[army brat]

Hi
New to the forum and military vehicle ownership.
Was an army brat for 16 years and always wanted a Military jeep.
My father was in Transport, Artilary and with the Field Engineers so I was always around military vehicles and lots of Jeeps.
I was selling a boat I had recently and was contacted by a person who asked me if I would consider trading for an "Old Army Jeep that has been stored for nearly 20 years" I bit, and within a week I had a 71 M38A1 CDN3 in very solid shape with 11000 original miles showing. Now the M38 had been sitting but has been mucked with a bit, roll cage added (Going to get cut off) also has been painted Red at one time but was told it was used as a tug on an Airforce base but who knows (Or mule as my Dad called it) and other little bits missing.........not bad though.
I thought I had gotten just a plane old Military Jeep but it had a few peculiarities.
The first thing I noticed right off was that it had no tailgate at all back end was wide open. I had done my research and knew that the M38's had a solid tailgate.
After looking at the windshield I could see where there had been a piece welded into the top just right of center.
The last thing was how high it sat it in the backend, I though maybe there was a lift kit or something on it at 1st but saw nothing but a set of helper springs in the back.
After contacting a collector close to me (Thanks Gordon) he agreed to come up and have a look at the Jeep and he deemed it a 106 carrier.

Now I am told that this is a rare bird.......kind of scares me a bit considering I just wanted a Military Jeep I could run around in and maybe run through some mud with my girls.

What do I do? Change the windshield throw on a tailgate and call it good? Or is that like drawing a mustache on the Pope? Maybe I need to trade it for an M38a1 of the garden variety.

Thanks for your input in advance

P.S Is there anyone who can help me get the history on it from the DND?
It came from Chatham so I am guessing that it could have been in London with the RCR's