How To: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car US Ordnance number 7373

[Big D]

More photos.

[colin jones]

Hi Darryl, fantastic . The rewards will be great after you get the hull back and start bolting things back on. Your radio and generator look like new.
Great job.

[James P]

Looks great, try shining a bright light at an oblique angle to see if the numbers come up better. Good lord you will have to remove your shoes before climbing in that M8 it is so well done.

[Big D]

Hi Colin and James,

Thanks for that. Yes, it’s hard to believe the stage it’s at now. It has been quite a journey so far!

I had another look at the hull today after they put the primer on it. As you can see, we dropped the turret ring down enough to blast between the surfaces, and get some paint in there.

Some of the other numbers on the vehicle became more apparent with the coat of primer on it. It’s amazing how a coat of paint transforms the vehicle!

After we looked closely at the front armour we can see that a grinder or similar has been used in a number of places on the front armour; the middle panel where that other serial number would be, and the top panel. You can actually see some of the dips in the surface from the grinding, and it appears that other number has been ground away. The lower panel where the Ordnance Numbers are shows no signs of any grinding.

I guess there could be a few reasons for the grinding but it was certainly done some time ago and prior to at least the last coat of paint it got in its service. Maybe the hull sustained some frontal damage at some point and the steel was repaired and grinded smooth. Who would know….

Anyway, on Monday, the gloss white goes on. After that, the plan is to leave the paint to harden for a few days before masking the white off in preparation for the OD to go on.

[James P]

Anyway, on Monday, the gloss white goes on. After that, the plan is to leave the paint to harden for a few days before masking the white off in preparation for the OD to go on.

I am perplexed, are you shooting a gloss white, masking off vehicle markings (stars and numbers) then going OD over top that ? I know next to nothing about wartime application of M8 paint but why not just go green and stencil on in white the markings. I would be afraid of every ding and chip on OD and seeing the white surface. Looks great, once you have the big green box back home and can do the "fun and easy" stuff like markings take some silver paint to those bullet strikes and holes.

[Lynn Eades]

Looking great Darryl!
It's a good feeling at this stage.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Darryl.

Are you taking advantage of the relatively open hull at this point to get a coat of white on the basic interior more easily? Good idea to let it cure and toughen up a bit for a few days. You’ve probably got great weather for curing paint right now. What is it they say? ‘Sit back, have a beer and watch the paint cure?’

David