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Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:23 pm
by Emil
Hello Guys!

What do you think? Is this a orginal British Airborne Jeep???
I did buy this Ford GPW today... And more info and pics will come...
The Jeep did come to Sweden in 1957, and it did missed the rear bumperettes, body handels, axe and shovel parts and the front brackets for top bows.
I did buy it from a 80 year old man. He did buy it in 1974 and he did put on bumperettes, marker lights in grill and on the fender, body handels(not the left one... there are holes but you cant put bolts in there. When lowered the left wheelhouse there are a box with no opening!
And he did not want the steering wheel... and did put a black one. Now the orginal one are in place!!!
Many layers of paint... There are od and some sand tan?
Here are some pics:
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Best regards

Emil Bruce
Sweden

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:27 pm
by Emil
More pics...


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Best regards

Emil Bruce
Sweden

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:47 pm
by niceday
Could you tell more about the paint?

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:57 pm
by Emil
Hello!

The paint...
It is now dark green... but it does have from start olive drab, than yellow/sand.... then blue... and the dark green.
Will try to found markings...
The Ford GPW does have Willys Slat hood...

Emil

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:55 pm
by pgcf
It is an Airborne Radio jeep.

The tool boxes and wheel well tops were lowered to allow for the radios to clear the main spar of the Horsa glider when loaded. This appears to be a later modification, post D-Day, because the mudguards were left on. They were only removed to load in the Horsa Mk. I, the nose of the Mk II swung open so it was easier to load. The Mk II's were used at Arnhem and the Rhine.

The quick release steering wheel nut and horn button are also clues. Some other points to note are the two holes drilled in to the floor of the transmission hump between the seats is where the bracket for the Jerry can is bolted down and the footman loop on the floor behind the drivers seat is for the strap for a Jerry can behind the seat (there should be another one behind the passenger seat. The shortened bumper was probably replaced after the war.

The welded up holes on the wings and wheel well top are for battery and valve boxes.

I recommend you get a copy of Rob and Monica van Meel's British Airborne Modifications book. It has pictures that will help you as well as drawings for the brackets. Get the 7th edition, July 2002, it is the most informative.

Please let me know if you are not going to restore it as an Airborne jeep as I would be interested in some of the parts.

Cheers,
Peter

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:39 pm
by Tom Wolboldt
Hello Emil,
The Ford GPW does have Willys Slat hood...
Late '43 and very early '44 GPWs used early Willys type hoods.

ACM I GPW Hood types late 1943 - early 1944

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:40 pm
by Bill M
Tom wrote:Hello Emil,
The Ford GPW does have Willys Slat hood...
Late '43 and very early '44 GPWs used early Willys type hoods.
Hello Tom,
does this apply to those GPWs that utilised ACM type 1 tubs only or did it spill into the ACM II tub introduction as well?
cheers
Bill.

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:24 am
by Emil
Hello!

Thanks for the info!
Yes... i´m going to restore it to a British Airborne Jeep! But not put the hole Jeep in parts...
Will try to find out what parts it will need... like the airborne front bumper and if it did have baskets on the front fenders....or?
Are there many orginal Airborne Jeeps left?
More pics here:

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/ ... eep001.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will try to take more pics this weekend.
Thanks! Best regards

Emil Bruce
Sweden

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:38 pm
by wo2jeeper
Emil wrote:Hello!

Thanks for the info!
Yes... i´m going to restore it to a British Airborne Jeep! But not put the hole Jeep in parts...
Will try to find out what parts it will need... like the airborne front bumper and if it did have baskets on the front fenders....or?
Are there many orginal Airborne Jeeps left?
More pics here:

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/ ... eep001.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will try to take more pics this weekend.
Thanks! Best regards

Emil Bruce
Sweden
hope not to act to gready :roll: but when younreplace your bumper can I buy or trade one that is on it now. Need to ship to the Netherlands.

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 9:18 am
by Emil
Hello Again!

hope not to act to gready but when younreplace your bumper can I buy or trade one that is on it now. Need to ship to the Netherlands...

Not any problem with asking... but sorry the front bumper are not an orginal one that they did change with the Airborne one. :wink:
Best regards

Emil Bruce
Sweden

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:48 am
by Emil
Hello Again!

More pics here: http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 5#p1138165" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Best regards

Emil

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 12:27 pm
by Gerry275
Hi Emil,
Fantastic jeep, I recently purchased a jeep in british green- which i hope to uncover its history.- It also has a section cut out of the drivers seat, but only 1 section smaller than the section removed from your seat-so i am interested to see what you uncover!

All the best
Gerry

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:46 am
by Rod Rushton
Hello Emil,
It certainly is an interesting find. I am at the moment just restoring one which was in similar condition. I have known this Jeep since 1968 and in those days it was quite common to find such jeeps, usually on farms or for sale in the local paper - in my time I have had a couple in this condition.
The British Army usually would rebuild their jeeps in their workshops, at which time I imagine they were just completely dismantled, repaired if neccesary and overhauled as required. Mine is a Ford GPW, chassis no: 202055. DoD 5-22-44 It had been rebuilt in approx. 1952. It was then fitted with a repaired body ~ 187186, or Jan 1945. There was evidence that the left side rear panel had been replaced as the section was fastened in with small rivets.
The post-war colour scheme was the dark green - the same as all the other vehicles in the Army, and the same as yours. FWD Motors was a well known supplier of ex-military vehicles, as was Metamet - who did the work on Half -Safe after Ben Carlin had crossed the Atlantic. They were situated in Daleham Mews in North London, and were for a long time suppliers of the spare parts we needed - no repros in those days!
As I understand it Airbourne Jeeps were modified as required from standard issue ones, and the mods varied according to each units needs. During the War Popski was issued with jeeps modified in the workshops in Egypt - as was the SAS, and for example they were armed with a variety of weapons including captured Italian ones. The Vickers was chosen because it was available and had a high rate of fire, replaced later with Brownings.
It could be that your demountable steering wheel hub was fitted simply because it was available - They were not common by any means but I have come across a few.
As you state your intention is to rebuild it as a representative Airbourne Jeep - then go to it - I might be wrong, but as far as I am aware there was nothing written down as a specification - they were modified for the job in hand. There is plenty of reference for you to follow as a guide.
If the Army had rebuilt it ,there should be a brass plate, usually fitted inside the front wing by the battery. Or possibly the 4 mounting holes are in evidence. The plate was
120mm X 90mm and gave the dates and depot where it was rebuilt, though often they were removed. Also on this plate would be the later British Army registration number, eg 33 ZC 80 - from which it is possible to find the Key Cards showing some history of service.
I took a number of photos of mine before I dismantled it, and if you are interested send me your e-mail address and I will sort them out for you

Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2023 9:20 am
by msdt
Hi Emil,
Are you still on this forum? If so, I am keen to discover if there are any rebuild plates with dates on your Jeep. I have a similar ex-British Army Jeep, but the data plates have been removed.
Regards,
Tony
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Re: Is this a British Airborne Jeep?

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2023 1:18 pm
by 70th Division
msdt wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2023 9:20 am
Hi Emil,
Are you still on this forum? If so, I am keen to discover if there are any rebuild plates with dates on your Jeep. I have a similar ex-British Army Jeep, but the data plates have been removed.
Regards,
Tony
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IMG_4015.JPG
Welcome to the G503 Tony !!
You have a most beautiful Jeep :D :D :D !!!!
It looks like Emil hasn't been on the site since 2017 :shock: .
Hopefully others with A/B jeep knowledge will make some comments about you jeep.
Do post more pictures from all around your jeep, as clues can be seen by those with knowledge about the Airborne jeeps !

You have a Ford GPW, based on the front frame cross member.

You should be able to recover the Ford factory serial number on the top of the front drivers side frame.
Ford stamped all their jeeps there, and if the British didn't remove it, it will be there :D .

Also look on the drivers side outer frame rail, under the fender, as the British, if rebuilt, would have added a big rebuild tag and the shop it was rebuilt at after the War.
You can also locate possible rebuild tags on the engine as well, usually on the lower driver's side of the engine.

If you can find any of these tags, they will have the postwar registration number stamped on it, and likely the US frame serial number.

With that said, if you can locate that number, which also was often painted on the rear bumperettes, on the rear panel sometimes, and on both sides of the hood, with that number you can get a key card from the Royal logistics Archive, and get some info on your jeep, including the WW2 M number, and possibly the WW2 serial number from the factory.

Robert in Holland from dataplates4U can make new and perfect data plates for you.

The British usually removed the US data plates from the dash fro some reason while in post war service.

So good hunting !!
See if you can get the Ford frame serial number, that when from the factory matched the engine serial number, and the glove box data plate.
If you get that number a lot can be discovered about your jeep, like where and when it was built, and maybe the Archives in England can search with that number as well ?

Is that little data plate to the left of your glove box a British tag with a YH number stamped on it ?


Best Regards,
Ray