Doing work....on a '54 A1

[DeetFreek]

I was given an opportunity to do some long overdue maintenance on this 1954 M38A1 earlier this summer. It'd been languishing in a barn for at least 15+ years where it ran, but did not move when it was parked. Long story short, rebuilt fuel pump and carburetor, clutch, new hoses and belts, master cylinder and soft lines. I temporarily have a spare CJ tank sitting in it for fuel delivery. It has a lot left to do, but I was tasked with getting it running and driving, nothing more.


When I rolled it off the trailer, it didn't run, it was stuck ever so slightly. The owner thankfully had turned it over occasionally over the years. It didn't take much to pop it loose and it turned over with ease. Then there was a fuel issue, original tank had been taken out and replaced with a CJ tank which of course was full of rust and sediment. Swapped it out with my spare and had no fuel past the pump. Rebuild the pump and I'm in business....or so I thought. It fired off and ran on its own, until I decided to make sure it would start once the crossover was hooked up. I failed to check one important thing when dealing with barn stored vehicles, mice. The little guys had made a nice nest in the air cleaner out of seat foam and I ended up sucking a bunch of it clear into the throat of the carb! I guess that gave me reason to clean and address the buildup inside of it.



Now that I got it starting and running on its own, time to get it into the shop for clutch work. It had some heat in it at some point, both the flywheel and pressure plate showed signs of it. The disc had plenty of material, but some of the pads were beginning to crack, replacement time for sure. The pilot bushing had started to eat itself as well. Clutch back in, and I'm ready for a short test run to make sure it's working as it should. With no brakes, it wasn't going far lol. At least the parking brake actually worked! I found out the tires were also in sad shape on that short run too, about got bounced out from the flat spots!


This Jeep was used as a snow plow and the oil filter had been relocated to the passenger fender to accomodate the hydraulic pump, we couldn't have that! Scrouged through the scrap and drug out a chunk of bed frame and a bumperette to make the new bracket.


Brake time! Pulled the drums and was pleasantly surprised to see that the brakes must have been done shortly before it was put away. Shoes and wheel cylinders looked very fresh for sitting so long. Unfortunately the master cylinder was empty of brake fluid but had a nice buildup of rusty sludge inside. New flex hoses and one new line on the rear due to being rotten and brakes are good to go. I'm watching the line from the master cylinder to the front tee because it may need replaced yet.


I have one more area to address now, the exhaust. I'm only doing a quick fix because it really needs a new down pipe and mid pipe. A slip pipe to connect the two and a couple clamps will do the trick.

It's been quite the experience, full of hair pulling and giant smiles. I'd love to say this one will get brought back to it's past livery, but unfortunately it's not in the owners plans to do so. I know I don't have any say lol, so I just take pride in being able to bring it back to life. And seeing the history of this one makes it all the more cool. A Civil Defense paint job and logo to go along with the original body tag and matching data plate just add to the list.


I had to get a picture of them all today. My 52 C and 53 with the 54.

 

[SCM35A2]

Nice project!

 

[Maverick1701]

that looks like an awesome project!
can't wait to see more pics

 

[bigbe5678]

Thankyou for sharing Looks like a great project

 

[NDT]

Fun speculation: my A1 is dod 7/53, s/n 51130, so that equates to 23,000 A1s in a year, assume 260 working days on one shift, equals 88 A1s per day or 11 off the Toledo line per hour.

 

[DeetFreek]

Fun speculation: my A1 is dod 7/53, s/n 51130, so that equates to 23,000 A1s in a year, assume 260 working days on one shift, equals 88 A1s per day or 11 off the Toledo line per hour.

My 53 is 49940, 5/53. So approx 1k produced every month, 45 per day. If we go two shifts, that bumps the number up to over twenty per. Three shifts will bring it down closer to your number. I haven't the slightest idea on any of it! It's fun to try and figure it out though.

 

[JEB]

My unit is 82551...So 8300 units after yours.
It has the same inspector's initials.
Mine was built in 3/55...some 8 months later.
So, by that time, production was 1000 a month.

However, based on other serial numbers posted on another forum, I found that the AVERAGE production between 1952 and 1955 was 2000 a month.

Again, when ever you play with numbers there has got to be s lot of caveats.... like Willys not skipping any numbers for some reason, or using s different batch of numbers for overseas sales.

At any rate, I think it's clear in the first year or two Willys was cranking them out because of the Korean war (even though it appears few made it to Korea) but by the 54-55, production had stabilized at the lower number.

Some other numbers reported by owners:
And don't assume production started with 00001:
MD Serial 12000 in June 1952...
17000 in Sept of 1952
48000 in April 1953
52000 in July 1953
70000 in Jan of 1954

Anyway, that's what I have.
If anyone knows more or has better numbers, let me know.

 

[DeetFreek]

My unit is 82551...So 8300 units after yours.
Mine was built in 3/55...some 8 months later.
So, by that time, production was 1000 a month.

However, based on other serial numbers posted on another forum, I found that the AVERAGE production between 1952 and 1955 was 2000 a month.

Again, when ever you play with numbers there has got to be s lot of caveats.... like Willys not skipping any numbers for some reason, or using s different batch of numbers for overseas sales.

At any rate, I think it's clear in the first year or two Willys was cranking them out because of the Korean war (even though it appears few made it to Korea) but by the 54-55, production had stabilized at the lower number.

Some other numbers reported by owners:
And don't assume production started with 00001:
MD Serial 12000 in June 1952...
17000 in Sept of 1952
48000 in April 1953
52000 in July 1953
70000 in Jan of 1954

Anyway, that's what I have.

My '52 is DOD of 9/52 and SN 22040. Seeing the spreadsheet that Wes posted on FB, there was over 5000 produced in Sept 52 alone. So, that alone blows our thinking of 1-2k per month. Now maybe the average would be there over the entire production years, but I have no idea on those numbers.

 

[JEB]

That makes sense..given the numbers I posted which came from the DB you mentioned.
With #17000 in 9/52 and #48000 in 4/53...that's about 5000 A month (difficult to say since we don't know when on the month they were produced, early or late).

One question...did Will's produce them on the same line as they used for the wartime MBs?
I wonder how many civil Jeeps they were building then and how they could ramp up production that much?
Was there a slowdown of Station wagon, truck and CJ production during Korea?

But the numbers of your project and mine show about 1000 a month by 1955.

 

[m1010plowboy]

Great write up, thank you. Civil Defense had a jeep? A CD jeep? There's a CD Jeep?.......There's a CD jeep!!! ... Our CD museum sits on a joint American/ Canadian Military base in Alsask and I believe your picture of a CD jeep is enough for us to get a jeep. We're getting a jeep! Henderson had a matching colors M220 but seeing the CD jeep is frosting on the cake. I need to share the thread with a bunch of CD lovin' collectors who may also be surprised about a CD jeep. The 3 jeeps together is a rare gathering as well so you made my day historical. http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/ http://civildefencemuseum.ca/

 

[JEB]

A lot of military surplus M38A1s (and other vehicles) ended up with local Civil Defense units, Civil Air Patrol, and various local and state government agencies.
You can still see them with rural fire departments. Our local Fire District has two which tow plows to make fire lines on wildfires.

 

[DeetFreek]

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[/QUOTE]

Great write up, thank you. Civil Defense had a jeep? A CD jeep? There's a CD Jeep?.......There's a CD jeep!!! ... Our CD museum sits on a joint American/ Canadian Military base in Alsask and I believe your picture of a CD jeep is enough for us to get a jeep. We're getting a jeep! Henderson had a matching colors M220 but seeing the CD jeep is frosting on the cake. I need to share the thread with a bunch of CD lovin' collectors who may also be surprised about a CD jeep. The 3 jeeps together is a rare gathering as well so you made my day historical. http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/ http://civildefencemuseum.ca/

View attachment 909941

Well, thank you for starters. Second, hang on to your britches lol.

This was how I received my '53. It came out of west central Illinois. I really hated to take that off, but it wasn't in my plan to keep it. I'm not sure which color the Jeep was when that logo was applied since it had up to seven layers of colors on it!


I've seen quite a few CD jeeps but only a couple in the yellow/white livery. It's usually the blue/white combination. Many years ago when I was in middle school, I drew a picture out of a National Geographic depicting a Jeep of the Civil Air Patrol in Florida that had oversize flotation tires (or small airplane tires) on it.

Holy cow, I actually found the pic!!!

This was my introduction to the CD and CAP and I've never forgotten about it.

And please feel free to share the thread!

 

[m1010plowboy]

That's just awesome fellas. I've looked at a million pictures and a CD Jeep was not expected. I see yellow under that 53' and lots of what I've seen around Illinois was blue and white so we've got options. I added "jeeps" to the Civil Defense hunt and hit """" images """"" Chicago had the best jeeps.
https://chicagoareafire.com/blog/tag/fire-apparatus-history/ http://www.chicagofd.org/ Some various Jeep/CD pictures https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/297659856614501539/

it's easy to get distracted with all the bunkers. https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=10631

It was the Original Mighty Mo rig that we first spotted as an 'After Military Service' CD vehicle. it's great to have variety in the fleet. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/538180224219403055/



CD Jeep video discussion and walk around.

 

[DeetFreek]

I see yellow under that 53' and lots of what I've seen around Illinois was blue and white so we've got options.

It's more like the high-vis green, and it was EVERYWHERE! I cleaned enough of that to have neon snot for days. Ready for another one? Circled is a tag I pulled off and cleaned. What was it? A property tag from the city of Carbondale, IL!
I unfortunately don't have a pic of it like I thought and I think the tag is lost in the depths of one of my top tool boxes.

 

[JEB]

Speaking of Civil Defense....

I just bought off eBay a late '50s - early '60s Motorola portable two way radio...
It has a CD sticker and serial.
(Photo is off internet of a similar unit, could not upload the eBay photo).

I hate to mention this, but I plan on displaying it in my USAF marked M38A1.
So, I'll be removing the decals.
Sorry to all CD history fans.

I figured the Air Force might use small portable units for vehicles on the flightline, makes more sense than going whole hog with Army type large radios and antennas. This way, a squadron could check one out to someone, like a commander or ops officer, who needed one without putting radios in a lot of vehicles.
Much more recently, back in my day in the AF, they would have used "Bricks" the modern walkie talkies like you see on cop shows.

The seller also had a CD fallout shelter water barrel on ebay. He is a retired police officer and probably knew the city workers who were told to clear out the shelters when CD was disbanded.