1953 m38a1 cfr

[chris vickery]

Hi Rob. I understand your sentiments, and usually those are my same thoughts.
When I went to look at this one, it was described as a garage stored jeep (every restorers dream aka barn find) that had been tucked away for the last 35 years. You can imagine my unbridled excitement, only to be disallusioned upon viewing it. It may have been stored for the last 35 years indoors but the life it must have endured previously tells another story.
I always try to see the good in any diamond in the rough, to pick out the good points and to try and ignore the bad ones.
Of course looking for a jeep, my first thoughts are to find a nice body, folloed by a decent frame, engine and dodads.
Well, in this case lets start with the frame...
-engine mounts and pitman arm mount torch cut out
-bent shock mounts, front axle
-broken springs all around
-engine pulled, sitting in the cormer of garage with an apparently bad piston according to the owner
-all 24v wiring and accesories gone and converted to 12v
-the only body parts without major dents, rust and/or damage was the windshield frame and front grill
-rusted out front floors and toolbox bottom and passenger rocker panel
The good-
-driver and pass seat, rear seat
-good used gas tank,
-data plates and a matching ownership
misc small parts
So, in a nutshel, frame and motor are scrap, body is negligible and most of the military dodads are gone.
The only reason I asked about scrap pricing is that I would have a hard time believing there is more than $500 worth of useable spares plus the time and trouble to recover it and drag it home.
Thoughts?