How much did you buy your deuce for? Just Daydreaming.....

[Valence]

I bought mine just last month! I blame one of my brothers for for it too, because he's the one that sent me a Government Liquidation link for 2 M35A3's going on auction 2 weeks prior here at Hill AFB just 10 miles north of me. I had no idea I could own one! So I dove in and did a ton a research to see how possible it would be with Utah laws and such. Turns out, not too impossible! The hard part is actually passing safety inspection because the places won't do it for the cap of $22.00, and I sure won't pay them a couple hours worth of labor to get into a rear drum brake.

I'd also like to thank everyone here and for this great website and treasure trove of information (albeit the vast majority of posters seem to be from back east! )

I paid ~$4000 for mine. It was a private sale and the previous owner said that's what he paid for it, and he had the Government Liquidation certificate to get a title.

We drove it 55 miles home. Well, I let my brother drive since I needed him and his wife to help me get it and my little truck home!

It's a 1972 AM General,
Odometer reads 19720 and 235 hours
Heater Kit
Winch
Air-shift transfer case
Manual transmission
Hard top (w/ a spot for the turret mount)
LDT-465-1C multi-fuel, w/ turbo
Bed side (some places could use new paint)
Bows (needs some work on them too) - No cover

What-ever military person worked on the truck before, did a sloppy job sand blasting it for sure, you can see over spray on the windows and lights and most of the surface of the truck is a bit rough. Still, it looks good though, even if a bit faded on the paint.

The former owner even fixed the park brake before he sold it to me and included a wiper motor (the driver's side motor was broken), a brand new front fender, and a new air filter (though the one in it looks pretty clean).

There's some rust, and the windshield frames will need replacing.

But it runs really good. It had bad a fuel leak that, so far, was just a loose primary fuel filter canister. It also has many little things that'll give me small projects to improve the truck, but nothing show stopping. Just the way I like it

 

[maddawg308]

I got mine for free. Of course, I bought 7 other trucks, sold them for a profit and the profit paid for mine. I don't think I would work it that way again, took too much time and was a lot of work, bidding and towing them home and all the paperwork and fixing problems and advertising and meeting potential buyers, a lot of whom were just tire kickers wanting to touch a cool truck and go home to tell their buddies about it.

However, can't expect any good to come of anything WITHOUT a lot of work....

 

[srodocker]

Really? The only time I have been up close and personal with a deuce was at basic. There is a large pizza and a bit of gas money in it to take me for a ride in the beast.

maybe saturday? i can take you around send me a PM and we can setup a time

 

[Valence]

However, can't expect any good to come of anything WITHOUT a lot of work....

Oh so true...

 

[armytruck63]

The current D turbo deuce I have was free, given to me by a friend who was getting out of the MV hobby - if only I had expressed an interest in his XM818 . I waited a year to register the truck to see if he would change his mind.

I seem to remember paying $4000 for the whistler that ran like a scalded cat after we turned it up a bit. I ended up turning that truck into a shop van and selling it at a discount to another friend.

I also had a non-turbo truck that was a little slow but nice and quiet. I don't remember how much I paid for that one. I donated that truck to an air museum.

 

[Loco_Hosa]

I spent all day searching on GL, just clicking on all the epically cool trucks, all I got was a bunch of dirty looks from the GF as I looked at all the cool rigs, some amazing tech! I started at the deuces, and moved down to the 5 tons, and then the 5 ton wreckers... and discovered that they put 14 litter, 855 ci engines in some of these rigs.... I then tried to explain to my gf that I want to buy the wrecker, then use its own crane to pull the engine out and swap it into a deuce.....

She thinks Im being silly, but its perfect! PERFECT I TELL YOU!

 

[Kenny714]

Bought my '68 for $3500 with about 3500 miles on the odometer ( I hope it 's accurate). That's about a dolla a mile.

 

[TexAndy]

first one was 1500
second one was 760
Third one was 1200
Last one was 1140

drove em all home. The first three about 120 miles home. The last one about 500 miles home. And the first two are winch trucks.

The GL deals are still there if you're patient and are willing to do a little work. These were all within the last 12 months.

 

[velociT]

A lady never tells...

 

[TexAndy]

A lady never tells...

Says the dude with probably the nicest, lowest miles, least-used deuce that GL ever sold...

 

[saddamsnightmare]

May 6th, 2010.

LOCO_HOSA:


Dream on, baby..... The only way you'd make money with a deuce delivering pizza is to schools about two blocks from your business and you might make the 30 minute delivery time, barely. 8MPG in town, 3 gearshifts to cross an intersection, maneuverable like a coal barge... and 10 (YES, 10) tires to replace every ten or twenty thousand miles at about $100 each (used NDT's).... You'd do much better with a CUCV or if you're a really good mechanic, an M38A1 or M422A1.....
I don't mean to rattle your box (pizza), but having owned and driven M35A2's, M135/M211 deuces, M422A1, and driven M37 & M715's, except for the M422A1 they are overbuilt, slow and very heavy= poor fuel and tire economy..... In your business, gas mileage is everything, and for the drivers, the difference between money in the bank and no money at the end of the week (excepting tips).....
I had friends who dreamed about buying a steam locomotive, and except for one loon who did, most of them couldn't have afforded to own one and have a family.... Two different things to be sure, but reality sucks, that's why there's reality TV for the attention challenged ones in the country.... If you can't make 5 or 6.00 per mile, a deuce just isn't gonna pay off, and WVO has issues too, especially in areas with cold weather and dampness...... Deuces like diesel, gasoline, filtered WMO and WGO, but not much else, and they really love to get that 50 gallon tank filled. Diesel might just hit $4.50 a gallon this summer and life isn't gonna be fun for the deuce owners who do work their trucks....
Besides, I suspect your girlfriend will do much towards controlling your incipient OD iron habit, you'll be able to live like a trappist monk without her and with the deuce, or with her and without the deuce..... again, life sucks, and reality just loves bashing our little dreams and theories. When I had a railroad car and locomotive, the girlfriend then thought she had a right to address restoration, financial and operational issues without having any money in the pot...... The locomotives and railroad equipments stayed and made me money, the girlfriend went..... That's just how things sometimes work out. I read the bottom line, and if it's a (), something's gotta go.

Good luck, my friend, keep dreaming, and in the meantime, get Bill Gates to float you some green..... Just my .o2 worth....

 

[Josh]

Ive been driving my deuce daily, including for work, for the last year, and it has cost me less then half for about the same amount of miles as I put on my landcruiser the year before. Man I love WMO.

 

[Somemedic]

$1460. Govliquidations.com. No rear cargo cover but it did have the winch. I went to Camp Shelby and picked it up. Drove it to the Autozone in Tupelo and put 2 new batts in her when I realized the alt had gone tango uniform (sure sign is when the headlights no worky-worky). Got it to mom and dads in Pickwick, TN and went to Corinth MS reserve base and swapped out the alt for a worker. Drove it the rest of the way home, using unleaded and diesel towing my CUCV. A long ride indeed back to Chicagoland but made very cool by alot of truck drivers and other folks honking and waving and thumbs upping... When you first get it you wanna drive the tires off of it anyway and Id say a 600 mi trip will nearly take that out of you. It was topping out at 50mph unless we went uphill but it pulled the blazer w/o too much hassel. Its not too much like driving one of the fire turcks or the ambulance (cept when I was towing the blazer, then its like driving our tower).

I was lucky though. I got a turck in great condition, truely. No rust southern truck that had seen action in Kuwait so it had been maintained. That alt was one tiny problem remedied by some very cool folks. What I didnt realize was that the pass side tirerod end was very worn and I drove it back home like that, which was dumb. I didnt realize it was as work as it was until I noticed how scalloped it was becoming. Took it to an old school truck mech who diagnosed it and put it on for less than $80. Also aligned the front and what a dif that made.