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CUCV Markings in Army Service in Germany in the late 80s

PHOENIX-GER

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Is here any veteran who serve army in Germany or know anything about this issue in the late 80s and can give infos about the markings on CUCV used in Germany? I got our Truck with overpainted delinators, markings, blacklights from the army-dealer, this was in the 90th usual if you want "import" them for sale in Germany.
So i have no clue what ever on markings was used on our CUCV.
I dont want use fantasy codes so maybe someone have infos about former used identification markings on the CUCV in Germany.

Alternatively, of course, any authentic marking used in the U.S. is possible, as long as it is not a fantasy

Thanks
 

INFChief

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Is here any veteran who serve army in Germany or know anything about this issue in the late 80s and can give infos about the markings on CUCV used in Germany? I got our Truck with overpainted delinators, markings, blacklights from the army-dealer, this was in the 90th usual if you want "import" them for sale in Germany.
So i have no clue what ever on markings was used on our CUCV.
I dont want use fantasy codes so maybe someone have infos about former used identification markings on the CUCV in Germany.

Alternatively, of course, any authentic marking used in the U.S. is possible, as long as it is not a fantasy

Thanks
The body paint was either OD green or camo pattern. Bumper markings for unit and vehicle admin # followed standard marking reg’s.
 

Guyfang

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Servus,

1. Can you see any bumper markings?
2. Have you tried to sand very carefully the paint away on the bumpers and tail gate?

If you don't have that info, we can try and get you markings from a unit here in Germany. I was stationed her 18 years, this should not be hard. What kind of unit do you want to copy markings from?

Tschüss,

guyfang
 

wheelspinner

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Servus,

1. Can you see any bumper markings?
2. Have you tried to sand very carefully the paint away on the bumpers and tail gate?

If you don't have that info, we can try and get you markings from a unit here in Germany. I was stationed her 18 years, this should not be hard. What kind of unit do you want to copy markings from?

Tschüss,

guyfang
Sometimes pressure washing over the covered markings will reveal what’s below.
 

PHOENIX-GER

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Servus,

1. Can you see any bumper markings?
2. Have you tried to sand very carefully the paint away on the bumpers and tail gate?

If you don't have that info, we can try and get you markings from a unit here in Germany. I was stationed her 18 years, this should not be hard. What kind of unit do you want to copy markings from?

Tschüss,

guyfang
Moin Guyfang

unfortunately there was this year in our rebuild no way to find any rest of the markings, we missed to sanded carefully in the past .... we owned the Truck since 1996 as first civilian owner.

As we dont know where the truck was formerly stationed in germany is it principally no matter which unit. I am also not sure if all units was stationed in Germany. If the USMC was also present in Germany, i would prefer this unit

Thanks
 

PHOENIX-GER

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Sometimes pressure washing over the covered markings will reveal what’s below.
Unfortunately was the truck painted in 1999 in red color for our metal business... we missed in 1999 to take care of possible traces of markings under the old paint :mad: and for our rebuild the bumpers are sandblasted and primered now.

Usually there are always things you miss. We also removed the Blacklights in 1999 and stored them in a box in the workshop. After several moves to new locations in the past 20 years, the box is lost and so we had to buy everything we removed then now again. Our luck is a good sorted sparepart market in the USA :)
We are actually a good supporter of our goverment of taxes and fees from international trading.
 

KallyLC

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I've done a lot of digging through archives for reference photos of the bumper markings for my own truck, but there's unfortunately not a whole lot of information or good reference imagery out there, I can share what I have learned, though. Buckle in for a long post, as I've learned things during the course of typing this out that I can share.

As others have said, the unit marking format is standard across most, if not all types of US military vehicles and it probably hasn't changed since the 1980s, it's the same used for every other vehicle from deuces to MBTs so it should be pretty well documented, but i can't quite wrap my head around it myself. Here's a rough guide that might help you. Pick a unit and follow the format and you should be fine.

For actually painting them, it seems like there was a varying standard but I couldn't find out if there was any kind of logic behind it. The two main types of painted markings are like this.

- Stencilled directly onto the bumpers/tailgate
1654803836825.png1654803860402.png1654803914394.png

- Stencilled with the tan rectangle behind
1654804097590.png1654804134406.png


Here are some stills from a video of REFORGER 1987 (and here's the video), showing an M1008 with the tan rectangles and an M1009 without the rectangles in the same convoy, so either type is accurate for the mid/late 80s.

1654807331459.png1654807357334.png

It's possible that this was just an overlap as they were changing from one style to the other, but the tan rectangles were used on other vehicles as far back as 1985, and they were still painting some CUCV markings without rectangles into the 2000s, so it's hard to say.

As for the marking locations, the markings on the front are always just left/right of the bumper as there's no other space, but the rear markings are sometimes on the tailgate, and sometimes on the bumper. Again, there doesn't seem to be any kind of set standard. Door markings seem to be uncommon outside of Military Police 1009s, I had a picture of one but can't seem to find it right now. Also, tire pressure markings on each wheelarch, I've seen them with or without tan background squares. There are a few other decals you can buy like the warning for the M1009 tailgate rear glass and various warnings about not standing near radio antennas whilst they're live, but I can't find any reference images of those in use.

Also remember the black star where the license plate goes, front and rear. I'm not quite sure where it's meant to go on the rear of the M1009, possibly to the left of the license plate cutout in the bumper.

Also worth noting is that in a lot of cases, the bumper, brush guard, and grille/light surrounds are painted solid green and are not camouflaged.


For the delineator squares, they're not a 1980s feature. The earliest evidence I can find of them being used is during REFORGER 90. If anyone can find visual evidence to prove me wrong then please do, as by my own judgement the delineators on my 1008 spoil the 1980s look I'm aiming for.

The video above shows vehicles with red tape strips and chevrons used in similar locations to the delineator squares. I can't get a good screengrab from the video but here's an M1009 in a junkyard with the same kind of chevron. I guess this was just what they were doing before the delineators were introduced.
1654807323548.png

Red tape strips and warning triangles also seem to have been used on other vehicles, here's an M1008 during REFORGER 88, note the strips on the bumper.
1654808294602.png

I have a whole bunch of pictures of other vehicles on REFORGER exercises with similar red tape markings, though the red strips on the bumper and chevrons at the corners seem to be the most common locations.


Markings aren't particuarily well documented, and I'm not claiming what I know to be the hard facts, but it's just what I've learned from my own research.

Hopefully this helps you or someone else.
 
Last edited:

Guyfang

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The only Marines stationed in Gwermany are at the U.S. Embassy. They NEVER went to the field.
In the early 70's we always, at least in 32nd AADCOM, white letters, on the green or camo paint.
In the 80's we always, at least in 32nd AADCOM, had a tan background.
1654809512336.png 32AADCOM

1973-74 Reforger
1654810583404.jpeg

1654810775777.jpeg
1980's Reforger
1654810855659.jpeg
 

PHOENIX-GER

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The only Marines stationed in Gwermany are at the U.S. Embassy. They NEVER went to the field.
In the early 70's we always, at least in 32nd AADCOM, white letters, on the green or camo paint.
In the 80's we always, at least in 32nd AADCOM, had a tan background.
View attachment 869997 32AADCOM

1973-74 Reforger
View attachment 870001

View attachment 870002
1980's Reforger
View attachment 870003
:unsure: did they use a cucv in their unit?

It is not necessary to choose Marines, it should be just a unit which also use the CUCV and was stationed in Germany
on the Military-database.de does i found only one CUCV M1010 picture but i still did not dig in any year between 1983-1986

https://military-database.de/1984-3...-combat-3a503abc-winteruebung-galerie-proell/
 

PHOENIX-GER

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Here's a rough guide that might help you. Pick a unit and follow the format and you should be fine.
i know about olive-drab.com
Unfortunately a lot of links are blocked in germany for example:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /od_mvg_vehicle_id_ltrucks.php on this server.
Apache Server at olive-drab.com Port 80

Nevertheless who can access will find surely a good source on information. I could open some pages but not what i need to know
About the delinators:
Our had them on the tailgate overpainted maybe got them in the last years as we got him about an army dealer (Direct purchase not possible here) in October 1996 and licenced him to first civilian roadapprocal in Germany - 25 years ago was it very difficult to find any information about the CUCV in Germany. In the first years we had as reference for maintenance only the GM-TM of the civil K30 version. To understand the electric was a challenge but we got it finally. Today with the TMs on SS and the great community here it is so much easier.
 

KallyLC

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i know about olive-drab.com
Unfortunately a lot of links are blocked in germany for example:
I was only linking to that page to share the information on the unit marking system, I'm sure the same information is available elsewhere, but I've copied the relevant sections from that page for you:

1654847877586.png
1654847895598.png

As Guyfang said, there was only a token deployment of Marines in Europe during the 1980s, and it's doubtful they ever had any CUCVs. I don't believe the Marines marked their vehicles much differently, but it's difficult to find images of their vehicles.

The overwhelming majority of vehicles in Germany would have been Army or Air Force. Perhaps you could look to see if any US Army units were stationed nearby to where you live, and mark your vehicle up as belonging to one of those units?

Hopefully the other information I shared is of use, too.
 

Attachments

PHOENIX-GER

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I was only linking to that page to share the information on the unit marking system, I'm sure the same information is available elsewhere, but I've copied the relevant sections from that page for you:

As Guyfang said, there was only a token deployment of Marines in Europe during the 1980s, and it's doubtful they ever had any CUCVs. I don't believe the Marines marked their vehicles much differently, but it's difficult to find images of their vehicles.

The overwhelming majority of vehicles in Germany would have been Army or Air Force. Perhaps you could look to see if any US Army units were stationed nearby to where you live, and mark your vehicle up as belonging to one of those units?

Hopefully the other information I shared is of use, too.
Thanks a lot
In my area is/was the british zone.
If there was ever a US Unit stationed should i be able to figure out.
The most US was in South of Germany - i am located in the North/West near the border to NL but how funny is that - 10 km of me should be an US Base in Dülmen? They must hide very good...

US_military_bases_in_Germany.png
Not that big just a Depot not a Base: Tower Barracks (USA) – Depot with howitzers, armored vehicles and rocket launchers. Approximately eight uniformed personnel, 20 office staff and 200 contract employees, including mainly security personnel and warehouse workers, are on duty here

I know this Depot but i thought it was British 😇

Ramstein should be the best known US-Base in Germany
 

KallyLC

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If there are no units local to you, maybe just mark it up as something you find interesting. Personally, I'm on the fence about marking my 1008 up as an Air Force vehicle from one of the bases here in England, or one belonging to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment based in Germany.
 

PHOENIX-GER

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If there are no units local to you, maybe just mark it up as something you find interesting. Personally, I'm on the fence about marking my 1008 up as an Air Force vehicle from one of the bases here in England, or one belonging to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment based in Germany.
yes thats what we will do
Before the talk here i didnt know to figure out anything of that units
thanks for share you research information
 

KallyLC

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We had CUCV in our Air Force base at Florrennes BE in the mid 80s. I own one because of that. Would love to see Air Force markings from that group (485th TMW)
From what I've seen, Air Force markings on the CUCVs seem to just be the 'US AIR FORCE' on the tailgate and the AF serial number on the bumpers, sometimes painted on the outsides of the doors, too. I've seen trucks with 'AFE __' (presumably, Air Force Europe) with the initials of the base they were at on the bumper/tailgate, too. Sometimes it's just two letters, sometimes it's longer. I've seen AFE/GC for Greenham Common, AFE/UHAFB for Upper Heyford. Never seen any with markings specific to any one unit, just the base.

I have seen a couple of trucks in the early 80s marked with MAC instead of AFE, so it's possible that they marked trucks differently in the 70s/early 80s, or it could be that trucks stationed in the US were marked with the command they were assigned to and trucks in Europe were marked AFE. I'll double check my photos when I get home and see if I can spy any more.

I could write a whole thread on what I've dug up regarding markings, and I might just do that.
 
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