Mark's WWII GPW Jeep  And 1/6 Scale Gun Page

My 1944 Ford GPW Military Jeep

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This jeep had been in storage for around 20 years when I finally tracked it down and convinced the owner to sell it. Military vehicles are quite rare in Tasmania (Australia) where I live so it took a couple of weeks and many phone calls to locate one. It needed a ground up rebuild as it had the usual rust and dents as well as the fuel tank well being cut out to hold a larger tank. Luckily spare parts are not too hard to come by and even after 57 years a replacement tank well could be sourced.

Note the hole in the body tub in the right hand pic. where the fuel tank should be. The quality of the larger linked pics. is not what it should be as they are enlarged scans of old photos. I now have a digital camera so the pics should be a lot better.

I'm sure I have pre-strip down pics somewhere but having moved a couple of times since I am having trouble finding them.

A stuck valve meant the removal of the head and I re-ringed the engine which was already at .020" O/S. The body was removed so the chassis could be cleaned and painted including welding in of the new tank well.

The chassis, now painted, and the Willys MB engine before its disguise in Ford grey. The chassis is now the correct colour, olive drab, but at the time who knew?

It has an original Willys "go-devil" engine under the hood probably because Ford made a casting change in the last 6 weeks of 1944 when this one was produced which resulted in the production of sub-standard engines. These engines probably  would not have lasted long. The body is a "composite" made by American Central Manufacturing Company which was making the bodies for both Ford and Willys by this late stage of the war and having features normally unique to one or the other e.g. three holed toe-board gusset (Ford) compared to the five holed Willys ones  but round indentations around the tool locker buttons (willys) where the Ford ones were rectanguar.

My brother-in-law cleaning the engine. He would work on the jeep all day then cook tea for us while we had a couple of cold beers. He's not a bad cook either. See, good help can be found.

New, re-stamped, data plates have been added to the passenger stowage compartment showing a serial number of GPW242836 and a delivery date of 26/12/1944. The engine, however, has a serial number of MB354757.

The body completely stripped back and under repair. The dark patches on the body in the right hand pic. are attempts to "heat shrink " a rippled patch which worked quite well.

We also built the 6m x 6m shed that the project is being done in including concrete floor, skylights, personal door and double size main door.

Indoor restoration is a must on the West Coast of Tasmania as it rains for most of the year so here is a fine day pic. just to prove it does happen.

The purist would not like the liberal use of body filler but I wanted a jeep that looked good not just painted over a bad body. Plus my skill levels don't go that far at this stage. That is my daughter in the left hand pic. Either that or a womble, either way she is still hanging around.

Much of the equipment such as the welder, compressor and brother-in-law were on loan. Thanks to those who helped.

The first coat of  paint. It was at this stage that I left Tasmania and sold the jeep  which was still missing many parts and needed a lot of work.

The best part - Driving the jeep which will probably never be perfectly original but it's heaps of fun.

After returning to Tasmania and being here for some time I saw this in a car yard. It was my jeep and , of course, I had to have it back - pictured here on a day trip with my family.  The indicators, electric wiper motors, number plates and free wheeling hubs on the front are, of course, not original but at least allow legal and fairly comfortable road use. It may not be perfect or 100% original but it's road legal, registered basically complete. its a GPW and its mine!

I will update and expand this page as time and my computer skills allow. Hell, I might even chisel open the wallet and spring for the unlimited no-ads site if this one does well enough so let me know if you like it.

The Military Vehicle Group of Tasmania is now up and running with several jeeps and other vehicles attending the  meetings as well as a number or other enthusiasts who either don't have going vehicles or are just interested in them.

This page was last updated on: October 16,
2008

Sold it again! - Bugger

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