K53 Communications Van BOX found... (May 2018)

[marchplumber]

Ya got a military wrecker lined up to do the lifting, Chappy? Maybe a fellow members could help ya out locally?......LOTS OF PICTURES and stay safe

 

[Tracer]

Thanks!
That's exactly why I'm surely agreeable to a S-L-O-W recovery schedule.
I'd prefer planning this recovery as though we truly will be moving a piece of "living history". There just aren't many of her species surviving nowadays.
There aren't really any "battle scars" on her, and I don't want to inflict any injuries either.

My initial thoughts are to carefully raise the box enough to get a couple of timbers under her from side-to-side. Then using them to raise/lift her to a reasonable height to back a low trailer under her.

The route from where she sits to where I'll work on her (our backyard) is, according to GOOGLE EARTH, 2.31 miles (1.69 as the crow flies). It's almost all two-lane thoroughfares with only the last 1,000' or so being a residential alley. SO... rigging, flagging, permits (not required) and escorts will be nothing us amateurs can't handle. Half of the route has a 30 mph speed limit and the other half is 40 mph so rolling slowly won't even be disruptive.

Once home, lowering her off the trailer should simply be a reverse process. I plan to set her up on some cribbing to facilitate inspection and any repair (including rewiring) of her underbelly.

More to follow, folks.

Good news Chaplain. When you get the K53 body home, we'll have to start the search for a suitable CCKW.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Good news Chaplain. When you get the K53 body home, we'll have to start the search for a suitable CCKW.

I am already chasing some leads on that acquisition. Can't say it's an "active" search... more passive right now... but if the Good Lord drops one in front of me you can rest assured I'll be checking it out

 

[porkysplace]

I am already chasing some leads on that acquisition. Can't say it's an "active" search... more passive right now... but if the Good Lord drops one in front of me you can rest assured I'll be checking it out

Then you could use it as a mobile confessional and turn it in to a tax shelter.

 

[marchplumber]

Then you could use it as a mobile confessional and turn it in to a tax shelter.

???? Wow.....

 

[Bulldogger]

Then you could use it as a mobile confessional and turn it in to a tax shelter.

Good for a morning chuckle that one...

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Then you could use it as a mobile confessional and turn it in to a tax shelter.

"Bless me, Father, for I have an MV addiction....."

...And who says I don't already claim the costs of that Green Iron Enterprise on a Schedule C ????
Those expenses are absolutely UNREIMBURSED!!!

In fact, by the good graces of another SS Member here I already have a "starters set" of US Army Chaplain's issued field equipment: Candle Holders, and other "hardware" for ceremonies. I have considered a Mobile Chapel as a possibility.

 

[marchplumber]

God is everywhere.......mobile chapels would be an asset to those you minister to.

 

[Cali Chris]

Well, I've just found this thread on the K53 body. I know of about 4 production runs of K53 CCKWs.
First, check the front driver's side of the body for the data plate. The plate would list the DOD and the serial number of the CCKW it came off of.
The 4 batches I know of are around CCKW 1286xx-1307xx , 1639xx-1692xx, 1896xx-191xxx, 2366xx-237xxx. Those are not all K53's, there are K60 and shop trucks in those runs as well.

Later
Chris

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Well, I've just found this thread on the K53 body. I know of about 4 production runs of K53 CCKWs.
First, check the front driver's side of the body for the data plate. The plate would list the DOD and the serial number of the CCKW it came off of.
The 4 batches I know of are around CCKW 1286xx-1307xx , 1639xx-1692xx, 1896xx-191xxx, 2366xx-237xxx. Those are not all K53's, there are K60 and shop trucks in those runs as well.

Later
Chris

Thank you, Chris.
That information will be invaluable in learning the ancestry of this rascal.

 

[Wolfen]

Following.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Well, boys and girls, it's been a month and a half since the last post to this thread.

I finally have an update.

In a nutshell... They have agreed to let go of the K53 Communications Box!!!
Details of the "deal" will be posted only after the mission is completed... and that may take a few months to do now also (Sigh) since they are going to be acquiring a storage building into which they will transfer all of the box's contents. We've agreed that there is "no rush", so our waiting continues.

I am confident that the patient approach is about to bear fruit. We'll now await its ripening on the vine before we pick it.

More to follow as it happens.

Stand by please.

I posted that quoted statement back in SEPTEMBER of 2018 !

As of this date, May 7, 2019 we continue to be extraordinarily PATIENT.

The emotional attachment the family has to this box is waning to our benefit, but that cord is not yet completely frayed and still cannot be considered "severed". The good news today though is that they are beginning to clean the K53 Box of its plumbing tools and parts. An intel report from a friend who drives by it daily just provided that information. I know that timing and favorable weather factors have been the root delay. We are expecting a few VERY pleasant days coming up, most probably to be followed by some good ol' west Texas SUMMER WARMING trends. I know they don't want to work in any extreme heat.

Please continue to stand by for (HOPEFULLY) good news in the near future.

Oh, and if you wanna do some praying, that can't hurt any at all.

 

[Another Ahab]

Stumbled on this while searching for something else:

- Any updates, Chappie?!

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Stumbled on this while searching for something else:

- Any updates, Chappie?!

I feel like i'm a broken record (younger folks won't understand that phrase) and am just repeating myself over and over.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE !

For the time being, no news is good news.

On my side of this "patience equation", I will soon be entering a new season of my life.... Semi-Retirement..... And I'll be broadcasting more about that in a fresh thread.

Suffice it to say, as my work-a-day commitments taper off a bit my free time to schmooze with the folks who have this K53 Comm Van Box will be more favorable. It's not that they "want" the Box, it's that there are sentimental attachments that will need some more gently lovin' in order to get them to let it go.

I think we have all seen good vehicles literally rot in barns and fields because the owner just never would let it go. Eventually, the forces of nature take their toll with the onslaught of rust, wind, rain, hail, and sometimes even vandalism. And finally, what COULD have once been salvaged and restored becomes valueless even as scrap metal. I hope this Box does not suffer such a fate. We shall see.

I still trust that this collectible will indeed be preserved. It's just getting one heck of a story to tell.