U.S. Willys M-38A1 in Canadian Service?

[Clint Tauber]

It is definitely a Willys used by Canada, the original owner removed the data plates from the dash and re-painted the rest of the jeep, then replaced the plate without painting any of the plates. He did, however, paint over the little plate in the tub, which a Ford built one wouldn't have. I got a ton of paperwork with it, the old guy saved everything. I am 100% certain that the jeep was made by Willys, based on all the documentation. The original owner recorded the info from the plates, the paint colour, and a bunch of other stuff, but he didn't record the CAR number. There is no number stamped on the frame, so we may never know it.

[chris vickery]

Terry, we are not talking registration papers here. We are talking reality of having actual Willys data plates attached to our Jeeps. Mine is 100% US although it does carry a stamped CFR in the left front frame rail.
Clint, are you sure that you have no CFR on the frame rail? I know mine took a lot of searching and then some sanding to bring it up. If it wasn't stamped deeply it is possible to be covered in rut scale or paint.

[Clint Tauber]

100% certain, my frame was not rusty at all, and paint stripper revealed only shiny steel. I sanded it a bit, and even applied a few drops of gasoline just in case, but nothing there.

[chris vickery]

That is quite possible as I have heard this before.

[Frank v R]

the Toledo vehicles do pop up , I also owned one of these, ex First Hussars CO's vehicle, there has been no CFR list found as yet of the M-38's and M-38A1's , how or when the CF aquirred these is still a very big mystery , bottom line is they are Canadian and we did have them,

[Clint Tauber]

Originally Posted by Frank v R

the Toledo vehicles do pop up , I also owned one of these, ex First Hussars CO's vehicle, there has been no CFR list found as yet of the M-38's and M-38A1's , how or when the CF aquirred these is still a very big mystery , bottom line is they are Canadian and we did have them,

Indeed, this one is all Canadian other than the Willys plates. RCEME rebuild tags on some parts, headlight guards, security chain, convoy light, and signal lights. I recall seeing a photo taken shortly after the Korean War, in the DMZ I think, with Canadians using US M-38A1's. The ones used in Egypt also appear to be US jeeps. Perhaps the Toledo ones were used there, and were brought to Canada at some point?

Also, mine has no sign of having a machine gun mount, but there were enough links in the nooks and crannies that it must have had a machine gun mounted somehow. Any ideas? Some sort of temporary mount?

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by Clint Tauber

Also, mine has no sign of having a machine gun mount, but there were enough links in the nooks and crannies that it must have had a machine gun mounted somehow. Any ideas? Some sort of temporary mount?

The links are most likely from something like a C6 GPMG or some other MG that was carried by the infantry soldiers of the day. I believe the C6 has been in service since the late 70's in Canada, so it was probably an earlier similar gun.