[Bob Carriere]

Yes very boxy but even more cab forward...... you actually sat ahead and on top of the 318. It was very scary running up to the edge of a sand pit....tires stopped on the edge and you actually sitting past the edge.... has you went forward and dropped over your stomach just came up as in a circus ride.

It was nice inside and you could sit 4 on the front seat.... but we were smaller then.

To cross a fast moving stream not deep enought to float but to prevent the stream current to move you sideways .....you left the traps open underneath and allowed the hull to partly fill up with water... the 318 had full water proof iginition like the M37.

Once on the other side you lined the side of the truck with a new Toyota and turned on the bilge pump.... which would shoot water about 20 feet from the side.... including mud, leaves and any oily residue left in the hull...

Mind you... you had to crawl underneath to manually open and close the trap covers.

Tail gate was scooped down in the middle like a CMP tailgate.... but reinforced supposedly to allow the use of a long stalk outboard motor.
When we used it in deep water the 4 rotating tires would propell the truck quite well but with a scary nose down position. It took guts to drive it off a boat ramp at the Hull quay..... scared the begeezus out of a couple of old gents quietly fishing from the edge of the dock.

The all aluminium shell was easily dented and knowledge of working/repairing alum. bodies was rare. The model we played with had a special "one of" solid roof and incorporated the ventilation system duct for the sealed hull. Both front and rear axles had special 4 inch spacers between the sheet metal cover and the cast iron shell. These where cast as a water jacket cooling system connected to the engine cooling system. Working on the power train meant removing cover panels in the cargo bay and crawling inside... not very pleasant on a hot Summer day.

Circa late 70s.

Bob C