How many M 201 still in service?

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RebelSST
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How many M 201 still in service?

Post by RebelSST » Wed Dec 27, 2017 5:40 am

This picture was taken in 1986 in Papeete on a Bastille day parade while on a short holiday stint in the region and one can rightly assume it is, a Hotchkiss, and keeps me wondering if and how many are still in service on the island or elsewhere around the globe for that matter in some more obscure far away places.
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Stanles
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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Stanles » Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:47 am

Hi,
nice photo !!!
M201 is sure.
He is no longer in service in France.
The last were eliminated from the army at the age of 90
1960 - GAZ 69M
1952 - M38
1951 - M100 Trailer
1959 - ITM Jeep

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Mark Jesic » Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:06 am

Rebel, i dont think there are any left in service now. They all seem to be in private ownership.

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by David » Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:53 am

Maybe not in military service, but I bet more than a few are still in use with local Sapeur-Pompier (fire brigade) units.

The one in the small fishing village in Brittany where I would spend my childhood summer vacations had one to tow a small RHIB on a trailer. Needless to say that involved a lot of salt water, so I'm pretty sure it is gone now.

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by 70th Division » Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:32 am

Well,

It would be great if they were still in service !!
The last batch that I am aware of was sold in France by Domaines in 2007 !
I am sure there are some hiding away still :D :D :D
I used to get their Domaines color picture catalog here in the USA and they had so many beautiful Jeeps, Dodges,
CCKWS, Trailers, etc along with beautiful homes and stuff for sale across France !


http://www.m201.com/features/domaines.htm


The French military took great care of their WW2 and Hotchkiss vehicles for their entire service life !!
I wish the US did the same.

Best Regards,

Ray

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by RebelSST » Wed Dec 27, 2017 5:19 pm

@ David. Yes, one would expect for them more to be in civilian service on the island today. I can't imagine the French gov. would haul them all back to be sold in auction at home.

@ Ray. Great link there, one could only wish... Perusing my stockpile of "older" photo"s I have dug up a couple more pics what the surplus scene looked like in the early 80', I think it was '80 or '81 from my recollection somewhere in southern Baden-Wurt., Rottenburg comes to mind but not entirely sure anymore. The price range was around 1000-3000.00 DM back then. Wish I'd taken picture of the lot just to drool over today. One thing I do remember about the jeeps is that all had a massive 24 V heater between the seats.
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My buddy Hans-Georg obviously liking what we found
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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Mark Jesic » Sat Dec 30, 2017 8:46 am

A lot of Hotchkiss jeeps also had a single seat in the back, nice photos. :D

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Joe Gopan » Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:25 am

70th Division wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:32 am
Well,

It would be great if they were still in service !!
The last batch that I am aware of was sold in France by Domaines in 2007 !
I am sure there are some hiding away still :D :D :D
I used to get their Domaines color picture catalog here in the USA and they had so many beautiful Jeeps, Dodges,
CCKWS, Trailers, etc along with beautiful homes and stuff for sale across France !


http://www.m201.com/features/domaines.htm


The French military took great care of their WW2 and Hotchkiss vehicles for their entire service life !!
I wish the US did the same.

Best Regards,

Ray
The US Army had excellent maintenance system, MV's were maintained per TM's until retired. The majority of US Army WWII G-503 types were retired 60+ years ago and were modified, had no scheduled maintenance and were parked in the weeds for 60 years after they would no longer run.
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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by 70th Division » Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:11 am

Great pictures !!!!

Ben, no doubt the US had excellent maintenance protocols and Top Rate Troops that did the greatest of work maintaining and preserving the fleet!!

What I should have said is the European Allies have spent 60 years maintaining,
preserving, and taking very good care of their WW2 Vintage Vehicle fleets and securing the Peace in Europe !

I wish the USA had done that with our WW2 vehicle fleets, like the jeeps, Dodge WC series, and such. Spend 60 years maintaining the jeeps, and Dodges, would have been effective and worthwhile .

The issue is that just after the WW2 Victory, manufacturers and politicians decided to replace them all with brand new, using new designs, and bigger heavier trucks etc, more expensive, harder to maintain, just look at the size of the truck tires !

In my opinion, they were no where near as great designs, as the WW2 designs that were used and maintained throughout Europe for 50 to 60 years,
and were much more maintenance intensive and had no comparison to service life of the WW2 European maintained fleets!

The taxpayer would have expected maintenance and rebuild, but were "out voted" into replacing everything.
Huge costs compared to maintaining what we had !

Post war fleets never really held a candle to the WW2 fleet, and they still don't, and never will.

Think of the damaging NOISE level of post war diesel trucks and Humvee's, they are in no way superior to WW2 equipment !

The Europeans are to commended making their WW2 US equipment last these many decades, when the US didn't even try !!!!

The French Military should get an extra special commendation for not only preserving their massive WW2 Fleet of US vehicles,
but also manufacturing the awesome M201, WW2 style in every way, just upgraded !!

That is what I meant to say, and hopefully more of WW2 vehicles and M201's , as well as m38's and M38A1's get restored everyday around the world to save historical legacy for future generations !!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Before the weeds and scrappers, and rust get them !!!!!!

One of these days, I will post many French Domaines sales catalog pictures, from the late 1990's.


Ray

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Joe Gopan » Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:05 pm

Believe it or not, the M-Series were easier to maintain by trained troops. They were designed with interchangeability of parts, and standardized electrical systems which made it easier to install electrical accessories such as radios, slave cables, heaters, etc. The newer M-Series trucks were safer, easier to drive, more comfortable and had much better on and off road performance. Bigger heavier trucks, not really, look at all the 6 and 7 ton WWII 6X6 trucks that the G-744 5 Ton 6X6 replaced. Have you ever driven a 5 Ton 6X6? They are quieter than the WWII trucks they replaced, easier to drive than a Jeep with synchronized transmissions, power steering, better ride, comfortable cab with roll up windows, heaters, better suspensions, etc.
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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Ian Fawbert » Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:40 am

Not M201, but I remember seeing a picture in the last couple of years taken in one of the European countries (Denmark maybe, but not real idea!?) of a column of light softskin vehicles on exercise towing 1/4 ton trailers of the G529 style. I also remember hearing a bunch were sold off in the last few years in Norway too but only to members of MV clubs and not for export.

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Re: How many M 201 still in service?

Post by Mark Jesic » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:00 pm

Tan, a lot of Norwegian jeeps found their way to England. The Norwegians really looked after these jeeps, even going as far as undersealing them. They were also all fitted with a snowblind.


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