New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw ;)

[GeorgeD]

New to the board just wanted to say hi. I have been wanting to get into military vehichle collecting for a while but never found that particular item that I just had to have until the other day.

I purchased a Federal Motors MK44 AWD APC from an online auction. It's really cool & turned out to be a lot nicer than advertised in the auction. I can see I'm going to have a lot of fun w/ this thing. From what info I have gathered I guess it's technically not a military vehichle since it was 1 of 6 prototypes built & not sold to the military but hey it's a cool machine & 99% of the people out there will never know the difference & I can have a lot of fun with it. Can't wait to get it done & take the kids to school in it

GeorgeD

 

[DanMartin]

Awesome! Welcome to the SS site. Man, these guys are going to *love* you!

Any chance of getting some inside pics?

How about specs? Engine? Controls? How does it drive?

Oh...and run into/over/through something for us, will ya?

 

[steelsoldiers]

Beautiful APC!! I want to know more about it too.

Welcome to SS from a born and raised Mountaineer!! Where are you in WV. I grew up in Charleston.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Welcome aboard brother! Machine is awesome.

 

[maddawg308]

I wondered if someone from this site was going to end up with that GSA armored car. Pretty cool! Are you going to keep it as is, or are you going to paint it up as a quasi-military vehicle with a camo paint job?

 

[GeorgeD]

Re: RE: New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw

Awesome! Welcome to the SS site. Man, these guys are going to *love* you!

Any chance of getting some inside pics?

How about specs? Engine? Controls? How does it drive?

Oh...and run into/over/through something for us, will ya?

I like the way you think. My brother & I were setting here last night thinking about running it over an old station wagon sitting out back. Sounds like fun but I have no idea when I will have time to do it. I'll need to get glass out of it befroe doing it or I will have a big mess that I don't want to clean up.

Here are a few pics of the inside that they had posted for the auction. I have already removed a large part of the interior & inside panels so I could give it a good looking over & pressure washing.

It drives surprisingly very nice, although I haven't had it out on any big run yet & when I did drive it I didn't know exactly how to operate it like I do now. It's got a V8 air cooled Deutz deisel engine, Twin Disc torque converter & trans, Kysor A/C, I'm pretty sure it has deuce and half front & rear ends. I don't have all the actual motor, trans ect model #'s in front of me right now. One thig for sure it ROCKS & I'm going to have some fun with it!

GeorgeD

 

[GeorgeD]

Re: RE: New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw

Beautiful APC!! I want to know more about it too.

Welcome to SS from a born and raised Mountaineer!! Where are you in WV. I grew up in Charleston.

Hey, I am located in Hurricane, only about 25 min. away from Charleston. I grew up in Cross Lanes. Thanks for the compliments on the APC. You have an awesome website here, I'm glad I found it. As I get time I am going to try & do some more research on this APC. I will probably put up a website & list in search engines. I will post information / history of this machine as I get it & will hope that someone w/ other info will find the website & offer up some more info.

Thanks,
GeorgeD

 

[steelsoldiers]

RE: Re: RE: New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw

Great! I'll have to come for a visit the next time I am in to see my parents, who are still in South Charleston. I can't wait to see your APC in person and hear that Deutz start up.

 

[GeorgeD]

Re: RE: New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw

I wondered if someone from this site was going to end up with that GSA armored car. Pretty cool! Are you going to keep it as is, or are you going to paint it up as a quasi-military vehicle with a camo paint job?

Mike,
For the time being I am going to leave it as is & just concentrate on all of the mechanical issues. There are LOTS of wires that shouldn't be here from previous police equipemnt & who know what all else. They need weeded out & removed & then fix some of the places where the wiring harness was spliced in to. Also need to fix the A/C, find some glass for it, weld up several holes that have been drilled in it for police lights & so on. Nothing major just a lot of little time consuming misc. After that I have thought about everything from putting it back original to doing something total wild with it, I may just have to pimp my APC . I don't really know for sure at this point but I got it to have fun with & you can bet that I will. It will be a while before I make any decisions as this is a hobby & is not making me money. I have been looking at a company that sells really nice replica guns that have simulated fire, they have a 50 cal that runs off of propane that I will probably get sooner or later. I have a real one I could put on it but I figure the first few times I take this thing out, I'm going to get hounded / checked out by every police officer I pass & having a live 50 machinegun on it would probably just add to the aggravation.

GeorgeD

 

[M813rc]

Since it was prototyped for sale to the military, it can technically be an MV. Lots of MVs never made it past the prototype stage. The other neat thing is that it is yours, it can be whatever you want!

According to the limited info I have, the axles are the same as 800 series 5-tons.

Here is some other info. It is from various sources, some was translated from Chinese (!)-
Crew: 2 + 9 (one source only says 2+11)
Weight: 20,458#
Length: 19.83’
Width: 7.8’
Height (minus weapon): 7.5’
Max road speed: 65mph (105km/h)
Acceleration: 20mph – 10 sec, 50mph – 24sec
Fuel: 2 x 50 gal tanks
Range: 800 miles
Climb slope: 60%
Side slope: 30%
Vertical wall: 2’
Turning radius: 29.5’
Electrical system: 24V
Engine: Deutz Model F8L413F
Type: V8 forced-air cooled diesel
Power: 265hp/2650rpm
Transmission: Twin disc Model 1130 Automatic,
(4 forward, 4 reverse with integral transfer case )
Brakes: hydraulic, pressure boosted (air over hydraulic??)
Suspension: leaf spring with hydraulic shock absorbers
Tires: 14.00×20
Armour: 1/4” – 3/8” High hardness “E-Alloy” armour plate

PM me your address and I will mail you a copy of an article on it.

Cheers

 

[CARNAC]

Welcome to the website. Always good to see another Mountaineer on line.

 

[wgtactical]

Re: RE: New Member from West Virginia - Howdy Yaw

I have thought about everything from putting it back original to doing something total wild with it, I may just have to pimp my APC . I don't really know for sure at this point but I got it to have fun with & you can bet that I will. It will be a while before I make any decisions as this is a hobby & is not making me money. I have been looking at a company that sells really nice replica guns that have simulated fire, they have a 50 cal that runs off of propane that I will probably get sooner or later. I have a real one I could put on it but I figure the first few times I take this thing out, I'm going to get hounded / checked out by every police officer I pass & having a live 50 machinegun on it would probably just add to the aggravation.

GeorgeD

Hello George, and welcome Take it from me, go ahead and get aquainted with your Sheriff's and Police departments. It's always a good idea for them to hear about this kind of thing first hand. Whatever you decide to do with it from here is the easy part, just getting such a piece is the really hard part.

 

[Tactical_Wookie]

Maybe a RENTAL opportunity?

Hello George, and welcome Take it from me, go ahead and get aquainted with your Sheriff's and Police departments. It's always a good idea for them to hear about this kind of thing first hand. Whatever you decide to do with it from here is the easy part, just getting such a piece is the really hard part.

Good idea, this! Once again, a great find, George.... Make friends with the local LEOs, perhaps even offer to let them rent it from you, provided they take care of it, fix any bullet holes, etc.

--tW