1953 m38a1 cdn

[rob love]

I never saw militarised CJ5s in Cdn service. There were some CJ6s back in the day, but they were painted in the old lincoln commercial green, same as the panel vans. There were also some Jeep Commandoes. We used them as training aids in Borden after their regular service had ended. They were purely commercial trucks, with no blackout lighting or other military features.

What David may be thinking of was the 1982 and 1983 CJ7 fleet, which was procured initially for the armoured militia because the M38A1Cdn2 and 3 were getting too unreliable to depend on to provide training. Later there was another small purchase of 1985 for the militia service battalions. Why is a mystery, since the Iltis was ready to be released and all the CJ7s became excess to entitlement. The CJ7s were numbered in the next sequential block of available CFR numbers as they came into service, and were not related to the earlier 1/4 ton CFRs. They did have the next block or ERNs though, which was 30106. C30105 was the earlier M151A2, and the M38 family covered C30100 to C30104. Iltis ended up as C30108. There were some Jeep YJs bought that may have used the 30107 code, but I can't be sure of that.

The 30 family of ERNs was supposed to be for SMP vehicles, however that does not explain the C30-656 number on the attached DJ5 data summary, except to note that the C30 portion appears to be corrected from C31, which would have been correct for a commercial vehicle. Nowadays the C306XX block is used for light armour like the AVGP or the old M113A2.

[David Dunlop]

Must have been a CJ7 that I saw then, Rob. It was a right rear corner view jammed in with a bunch of other equipment at MacGregor Armoury.

David

[BCA]

Hi David,
Yes from MVCC/MVPA D4 Directory: F-100187 3-26-52 52-30196
D5 Directory: F-100349 no date 52-30367
You say the date for the later M38 was 04 August 52 however from nearby serial numbers I strongly suspect your date actually read: 4-8-52 = April 8 1952. It is a common mistake to mix up the MM-DD-YY and you interpreted it as Aug.4 rather than April 8. Typical August 1952 delivered dates were for serial numbers much higher serial numbers in the range of F-101500 to F101701.
Again I will repeat that the sequence of Ford serial numbers broadly, but not exactly matched the sequence of delivered dates. I surmise that the delivered date was not assigned until the jeep had been inspected and approved.
As an M38CDN enthusiast my eyes are not rolling at these details; I love these details!
.. Brian

[David Dunlop]

Glad you found the old directory, Brian. Mine are around somewhere, but then so are tons of other stuff it seems! Thanks also for spotting the date switch. I will amend my notes for the second M38CDN accordingly. Hate numbered dates when two of the three numbers are 12 or lower! Wish I had kept a journal for the first M38CDN, but at least I learned from the mistake for later projects.

Stay warm and keep in touch!


Cheers,


David

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by rob love

I never saw militarised CJ5s in Cdn service. ...

Maybe not the vehicles themselves, but sometimes spare parts. As you know the CJ5 front fender has a detail reinforcing "rib" that has a large flat spot for a reflector, not found on the M38A1 part. A part is a part is a part at a certain point in the lifespan of a commercial pattern vehicle. (Not telling you anything you haven't taught us on this forum already.)

[chris vickery]

Frank
Pertaining to the "cool" Norway paint scheme, I have seen it on the cover of M38A1 Jeeps in Canadian Service.
Was it ever ascertained as to what the exact camo colours were?
I assume the jeep was likely in original 1950s semi gloss sprayed over with two colours of flat?
To me it appears to be sand base with black or green camo.

[Frank v R]

the one I had appeared to be a Blue with Tan , much as the front cover of the book, I wish I had known when I had the vehicle, I would have kept it,

[chris vickery]

Frank
Is it possible that the blue colour was flat black that was washed out over
Time? I know on one of my wrecks the black is almost a grey blue...