M38a1cdn

[chris vickery]

Scotty, thank you for the updates, any and all info is greatly appreciated.
Would I be correct in assuming a transfer to CFB Borden was likely the result of base closures in the late 80's? I believe CFB London saw closure around this time.
Armd recce sounds great, this is how it will apear, now require any and all info pertient to this unit. Perhaps some pics may be around of it in service!
Another interesting item is that I am wondering one of two things;
Either it was held in service until the last auction because
a) it was one of the better ones left or
b) it was one of the immobile scrap ones
Considering the shape it is in I am assuming (a) to be the case.

[Scott Bentley]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Scotty, thank you for the updates, any and all info is greatly appreciated.
Would I be correct in assuming a transfer to CFB Borden was likely the result of base closures in the late 80's? I believe CFB London saw closure around this time.
Armd recce sounds great, this is how it will apear, now require any and all info pertient to this unit. Perhaps some pics may be around of it in service!

Chris,

I'm no expert, but I'd say it likely went to Borden to accrue some mileage. Others like Rob can chime in, but if things in the late 70s - 80s are anything like now, they swap vehicles around to level the "fleet mileage". In the case of yours, it only accumulated 25k miles in 10 years, so it was probably sent to Borden to give another a break.

I was hesitant to mention it earlier, bit I've seen the pictures of this one when it was for sale and my gut tells me the Signals Decal and the Hood Markings were all done post disposal auction (albeit the CFR seems dead on). In this case you've got some proven provenance for an Armd Recce Unit, so bring on the "G-Pig" mount and wire cutter and get her back to her original "weekend" glory. Enjoy.

Scotty

[chris vickery]

Scotty, like I mentioned before, the former owner isn't available to give me a history on this post surplus so I can only assume some artistic license was taken on the markings for whatever reason.

It was licensed on the road for the past 20+ years so it must have had some sort of serial numbers at the time it was registered by the Ministry of Transportation Ontario. Of course it is an assumption but having a correct CFR number which just so happens to match a real VIN on the database leads me to believe that it is correct unless the former owner was a stickler for correctness or a real mv buff like the rest of us and pulled up a matched set. Not likely.

Considering that the other markings seem to be bogus, I think that the old owner had made it up as he wanted it, either he was a former CF member or just picked some marking out of thin air. As far as I can ascertain he just liked old stuff and this was his cottage jeep.

I will check with the MTO to see if they can tell me how long it has actually been registered in the system as it may shed light on things.

[chris vickery]

Heres a picture of the jeep

[chris vickery]

Another query Scotty as you seem versed in the CF system.
You have given me a holding unit history which is entered as 01 Jan 70 when this unit was entered into the system. Was this date an arbitrary date for all jeeps delivered under the CDN3 contract for the year 1970? My reason for asking is that 70-08669 would make it one of the first registered under the final contract. Are CFRs issued at random or sequentially upon delivery of vehicles from the manufacturer?

According to an older post by Rob Love for CFR number range, CDN3s started at 70-08500
Can you check other CFRs prior to mine to see if all units from 08500 to 08669 were entered as 01 Jan 70???

[Scott Bentley]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Another query Scotty as you seem versed in the CF system.
You have given me a holding unit history which is entered as 01 Jan 70 when this unit was entered into the system. Was this date an arbitrary date for all jeeps delivered under the CDN3 contract for the year 1970? My reason for asking is that 70-08669 would make it one of the first registered under the final contract. Are CFRs issued at random or sequentially upon delivery of vehicles from the manufacturer?

According to an older post by Rob Love for CFR number range, CDN3s started at 70-08500
Can you check other CFRs prior to mine to see if all units from 08500 to 08669 were entered as 01 Jan 70???

The Mfg Serial Numbers and CFRs are generally not perfectly sequential, but lower numbers usually have lower CFRs, save for the odd flier. The date that it entered service is usually the start of the contract number. I can go back and check to see where the CDN3s spilled over to 71. If memory serves me correct, the change to 71 was nearly dead in the middle of the CDN3 pack.

[rob love]

I am not certain looking at the photos of your jeep, but is there a patch over the holes that would mount the GPMG bracket? These should be just above and behind the slave receptacle recess.

Mind you, it is possible that the Jeep, even if it was with the Hussars, would not have received the GPMG arm. Not all recce unit's jeeps got it, just the ones that were providing that role. My old unit had it on all the M38A1s, but we also had M151A2s for the officers rovers, which did not get the mounts of course.

There was a large SMP fleet rotation back in the early 80s, but it was around 82/83 if I recall. We got some M38A1s in from Pet, and were astounded by the amount of patches and Bondo on the bodies. There were not always a lot of rhyme or reason for VMOs. Sometimes units had shrunk in size so they had more vehs on their charge than their entitlement. Other times, it seemed as though the vehicle managers were just throwing darts at a board.

25,000 miles was not unusual for a militia Jeep. Many of the ones that were disposed of around here were in the 30,000-45,000 mile range.

The late turn in date may reflect a low priority unit not receiving it's replacement Iltis until very late in the program. I did the PCC on a duece in late 1986, long after all the others had left. The losing unit did not get a new truck, so they were intent on keeping the old one. Another example would be my old truck 88D, a 5/4 ton MRT. I watched it go down the road while standing on a parade here in Shilo in 1996, long after all the others had left service. At that point, it had reached 20 years of service.