M3A1 AOP Scout Car Armour

[Big D]

Gidday all,

I am currently doing a restoration on an Australian M3A1 AOP Scout Car. The vehicle is pretty much complete but needs an engine rebuild.

My question is around the body and armour on the vehicle. The armour on the vehicle is basically original but it has a few things missing or still requiring work.

The armour on the back and the driver’s door is reproduction. The back armour is therefore bare and it has no back bumper, deck or brackets and it doesn’t have the handles or footman loops fitted.

The vehicle also doesn’t have the battery cover or front ammo box between the front seats.

I am looking to get all these missing items made up by a friend who runs an engineering business. I’d also like to get the repro back armour drilled for the handles and footman loops and get the correct placement of the rear bumper.

I am wondering if anyone has drawings or plans of these items as well as a plan of the rear armour which would show the locations and measurements of the holes for the footman loops, bumper and other fittings.

Otherwise, can you point me in the right direction of anything on line. I’ve searched the manuals but they have insufficient detail and so far my searches online haven’t yielded anything.

To my knowledge there are only 2 other M3A1 Scout Cars in NZ (both are many miles away) and so I don’t have one nearby that I can use for a template for these items.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darryl Lennane