M38CDN Questions

[David Dunlop]

Nate.

Have you got any photos of the front cowl directly in front of the driver?

Quite a number of M38 CDN’s up here were fitted with Southwind Gas Personnel Heater Kits. These mounted on the cowl with a rectangular pattern of bolts right in front of the driver. The windshield assembly then got a major makeover.

The Ventilation Cover bottom centre was removed and tossed. Likewise the two lower gun rack brackets. Wipers were relocated to above the glass and the vacuum feed for same relocated up the left side of the windscreen. Holes were also drilled up the left side of the windshield frame to mount the heater exhaust pipe. More holes drilled directly above the left side windshield clamp to mount the heater control box.

To mount the interior duct work, the plate on the dash holding all the data plates was removed and all the plates drilled off. The plates were then attached to the defroster box that ran along the lower portion of the windscreen. The mounting plate was tossed.

When the vehicles were sold off, all the heater kits were removed prior to sale, so you ended up with jeeps with lots of holes in the windshields and maybe even some rust growing inside the left frame and no data plates. Your vehicle could be one of these. Somebody probably bought whatever windshield they could find to replace the original and get rid of all the missing bits problem.

Another part of the kit was a Safety Valve mounted on the inner left fender, behind and below the horn. The holes might still be down there if this jeep was so equipped.

The last possibility for true Canadian heritage will be signs of a convoy lamp being installed. The toggle switch and data plate were fitted lower left side dash, either vertical or horizontal, below the brake handle and the lamp on the rear cross member under the vehicle, slightly right of centre and aimed at the back of the rear differential case, the centre rear cover of which was painted white.

This would be the easiest explanation for all the odd things you have described.

Best regards,

David