A little of the known history of my V100 -
She is a fairly early V, as evidenced by having two vision blocks/gun ports ahead of the side doors, later Vs just had one there.
She was originally part of an ARVN contract, thus set up with a .30/.50 turret; and built in Feb/March 1968.
Experience with borrowed ARVN V100s during the Tet Offensive in January 1968 led to the US Army commandeering 72 V100s, including mine, off the production line (regardless of who the customer was) under an ENSURE program.
The V was shipped to Vietnam and served with the 720th MP out of Long Binh.
Post war, she served with the Marines in the US as a 'sensitive national asset" guard vehicle.
At the end of her service life, she was a target on a range, and was hit several times.
Recovered as scrap by the previous owner, he began to repair the hull damage sustained as a target, sourcing parts, and putting stuff back together.
I stepped in when the V was an empty hull sitting on its rebuilt axles. Three and a half years were spent gathering parts; some from unlikely places, like NOS parts from a motorcycle dealer in Saigon (some of those parts were shared with Dave/HellonwheelsV100 and JimK), and installing those and parts that camme with the vehicle.
Slowly but steadily various items were restored and installed, things like the wiring harness were made from scratch, bits and pieces were sourced and put inside.
Finally it was painted as she would have appeared in USMC service, mid-80s.
I did a long winded rebuild thread here on Steel Soldiers. A Vietnam MP veteran, Louie from Chicago, followed along, then showed some pictures at one of his MP group reunions. He asked me if some of them could come visit and look at it. I told him "Of course, come look at it,
and drive it!". So they did, and had fun doing it. I learned more from them about V100 operations in that one day than I had in the previous 20 years.
I was invited to bring it to the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Texas Vietnam Veterans Monument at the state capitol in Austin, and from there to escort the M35 gun truck carrying a replica dog tag for each of the Texas servicemen who died in Vietnam (some 13,000+) to the foundry in Bastrop that was making the statue. The dog tags went permanently inside the statue.
It is not the easiest or most comfortable vehicle to drive, but it is the one I am happiest to be driving.
Cheers
), and with a first aid box donated by Dave/HellonwheelsV100 installed it inside.
