related to RCAF Station Kamloops

Well it seems this thread has gone sideways...lol...or Lolo...as the case may be!

John

John.

Best place to look on the sides is roughly centred below the door cutouts. The earliest stenciling will be in a large Roman Font. Later in life the Army switched to slightly smaller Gothic Font numbers. Sometimes, but not always, the CFR Number was stenciled in a small, Gothic font on a flat portion of the lower dash, or on the inside of the glove box lid.

For unit markings, check the rear bumpers if still present, or anywhere along the left and right rear rounded corners.

Army base colour was initially the factory OD Green, with the Roman fonts. The base colour went to a darker kind of black/green around the same time the Gothic fonts became common, later in service.

All of the above assumes the vehicle served in the Canadian Army. If it was RCAF issue, I have only ever seen them marked along the sides of the hood, either in RCAF initials or spelled out completely, but it could have Air Force markings in other locations. Early Air Force colour was very likely factory green. No idea when the RCAF adopted the colour blue on their vehicles, or even if that was a standard at all.

Might also be worth checking for Tire Pressure markings top dead center above the rear wheels. They show up there on some Army M38 CDN’s.

David

The CAR/CFR might be on the glove box door as my Cousin had an M38 years ago.

Hi David

will try some light sanding in a couple weeks, or sooner if I can convince my farm hand to lend me a hand yet again

Dave

sadly no glove box door remaining...

John

Dave, Thanks for posting the M38 photo. 52-31271 is new CFR to me. I'll add it to my collection. I guess there is no chance to follow up with more information from the data plates. Brian

I tried some light sanding on the jeep but as I suspected there is little to nothing left for paint on it...as there is no glove box door or CAR on the dash, am I correct in assuming the actual CAR is lost to the ages?

John

That heater setup is unlike any other I have seen for the M38, which has typically been a windshield defroster box with a rectangular cross section, complete removal of the data plate assembly and that position occupied by a large plenum with an air defector lever to switch air either down to the floor or up to the defroster box. Heater mounted on cowl in front of the driver in a special box.

David

John.

Sadly, with little or no paint to work with in the key areas, your CAR Number quest may have run its course.

One other long shot possibility would be trying to backtrack through previous owners to see if any have pictures of it in better days. You could also try asking your provincial vehicle registrar if the serial number you have shows up with any earlier owners.

David

Hi David

no previous owners I can find, and I did search the serial number, near as we can tell it has never had an assigned VIN nor been registered in BC under its original serial number.

John

John.

Most, if not all provincial vehicle registration systems, should be able to take basic serial numbers that predate the modern VIN. Otherwise, you would have thousands of antique vehicles in a bit of a pickle. Most issues here in Manitoba getting older military stuff licensed I have heard about has related to individual twits, not the system.

That being said, however, it is also possible your M38 spent most of its civilian life as an unregistered rural ‘hack’ on private property. A former neighbour across the lane from us here had an unregistered MB/GPW on his farm for over 30 years to haul hay bails around as needed, when needed.

You may have to rely on the available register of known M38CDN’s to select a close CAR. My old M38CDN was serialed in the upper F100170’s and had CAR 52-30196. Brian Asbury should be able to help you there.

David

There is also the possibility that a previous owner may have registered it under it's CFR number for the serial number. I have seen that happen a few times over the years. Still doesn't help you though.

Sorry no I looked but don't have any details of the data plate.

The heater shown in the photo is the smaller 15,000 BTU hot water type heater as was used in the M151. The setup looks a little ad-hoc, and may have been someone's solution to continually trying to repair the gas fired Stewart Warner heater that should have been on the cowl.

Seems to me the ambulance also had a heater squeezed into the floor in a similar location.