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- Location
- Wenatchee, WA
I have wanted one of these for about 20 years and never thought I would get to have my own so this is a dream come true!!!
I had been watching the 5 ton market for about the last 4 years or so to keep an eye on price and availability as well as learn about the ins-and-outs of owning a 5 ton in my state (WA). A few weeks before Christmas I came across an Ebay listing that had no bids or interest but I noticed the vehicle location was 200 miles away and the rig was already titled & registered as a collector vehicle which was a huge plus. I was not seriously in the market, but this was the first one I had seen for sale in Washington for the past 4 years that had everything I wanted. My questions to the seller after the auction closed went unanswered, but by a rare turn of luck I found that he had posted it again on a local by/sell website and was able to make a deal, get the financing and transport in order, and get the truck back home within 6 days. Whew - what a hectic week!
OK - here's the meat and potatoes: This is a '79 AM General M813A1 w/winch that has 5,500 miles/1,100 hours on it! It has every option that I wanted except for cab heat. It has the winch, rear tarpaulin & bows, troop seats, flat bar brush guard, and fold down sides. This is the perfect truck for me and I was happy to pay a little more for a mechanically sound rig that only needs little cab stuff and surface rust attended to as I don't have a shop or the big tools to do maintenance/repairs that a more worn down truck would require.
Now that I have the truck at home I have been kicking the tires, looking things over and making a list of items that need attention while I wait for the titling, registration, and insurance stuff to happen.
Here is a short list (in random order) of what I would like to add to the truck:
I love the way the M813s are designed aesthetically and I don't want to change their classic look, but I will spruce it up a bit.
Looking at the paint leaves me wondering if solid OD green was the standard paint scheme in '79? It looks like the camo colors were applied with a brush over the CARC paint and those camo colors are peeling off leaving the underlying original paint layer which is in great shape. Enough jabbering on - lets get some photos going...
I had been watching the 5 ton market for about the last 4 years or so to keep an eye on price and availability as well as learn about the ins-and-outs of owning a 5 ton in my state (WA). A few weeks before Christmas I came across an Ebay listing that had no bids or interest but I noticed the vehicle location was 200 miles away and the rig was already titled & registered as a collector vehicle which was a huge plus. I was not seriously in the market, but this was the first one I had seen for sale in Washington for the past 4 years that had everything I wanted. My questions to the seller after the auction closed went unanswered, but by a rare turn of luck I found that he had posted it again on a local by/sell website and was able to make a deal, get the financing and transport in order, and get the truck back home within 6 days. Whew - what a hectic week!
OK - here's the meat and potatoes: This is a '79 AM General M813A1 w/winch that has 5,500 miles/1,100 hours on it! It has every option that I wanted except for cab heat. It has the winch, rear tarpaulin & bows, troop seats, flat bar brush guard, and fold down sides. This is the perfect truck for me and I was happy to pay a little more for a mechanically sound rig that only needs little cab stuff and surface rust attended to as I don't have a shop or the big tools to do maintenance/repairs that a more worn down truck would require.
Now that I have the truck at home I have been kicking the tires, looking things over and making a list of items that need attention while I wait for the titling, registration, and insurance stuff to happen.
Here is a short list (in random order) of what I would like to add to the truck:
- cab heat
- door & window weatherstrip/felts
- shifter boots (tranny, t-case & winch)
- twin turbo series 60 Detroit Diesel (ok, maybe not that one...yet...)
- VIC-1 comm system
- air-ride conversion to stock seats
- super singles (not sure on the 14R20 versus 16R20 yet)
- level-wind for the winch
- pineapple grenade shift knob?
- LED dash lights
- dual fuel mod
I love the way the M813s are designed aesthetically and I don't want to change their classic look, but I will spruce it up a bit.
Looking at the paint leaves me wondering if solid OD green was the standard paint scheme in '79? It looks like the camo colors were applied with a brush over the CARC paint and those camo colors are peeling off leaving the underlying original paint layer which is in great shape. Enough jabbering on - lets get some photos going...
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