My first 1942 Ford GPW

[Brandon]

Congrats Cobra!! Welcome to the club. Remember you can never have just one this is only the begining, lol

Brandon

[OldGPW]

65709 is alive and well and will be moving across town in the next couple weeks. I've purchased her from Zane and will be restoring her, maintaining as much of her original tub and paint as possible. REALLY excited to be able to do this, and I'm fairly certain I've deciphered her bumper codes. Not 100% on it yet, but if I'm right, this is a hell of a jeep!

Jon

It doesn't sound like you'll do much disassembling of it, since you're going to keep the paint. But if you do, take photos before anything comes off and put the parts in a container that is clearly labeled for what the parts are. Bolts & parts have a tendency to get lost, and some of them are not easy to find spares of.

[Cobrahistorian]

Thanks guys!

I'm actually going to disassemble everything, paint what needs to be painted and replace what needs to be replaced. The paint has come back nicely with a light coat of WD40. Problem is, she's rusted through completely on the floor and a good bit on the sides. I'm going to keep as much original metal as possible, but this is going to have to be a full restoration, otherwise she wouldn't be drivable. I've been shooting pics of everything as it was installed and then as it comes off. Everything goes into labeled ziplocs and I'll be blasting and priming my first round of parts this week. I'm going to sand down the hood lightly, prime and paint it, masking off the original numbers and then shooting them in blue drab.

I didn't mention it in this thread, but looking at the front and rear bumpers, it looks like that this jeep served with the 4th Armored Division's 37th Tank Battalion. There's a nice 4-delta 37-delta on both positions that's faintly visible.

Here are some pics so far:

[OldGPW]

It's a very nice GPW, and the rust condition is typical of these old machines. Do you plan on replacing the floor with a repro? There are a few options available, fortunately site owner Ron F. has everything you will need to get your GPW back on it's tires and on the road.

[OldGPW]

Looks like the gear in the photo will need replacing, I think I can see missing teeth on the side, repros are available but it's almost always better to try to source NOS parts when possible.

[Cobrahistorian]

Yep, there are 3 broken teeth on that gear. I think there's some minor rust and pitting on others, but that's the only one with broken teeth. I do plan on putting a repro floor in it. Seems to be the only way to go to get a tub with some sort of structural integrity. I want to make it clear to all that I am NOT going to destroy the original paint that's on there. All original markings have been recorded photographically and are being protected. I've shot over 300 pics since she came home yesterday.

I'm going to do everything I can to leave the original paint and blend the new metal and paint in with the original. It may look weird in the end, but it'll be a good representation of an original GPW with minimal restoration.

Jon

[Cobrahistorian]

I'm having a blast so far, and tonight was a big discovery! The remnants of the bumper codes are there and after hitting the bumperettes with some WD40 and giving them a good wipe down, I noticed some paint starting to flake off. Lo and behold, after just a little bit of work, clear as day the HQ Company letters were completely revealed! Also, the 4-delta 37-delta is MUCH clearer and measures EXACTLY to the order specs (3" letters with a 1/4" stroke)

In fact, it looks like there are 2 codes on each bumperette. The first one has two 4-deltas! My hunch is, since it was originally named "Stinky", it more than likely started out in the Service Company, 37th Armored Regiment, (which would explain the two codes) and was then transferred to the Recon Company/Platoon (depending on timeframe) where it was rechristened "Race Horse". If you look to the left of the 4, there's another smaller triangle and a smaller 4 to the left of that. I also didn't extend the bottom of the 3 far enough when I was trying to trace it (what happens when you're trying to draw a curve in paint!) but you can clearly see it just left of where my drawing stopped.

[Cobrahistorian]

Well, after a ton of research, wet sanding, and discovery of additional stenciling, it is clear that this jeep was NOT with the 37th Tank Battalion...

It was with the 47th Tank Battalion, 14th Armored Division.

There's a stencil on the inside of the tub over the left rear wheel well that reads "Camp Chaffee". The 14th Armored Division stood up at Camp Chaffee in November 1942. Wet sanding the divisional bumper code revealed a 1 in front of the 4. There are remnants of two codes, and the piece that I thought was a 3 may be an S from when it was in the Service Company and carried the name "Stinky". I discovered the remnants of two 8" yellow stars on the tub flanks today, which was a great confirmation of it's Armored affiliation.

I'm working on cleaning up tub parts and removing rust during the week and have been working on engine components on the weekends. I rebuilt the carburetor today and removed two dead scorpions and a hell of a spiderweb from inside the darn thing. Its clean now and fully functional! Slowly but surely this is moving forward! Here are some pics from today:

[thidisbogus]

Congratulations!

[Cobrahistorian]

Thanks Rodney!

I just uncovered one complete hood number tonight! USA 20152201 in a darker blue than blue drab. The photo doesn't do it justice. At this point, my intent is to get some modeling liquid masking agent that I can just paint over the original numbers. That will allow me to prime and paint the hood right over the mask and then pull it away to reveal the original hood numbers on a freshly painted hood.




I also had an incredible experience tonight. I saw I had a missed call on my cell and had a message from a 47th Tank Battalion veteran! I called him back and we spoke for about 20 minutes. He confirmed my suspicion that the battalion received all new equipment just prior to going overseas, further confirming that "Race Horse" was a stateside-only peep. By September 1944, a 42 Ford would have been "old". Mr. Clark served on M21 mortar halftracks through the 47th tank battalion's entire time in Europe. He told some great stories and I'm going to send him some photos as the restoration progresses.

Just an amazing day!

Jon

[Cobrahistorian]

Been working steadily on Race Horse. Pulled the crankshaft today and discovered that the bearings are near-perfect, crankshaft is beautiful and the problem is four, yes four, stuck pistons. Working on getting them loose now. The camshaft rotates freely and all of the valves are operating nicely. I'm going to have to do some structural work on the left side of the frame too, but overall, she's coming along!

Here are some of the latest pics:

[Mike Wright]

Great GPW How's "Race Horses" comming along now

[Cobrahistorian]

She's actually coming along fairly well. I got the pistons out finally. They were basically held in place by years of dirt, dust and coagulated oil. A good whacking with a steel pipe and a sledgehammer knocked them right out and the cylinders are nearly perfect. Now it's a matter of ordering new pistons, rings and gaskets and I can start putting the engine back together.

Then it'll be on to the transfer case and the transmission. Transmission is UGLY. Needs all new gears (lots of tooth bits found in the bottom of the tranny) and a complete rebuild. The transfer case should be a bit easier, I'm hoping. I've also blasted the right front fender and gotten it ready for paint. Should prime it this coming week. I'm going to do the hood next, with the star and hood numbers carefully masked off prior to re-priming.

The biggest issue I've run into is the corrosion on the left member of the frame. Going to have to graft in new metal pretty much the entire length on the bottom and on the inner face. It's REALLY rough.

That's all for now!

Jon

[Chuck Lutz]

Jon....have you considered finding a section to graft into your frame? If the bottom and the inner of the frame are eaten away, then the outer and the top may be thinner as well and will flex and perhaps crack even after you replace what you know is bad. If you sandblast the frame it will remove the flaky, rusty corroded metal enough for you to see how structurally good/bad what you plan on keeping really is.

I'm guessing you need from around the master cylinder BACK to where the brake line exits the frame to go to the rear axel.

[Cobrahistorian]

Chuck,

It's even forward of the master cylinder. Stops right at the bottom of the curve up over the left front wheel. We've got some massive moving to do here at work, so I don't see much getting done on it in the next month or so, but I'm going to get rolling back on it as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'm going to be getting all of the parts that I need to get it mechanically sound. Once I've got everything on hand the next step will be to get the frame structurally sound.

Moving forward slowly but surely!

Jon