1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

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rob w
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1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

Post by rob w » Sat Aug 06, 2016 12:29 pm

Guys,

I've had this jeep for several years.....however, I just started to look under the paint layers seriously last week... and found some interesting things.

I had previously noted that the front grill had a strange hole on the driver's side that looked torch cut. There was also a small weld nugget on the pass side grill? After seeing a picture of a jeep in the pacific in Wade Wells' "Hail to the Jeep" book a few years ago. I figured maybe it was for a front bumper mounted muffler that led me to wonder more about origins. Iv'e also seen a few other pics of USMC jeeps with the front bumper mod muffler. This jeep also has a patch on the hood drivers side over what was once presumably an intake hole. Also when I removed what was left of the drivers seat cushion under several layers of material, there was a usmc ww2 pattern camo crudely wrapped around it. However, I didn't think much of that. Jeep came to Idaho from Southern CA, about 25 years ago. Jeep has matching serial numbers frame/body/engine.

Several years have passed and recently I decided to start scraping paint. It was kelly green over yellow, (yellow is everywhere, maybe a municipal jeep at one time) I started looking on the hood and found 5 yellow numbers....which was tough under the yellow paint. At that point I thought USMC and started looking for "USMC" but did not find it....until I got to the windshield...which yielded some nice letter and numbers legible as "USMC 73034 " it confirmed what I was seeing on either side of the hood. I also found an interesting diamond division? mark in the center of the WS which appears of have another emblem on top of it..... If anyone has some input, I would be interested to hear it. I understand the diamond is the 3rd or the 1st marine Div, (depending on orientation) But the red meatball really made me wonder... the meatball is the mark of the 37th infantry.....(army) or of course it is the Japanese national symbol. Not sure what's going on here? it looks like it's painted over the TAC/Division marking... There is history of the 3rd marine and the 37th ID working together?

Perhaps there will be some more information below the round marking but before I go further I thought I'd post it here.

Any input would be helpful...thanks guys.


Rob in Boise.
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Last edited by rob w on Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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rob w
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Re: 1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

Post by rob w » Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:31 pm

deep mud mufflers pacific.jpg
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First picture that got me thinking about the grill hole... This is from Wade Wells' "Hail to the Jeep"
OkinawaJune1945.jpg
OkinawaJune1945.jpg (74.29 KiB) Viewed 1765 times
Second picture is from Josh/Jeepjop here in Boise. I know Mark T has posted a few more of USMC jeeps with mufflers on the grill/bumper.

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rob w
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Re: 1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

Post by rob w » Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:47 pm

Here's the GPW a few years ago before I started to strip it..... fairly original....still had combats and lots of the bracketry....... and of course some interesting add ons...
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AZ Jeff
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Re: 1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

Post by AZ Jeff » Tue Aug 09, 2016 10:22 am

Sir, that looks like a Weasel Maintenance Facility in the background? :D

Great looking project Rob. I'm betting on 3rd MarDiv heritage. The muffler pipe hole is very cool... Now be sure to put it back in that location...

Jeff Q,
AZ

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rob w
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Re: 1943 GPW SN103965 USMC 73034

Post by rob w » Wed Sep 14, 2016 12:33 pm

Thanks Jeff,

Learning as I go here.

found a couple other interesting things,....

Looks like a hood cutout/intake welded up?

Also found a picture of another machine similarly marked on the windshield, vehicle number is pretty close too.

Looks like this jeep will have to be OD before it's forest green and gets turned back over the the marines :)

Rgds,

Rob
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