Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Parker
Anecdotally, it was understood the government sold most of their deuces to Levy's but kept a bunch, no doubt for the well neglected reserves. Then the government had to buy back transmissions at grossly inflated prices.
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There was a large release of trucks in the ealry 70s when Trudeau senior cut the military. That included deuces, 3/4 tons, Jeeps and trailers. The next large release did not happen until the MLVW entered service in the 1984/85 time period. None were held back for the reserves...there were MLVWs for everybody. Well almost everybody. We still had one on the base in 1987 with the sigs. They did not get a replacement, so simply held theirs for as long as possible. It came in for a rear main seal leak, along with a few other minor problems. The control office dug out a recent message that ended with "nil sine labor", so off to CADC the truck went. The message mentioned there were still a few positioned with AMF in Norway at that point, but they would be replaced soon.
I have always used the features of the deuce to determine when it was released. If it had the large West coast mirrors and the beehive clearance lights installed, then it was late release. That also usually included several brushed on coats of camouflage.
Conversely, if the truck still had the small round mirrors, and no additional clearance lights, then it was an early release from the Trudeau era.
I did work on many of the deuces that were in long term storage while I was in Winnipeg. None were on blocks.