My Abandoned M715

[N Arizona]

Well I decided to start this thread to give a little history of my M715 and its transition to it's new owner who is another SS member. I got the M715 back in 96 or 97 I think. I bought it from a rancher in Wimberly who bought it from the local FD. I did some work on it and it was on ranch duty down in South Texas. Well I went off to school and after a year I did not start and I didn't have time to get it running. Well that was 15 years ago. It was under a roof for most of that time but the last 4 years it has sat outside. I could see that is was rotting away out there and hated to see it go to waste. I know I wont have time fix it up so I made a deal to have it adopted by another member here. Here are some photo of how it looks today. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

 

[mkcoen]

You have anything else that needs a good home (or is this one still in need)? I would have taken the SEE but see it's already gone.

 

[NDT]

Lots of potential there. Probably get it running in no time. Amazing how unless the immigrants can use it somehow, things just go undisturbed out there. By humans anyhow, I see the rodents have been busy.

 

[N Arizona]

There are three more trucks that I am going to sell and just be down to just a few CUCVs. But those I am gonna sell as they are in better shape and I don't have fond memories of working on them with my dad etc. Just didn't want the M 715 to get cut up for parts or resold.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Great work on giving it a new lease on life!

 

[R Racing]

There are three more trucks that I am going to sell and just be down to just a few CUCVs. But those I am gonna sell as they are in better shape and I don't have fond memories of working on them with my dad etc. Just didn't want the M 715 to get cut up for parts or resold.

Does your m929 need adoption? ?

 

[M813rc]

N Arizona, I think that what you are doing is highly commendable. I gather that the young Marine, recently returned home from service, who is taking this on as a restoration project is quite excited about it. His goal is to return it to original military standard and colours, then drive it in parades and such.

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

Well, the M715 is now safely at its new home.
My older boy has completed his Marine service, with two combat tours, and returned home to us. While he worked on my trucks with me as a kid, this is going to be his first restoration project, with me as his assistant for a change.

Saturday, we (my son, Mkcoen, and I) went down to South Texas and met up with N Arizona and his family. What a great bunch of folks! The tires were aired up, the insides cleaned out some, and we pushed it onto the trailer with a tractor. All seemed almost too easy for an MV recovery op.

Death of Rats apparently likes M715s. There were 100+ rodent skeletons on the floorboards, leading us to believe an owl or some similar predator had been living in the cab. A few minutes with a T-post and a shop vac took care of all that (and yes, filter mask was worn while vacuuming!). My son has already decided that the truck will bear the name Death of Rats and a rat skull when it is finished. (Anyone else read Terry Pratchett books?)

We made it home with no issues, three of the four tires still hold air. A quick air up using my large rolling compressor (an M931), and we rolled the M715 off the trailer at the farm. My boy was already making a list of needed parts.

The truck came with all the metal hardware for the troop seats, and some new cut oak for the slats, and even a spare tire. For having served with two different fire departments, the truck is surprisingly original and complete, and is very straight. It even still has the battery box, and a three-way light switch. All of which makes it very restorable.

N Arizona and his charming family are delightful people, it was a real pleasure to meet them, and I cannot thank them enough for their generosity. Transitioning from military service to civilian life is something of a task, and a project like this is good therapy for a young man.

Also, big thanks to Mkcoen for letting us use his trailer, and for making the recovery trip with us.

There will, of course, be a thread charting the progress of the M715.

Cheers

PS- note the two rat skulls on the dash in the last pic. They will stay with the M715

 

[baseballump]

Rory
So Davey is going to do it?? Did you get the barn build you were talking about to do the restoration in?? I know he will do it like a Marine 3/4 ton. Good luck with it And remember the more pictures the better.
Hope all are doing WELL. We are doing well.
Take Care Travel Safe Hope to see you all again some time.
Louie

 

[Warthog]

Looking at the picture for the troop seats, the hardware doesn't look correct. They should be more like the Deuce troops eat hardware. I made a set of seats out of some leftover deuce seats. Not hard to do.

I may have some addition M715 parts. I think I have the soft top hardware, spare tire carrier and a tail gate.

 

[NDT]

Great story! The troop seat components are not 715 though, look 880 or CUCV. The 715 uses the same parts as a deuce/5 ton, only fewer intermediate staves.

 

[steelypip]

You definitely need to paint this on it somewhere:

 

[NDT]

If that air cleaner is as pitted as it looks, PM me I have dozens of nice takeoffs I can send if you pay the ride.

 

[M813rc]

Yes, Louie, this is Davey's project. He is contemplating Marine green with yellow lettering vs possibly MERDEC camo. He has a while to think about it while we get the mechanicals in shape.
Pictures will be taken of all aspects as work progresses.
The shop isn't complete yet, but I've set up a workshop in an M146 trailer, so other than the overhead cover, that part is good. Should have the overhead sorted shortly.

Thanks Warthog, all the pieces you mentioned are needed! The current tailgate is expanded metal mesh. We'll be hunting the front brush guard too, and an original front bumper.

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

The hardware in the burlap bags does look like the right stuff for the troop seats. I know the big sections don't look like the M715 ones I have in my storage shed (I have a set of seats for my own truck), but the stuff in the bags does. The oak pieces are very nice too, N Arizona already had those cut to size.

NDT, I'll PM you about the air cleaner, thank you.

Steelypip, that Death of Rats picture is perfect!

Cheers

 

[steelypip]

Several of the Pratchett books featuring Death (and the Death of Rats) have been illustrated, or scenes from them have been put into calendars and art books. I picked that example (from somebody's t-shirt apparently) because it had better composition and showed the Death of Rats by himself. You probably want SQUEAK. underneath the picture, as Death (both versions) always speaks in all caps.

 

[M813rc]

My daughter introduced me to his books a few years ago, I've now read all of them at least once.

SQUEAK was apparently heard many times in and around this M715.

Cheers

 

[mhassett]

Excellent recovery.
MHassett

 

[Ratch]

Great story to read.
How's it progressing?