M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Wayne Hingley]

Due to snow and high winds today, I'm waiting until tomorrow evening to pick up this M37 that I found down the road on a farm. It is in great overall condition. Cant wait to get it home and take a closer look. CFR is 53-41242.

Here is a photo of something that is not OD for a change!

[rob love]

Interesting...no signs of olive drab where the paint is worn on the major body panels, although a little is seen on the ancillaries like the lamps. Could it have been an airforce truck, or was it just sandblasted in it's civilian life and painted yellow?

Looks like a nice truck....looking forward to your progress.

Rob

[Wayne Hingley]

The main exterior of the truck was sanded or sandblasted over 35-40 years ago, and painted yellow with red oxide as the primer. The areas where the yellow is worn away are exposed red oxide. The interior is still semigloss OD, and under the fenders and frame there is the base semigloss OD and some evidence of the prairie camo paint scheme. The frame and underside is extremely clean... I haven't found any rust yet, other than a minor amount under the headlight mounts.

Two owners of the truck before me: one has had it for the last 5 years (cleaned out the carb & had the engine running, but never drove the truck - been sitting in current location). The first owner who got it from the CF, had used it for hunting for a while before parking it for about 30 years. Since coming out of service the truck has been here in the local area. I don't know the service branch or history, as this seems to be one of the early release trucks, with no info left in the system (unless someone can find something - that would be great!).

[Wayne Hingley]

Something followed me home today...

[Wayne Hingley]

The truck was sunk into the soil a bout 6" and had one half-flat tire, but with the help of the tractor it came out easily.

[chris vickery]

Looks great Wayne! A bit of a load for the Tacoma I bet?
If you only have a little bit of rust under the headlights you are lucky as this is the typical rust out spot on M37 trucks. It appears that you have a nice start for a beautiful project there.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by Michael R.

Traces of the white shite in the shade at roadside . . . ?

Unfortunately, yes. There was 4" of it the day before. Luckily the temps went up significantly and melted most of it quickly.

[Wayne Hingley]

Good info on the bead clips Rob. They make perfect sense after seeing the image in the link you provided. Thanks. I will try to save them when the old rubber comes off.

Jes: Yes I was thinking it was an interesting routing for that fuel line too. You are correct, there was an electric fuel pump under the driver side dash. In fact there is a brand new fuel pump still in the box that came with the truck.

I already have a quote for a new harness (not cheap). I dont want to risk the chance of having an exciting major event, and/or all the pain and suffering of tracking down multiple "ghost" issues due to old wires that are almost guaranteed to fail over and over.

S/N is: 91401501 delivery 2-10-53.

The two trucks down the road are both 1952 delivery.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Wayne Hingley

Due to snow and high winds today, I'm waiting until tomorrow evening to pick up this M37 that I found down the road on a farm. It is in great overall condition. Cant wait to get it home and take a closer look. CFR is 53-41842.

Here is a photo of something that is not OD for a change!

I haven't seen frost shields on any vehicle in years. There you have two on the windshield. One driveable defrosting solution I saw some time ago was a piece of 2" diameter PVC or ABS pipe plumbed from an unseen blower and the air aimed at the glass through a series of 1/4" holes. Not sure how well it worked, but necessity is the mother of invention.

If there is no rust, how damn lucky do you feel? Go buy lottery tickets!

[Jes Andersen]

Wayne, That looks like a pretty nice find. Rust repair panels for the area under the headlights are available from Charles Talbert at M-Series Rebuild if you can't make your own. The sheet metal looks pretty straight with nobody dancing on the hood or hardtop. What's under the hood? Still 251 with 24V stuff? More pictures once you get a chance. Now that you have one, you know that they have herd tendencies.
Have fun!

Jes

[Wayne Hingley]

Terry; Yes it is nice to have a rust-free truck. There are two other M37's (one would be parts only) a farm a few miles from me, and they are both very rust-free as well. However one of them has been beat up pretty bad in its use around the farm. The other is quite good (both are currently on my radar). Fortunately those trucks probably didn't see much (if any) road salt in the winters out here. There were frost shields on both side windows and the rear sliding window too. All are gone except the rear one. Its just the outline left on the other windows. Frost shields were before my time; were they an effective device?

Jes; Below are a few engine photos. A bit dusty, but it appears to all be there. Still 24v and original. I do suspect that upon handling the wiring will start to shed its insulation. A new wiring harness may be in the future.

[rob love]

The owner really seems to have had a thing for fuel filters.

I am not to old to remember frost shields....they worked just fine.

Ooops, on hindsight, I guess the phrase should be: I am old enough to remember frost-shields. They worked just fine.

That looks better.

[Wayne Hingley]

Rob, here is another one that will demonstrate how young you are...
The truck has one wheel with these clips (see photos) on the split ring. Again, not something I have experienced, but I understand they were to somehow help with ease of install and/or removal....???