Sounds like the rear panel has been completely replaced then. Almost like somebody was trying very hard to make this M38A1 look like its civilian CJ5 counterpart.
When you get a chance, take a close look underneath the body in the left rear corner. There would have been a trailer cable socket with a spring loaded lid mounted roughly 6 inches below the top edge of the rear body in that area and it would have been fed by a fairly hefty branch of the wiring harness. If the original panel is gone you should only find a stub of the harness, unless it has been replaced as well. As well, aft of the rear differential underneath, fastened to the frame you might find a metal bracket, flat, with a bend in it and a roughly 0ne inch hole. This was to mount a small convoy lamp that shone on the rear cover plate of the differential. The entire rear of the differential cover plate, or a vertical central strip of it would have been painted white to show up in the dark. The convoy light switch would have been mounted on the dash in the lower left hand corner with a rectangular ID plate around it. Typically a bat style toggle switch, vertically oriented.
I ran across an M38CDN here in town years ago at a local marina. It had a very similar set up of front and rear ball hitches on it and was used an a hack vehicle to move boat trailers around the yard.
I see a couple of base plates on the forward ends to the rear wheel wells. Probably for a homemade top assembly at one time. On either side, in the triangular recesses, there would have been brackets to hold the original military top bow assembly when the top was up. A second set of brackets (different style) were bolted to the upper sides close to the front of the wheel wells. These secured the top bows when in the stored position with the canvas removed.
Sorry. I guess I just padded up your things to look into list.
David
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