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Navy owned? Wonder how that happened, got any pictures?
Please read through my Operation Mighty Mite Miracle thread. I documented as much as possible during Jeannie's nearly 2.5 year long mechanical restoration journey. Thankfully she was running (sort of) prior to the restoration. These vehicles require deep pockets and plentiful patience to restore. Many parts had to be custom made or modified.
Hi hndrsonj. OK, let me answer, and take exception to a few of the statements made here. First, I am on the home stretch of restoring my M422A1 MM that I acquired a couple of years ago. Yes, it's been a project, and sometimes a challenge, but I have not run into anything that would have kept me from doing it. My Mite had been sitting out in the weather for about 50 years. Being aluminum, it didn't rust. However, everything that was steel did. But, everything has come apart surprisingly easy. And I do like the fact that everything is light weight. After having had a deuce and a half, it's been nice. Regarding the $10K that was mentioned for an engine rebuild..........no way. Mine is completely overhauled now, and I had a local automotive machine shop do most of the work. Including rebuilding the starter, generator, regulator, having buying NOS cylinder jugs, pistons, etc., etc., and sending them out to be re-coated, plus new plugs, and on and on, I'll have somewhere around $5K into the engine. With everything else I'm doing, plus new tires, new windshield, and on and on, I'll probably have somewhere around $12K into the whole project. Would I do it again? Probably not. However, I am NOT sorry I did do the project. It is a VERY unique little vehicle, and everyone is anxious to see it on the road. They are out there, and fairly easy to find to buy, BUT most are in pretty sorry shape. If you want to buy one that is already restored, you'll pay from $15K to $20K for one. A MM is not that rare, but a RUNNING MM is!!!
The term would be "Consumptive Use". I am pretty sure that the Navy would not want that one to get out on the road. Most were attempted to be sold to civillians after the fall of the Shah of Iran (The US was trying to get him to take the whole lot), most sold to civilians were painted US Post Office blue below the bottom of the windshield. Very few were sold to civillians, I suspect probably fewer then 200 survive outside museum hands.
To reply to what Kyle says above, all true. The blower housing will also rust out if the dang mice build a nest in it as well. For the jacking part, true. The manual actually says DO NOT JACK on the differential. Being bolted to the engine, the front engine mount is just a single rubber vibration pad which is designed for downward pressure. If you try to jack it up, it will rip the mount apart. Yes, the gas cap has two positions, normal and fording. It takes a bit of good hand strength to get it into the fording position (tight). On the spark plugs, amazingly my local NAPA dealer had four of them in stock, and relatively inexpensive. Around $13.00 each. He asked what airplane I had. Apparently, some aircraft use the same style plugs!! Also, regarding a "civilian" plug adaptation, I just saw an ad in the MVPA magazine for a new adapter that can be used to adapt a standard civilian plug to the threaded watertight military ignition wire system. Should be a good seller, I would assume.
