Willys body handles drain hole

[Bill M]

Hello all,
I have just removed a substantial dent from a Willys rear corner body handle. There was a hole which looked very neat but was distorted from the impact that damaged the handle.
I am wondering if it was the drain hole. This handle came off an August 42 Willys MB, was the drain hole change implemented this early?
Bill.

IMG_0760.jpg (19.62 KiB) Viewed 335 times

[dpcd67]

I didn't know there was a drain hole in any of them. No way for water to get in anyway.

[lowbonnet]

none of my GPW handles have a drain hole.

[ILikePlanesToo]

There aren't any holes in the handles of my '43 GPW.

Michael

[Bill M]

Thanks gents, it is off my Willys MB so no F script. There is a change mentioned in Lawrence Nabhotz' book on the drain hole being added to prevent rusting due to condensation. If any member has same type handle with said hole I would be grateful for info.
If someone has same vintage MB (MB-164163 ) with same style handle for another time reference that would be useful to more than just myself. Come on you Willys guys!
Bill.

[Mark Tombleson]

Here is mine, Bill.





I cannot remember right now where I read it but the holes were to drain the paint. Small parts were dipped to save paint.

[hell-fire]

I only had I original handle on mine & thanks to you Bill I now know what it was the P/O brazed over.

One question though, would this make the the rear handles left / right sided? Make no sense if the hole was on the top.

[Michael Browne]

Hi John,

One question though, would this make the the rear handles left / right sided? Make no sense if the hole was on the top.

Have another look mate , same handle used for both sides and same orientation.

Regards

[Bill M]

Here is mine, Bill.





I cannot remember right now where I read it but the holes were to drain the paint. Small parts were dipped to save paint.

Thank you Mark!
cheers
Bill.

[Ian Fawbert]

Hi mate,
I saw some for sale at the mjcq swap a few years back (2?). They had holes and were original- no vehicle to date from sorry as they were loose.

I didn't get them as I didn't think I needed them at the time... Wish I had as I found out the ones I had turned out to be repro!

There was some old threads on the G about it. I think frank berg was talking about it? I can't search at the moment sorry.

Cheers,
Ian