M3A1 AOP Scout Car Armour

[Big D]

Gidday all,

I am currently doing a restoration on an Australian M3A1 AOP Scout Car. The vehicle is pretty much complete but needs an engine rebuild.

My question is around the body and armour on the vehicle. The armour on the vehicle is basically original but it has a few things missing or still requiring work.

The armour on the back and the driver’s door is reproduction. The back armour is therefore bare and it has no back bumper, deck or brackets and it doesn’t have the handles or footman loops fitted.

The vehicle also doesn’t have the battery cover or front ammo box between the front seats.

I am looking to get all these missing items made up by a friend who runs an engineering business. I’d also like to get the repro back armour drilled for the handles and footman loops and get the correct placement of the rear bumper.

I am wondering if anyone has drawings or plans of these items as well as a plan of the rear armour which would show the locations and measurements of the holes for the footman loops, bumper and other fittings.

Otherwise, can you point me in the right direction of anything on line. I’ve searched the manuals but they have insufficient detail and so far my searches online haven’t yielded anything.

To my knowledge there are only 2 other M3A1 Scout Cars in NZ (both are many miles away) and so I don’t have one nearby that I can use for a template for these items.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darryl Lennane

[Mike Kelly]

I have the equipment memorandum that includes that vehicle. It's a booklet published in 1944 that reviews various equipments on issue . There was a whole series of the memorandums published , lucky for you I have the one with that vehicle in it . That scout car was fitted with a wireless set No. 11 ( Aust.) . I will try to find it and scan the relevant pages for you . MIKE

[Mike Kelly]

I found this pic from the memorandum..i have the book here somewhere
The stick device mounted on the front is for laying out telephone line from a reel of phone line inside the car... the telephone line reel had a handle for retrieveing the line .

[Mike Kelly]

You can see the rel assembly in this pic and the 11 radio set partly

[Big D]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the replies. What you have sent through is very interesting. I don't have many photos of the M3A1 AOP and I had yet to see one in the flesh that didn't have the rear bumper.

From that information and the photos you sent through it seems like some of these vehicles did not have the rear bumper. The vehicle in the photo you have attached certainly doesn't seem to have one.

Is it possible that the rear armour on the vehicle I have is not necessarily repro? Perhaps it was supposed to be like that with no attachments?

What is the easiest way to tell if it is armour plated?

Is there any chance of you emailing me the scanned file of the view of the back inside of the scout car please?

Cheers

Darryl

[Mike Kelly]

Originally Posted by Big D

Is there any chance of you emailing me the scanned file of the view of the back inside of the scout car please?

Cheers

Darryl

Yes just PM me your email address ..no worries MIKE . I will scan a large size for you

[colin jones]

Darryl, a grab a drill and see if you can do a small hole somewhere, as you will soon know if it's armour.
Colin.

[Mike Kelly]

i took a few pics of John Mackies yellow beast up at Corowa ..will find em

[Big D]

Colin,

Yeah - I figured afterwards that this would be an easy way to check. Will give it a try.

Mike,

Thanks. Those other photos would be interesting. I will pm my email address.


Does anyone have the dimensions of the ammo box and battery box cover?

Cheers

Darryl

[Mike Kelly]

these may help you ............

[Big D]

Thanks Mike.

[Big D]

Hi all,

As per my previous post I was wanting to get some dimensions for the various mounting holes for the skate rail, handles and footman loops for the back armour of my scout car. The armour on the back is reproduction and is therefore bare with no back bumper, handles or footman loops fitted.

A chap I know kindly did all the legwork for me and provided a sketch from his scout car of all the various dimensions required. This was a great help and I thought I was all set to go. However, we have just detected a problem; the dimensions are not quite right somewhere within the diagram.

The overall width of the back of my scout car is 77 7/16” to the outer edges of the back panel. The various measurements on the sketch, although they use some imperial measurements and some decimal only show a total of around 35 1/2” per side. As a result, somewhere within the dimensions there is about 3” ‘missing’ per side.

My problem is that I can’t get hold of the gentleman who provided the details and I need to have the correct dimensions sorted within the next week as I have arranged for all the work to be done then.

Hopefully he won’t mind but I have uploaded the sketch diagram he provided.

I am wondering if there are any scout car owners out there who would be prepared to cast their eye over the sketch and check the dimensions against their own scout car and let me know what they come up with?

I figure that the error will be fairly clear once a few measurements are checked.

Many thanks.

Darryl

[daninnm]

I have a 4 foot micrometer that will measure upthe various distances....My rear deck is complete and original.

[Big D]

Hi Dan

Will send you a PM.

Thanks

Darryl

[Big D]

Gidday,

Merry Xmas to all.

I have managed to ‘wing’ this and think I have all the measurements correct now on a new sketch diagram right bar one.

I am after confirmation of the measurement from the two outside skate rail mounting holes to the next set of four skate rail mounting holes. That is, on the sketch above, the set of two holes that are marked as being 2.875” from the right side; to the set of four holes marked as being 10.625” from those holes.

I believe this latter measurement is the one that is not right on this diagram I have. The diagram I have suggests this measurement should be 10.625”. I suspect the true measurement should be closer to 12 5/8”.

Can any Scout Car owners out there oblige please?

Cheers

Darryl

[motto]

Hi Darryl, on the two AOP hulls that I have here the dimension that you wanted checked measures up as 12.5".

Merry Christmas to all.

David

[Big D]

Hi David

That's great! Many thanks for the reply. I've been hoping to get this sorted for many months now.

That extra 2" per side helps explain things a lot more but I still seem to be between 1" and 2" out still on each side. Could I please trouble you to confirm the measurement between the other sets of skate rail holes? The measurement in the diagram I am wanting to confirm is shown as 8 13/16". I just want to be sure this is correct.

Merry Xmas!


Cheers

Darryl

[motto]

Darryl, the 8-13/16" dimension you wanted checked comes up as being 9-3/16"on the hull I looked at.

To give a further check I measured the distances from the outside edge of the body i.e. including the thickness of the side armour:- to hole centres:-

Distance to first pair of holes 3".

Distance to first group of four holes. (nearest holes in the group) 15-1/2".

Distance to second group of four. (Ditto) 26-1/2".

Couldn't measure to the centre group because they are covered by a welded plate mounting the stud for spare wheel attachment.

David

[John Mackie]

Hi Darryl. i restored my M3A1 srveral years ago and had to rebuild the comtlete rear bumper. I had the brackets for the taillights bent up from 6MM plate. The 2 triangles and the 2 5 sided brackets were straightened and new 2 1/4 X 1/4 steel found to repair as needed. the pice of checkerplate is modern but i had to join about 3" on one end. i made the lip about 1" wider than origional.I heve seen a different style of rear bumper, it was 1/4" chanel with holes for the taillights and ran fir the full width of tha vehicle. i have found 2 sketches of the parts to construct the bits for the bumper. I can get them photocopied and will post to you if you pm me an adress. I have taken detail plotos but need an ofsider to post them.

Good luck with the project it will reward you many times. John.

[Big D]

David,

Fantastic! That's great. That explains it all and it was surprising to see how many of the measurements on that sketch were wrong. Your meausurements now make it all add up!

Thanks for taking the time to check it out for me. Much appreciated.


John,

Thanks. The bumper will be the next step after getting all these holes drilled.

I will send you a PM.

Cheers all

Darryl

[Big D]

Gidday all,

I completed the drilling on the back panel yesterday.



I got hold of a mag drill and some cobalt drill bits and it powered through the job. It appeared to go without a hitch.

I'll give the metal a clean up today and fit the footman loops and handles. The skate rail holes will have to wait until I have more bolts but at least it is done.

Thanks to those that helped and especially David and John in the last few weeks.

Next job are the bumper mounts which are being made at present by a local engineering firm.

Cheers

Darryl Lennane

[Big D]

Gidday again,

The bumper mounts I was getting made up are ahead of schedule and are actually going to be ready tomorrow so I was wanting to fit them this weekend

Is there a scout car owner that can give me the measurements for the spacing of each of the bumper mounts please? I already have the dimensions for the holes on the mounts themselves and just need the measurements for where these mounts are spaced on the back armour.

From what I can see the outside mounts sit slightly over the screws that are situated on the edge of the armour but am unsure about the inner ones.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Cheers

Darryl Lennane