I have the proper quantities purchased somewhere, but for now I'll go by memory. The initial batch (1983) were bought primarily for the militia armoured corps as a temporary replacement for the well aged M38A1 fleet. It had got to the point where it was difficult to get spare parts, and the units were lucky to be able to get 1/2 of the vehicles to the field; they would be either VORd already, or break down on the way. I believe the 1983 purchase quantity was in the neighbourhood of 300 or so. They were essentially bare bones, off the shelf, CJ7s with 6 cyl engine, manual steering, 205/75R15 tires, and the notoriously poor T-4 transmission. It had low back seats, and green vinyl softop. It was adapted for the 24Volt 524 radio sets with the inclusion of a 12-24 volt converter under the drivers seat. I think they had some footman loops under the hood which were meant to hold a shovel, but I can't recall this for sure. They also had the bumperettes and tow rings on the rear. Most of the Wpg ones showed up without the tow rings and bumperettes and they were sent to us a month after receipt along with a couple of specially bent snap on wrenches to install them. I still have my wrench. They also had the wire cutters installed on the front bumpers.
There was a second major purchase in 1985, ( I think 200, but again can't be sure. If someone has the data summaries, it will give the quantities purchased) which had some minor improvements like the high back buckets, and the heavier T176 (or a similar medium duty ) transmission. It looked like there was an attemp to mount a Jerry can bracket on the left side just in front of the driver, as the bolts were on all the vehicles, but I never saw one with the bracket there, so maybe someone thought better of sticking a gas can out the traffic side of the vehicle.
Upon the introduction of the Iltis fleet in 1987, the militia requested that the CJ7s be retained as extra vehicles, and the majority of them were kept by the militia, with some going to training bases war stocks, with a one time repair expenditure limit (REL) of $500, so it wasn't too hard to get them PCC'd when the mood struck.
Compared to the M38A1Cdn2 and Cdn3 fleet, along with the M151A2 fleet, the CJ7s were generally a godsend, although they did not get the traditional GPMG on the side. The CJ7s were never really sold off en-masse, but rather trickled out of the system over the years as they reached that $500 limit. It is getting hard to see any CJ jeep around any more as the bodies are somewhat prone to cancer (rust) although the militia CJ7s generaly were fairly solid and low mileage when they left the service.
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