Can't get no respect- the G749

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

These SMP vehicles at Hagersville in the 1950s are up on blocks.

Attachment 116759

While training at Camp Borden, I often passed by 43 COR (Central Ordnance Railhead) where many deuces were up on blocks.

[Perry Kitson]

Just west of London is situated a wrecking yard that ended up with about 200 M135's that were disposed of in the early 80's. Quite a number ended going south of the border to farmers and had bins replace the cargo beds.

[Ed Storey]

This photograph taken at CFB Petawawa in 1984 shows a large number of G749 vehicles that have been earmarked as range targets.

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[Darrell Zinck]

Hi

Nice photo, Ed.

In 1985/86 I was occasionally tasked with towing them from behind the Range Control bldg out to the various ranges. Usually Juliet/Hussars Tower Range for direct fire destruction but sometimes to way out in the back 40 for the Engineers to blow sky high.

The task was for x2 Troopers to use a Lynx from Recce Sqn 8CH. Every time I did it was an adventure since all we had were x2 tow cables. In many cases, one of us would drive the track and one would be in the cab to keep it on the road. They didn't like us "dragging" them around the trg area roads!!

Good times.

regards
Darrell

[rob love]

I have a message in the file cabinet somewhere that was talking about the various fleets, and mentioned the sales of the old deuces. In the beginning, they were fetching a good price that the army was happy with. But, in this area at least, prices had dropped to around $600-700 towards the end. I, and a few friends, moved a batch of 12 or so out to the surplus guy's yard. He even sold one while it was still in the supply lot. It was to an Indian band, and he had to go pick up a cheque from the Department of Regional Economic Expansion downtown for the payment. The $635 dollar deuce had turned into a $3250 deuce with no real work done to it.

The majority sold over the years, but he still has a short lineup of them for sale at his yard. Two of them left last year for a Halloween display. There remain several M135s, a couple of the shop vans, and an M211 with the flat cargo box. The amazing thing is that with some work on the fuel system, they will still run after all these decades.

[m606paz]

The first time I paid attention to this truck, it was in the movie Rambo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__QyvnqBW-c

[BCA]

A great action shot of an ex-Canadian army G749 (note the hardtop). It was filmed in British Columbia and maybe are some MLU’ers from the west coast who can fill in details of that stunt. Amazing how the truck recovered its balance.