All,
Thanks for the input. If it was not for forums like this I would have begun a restoration on this beast of a truck. I acquired it at a recent auction in Desert Center Ca.(literally Gen. Patton’s desert training area in ‘42) . The son of the owner , now in his 70’s, told me his father bought it from the Base (probably Barstow) and drove it home sometime in the early 50’s. It never left the property and looks to have been well maintained until the early 90’s when the owner passed. I recently removed the fuel tank for cleaning and was crossing my fingers it could be reused. I was amazed to find the inside was like new with almost no evidence of corrosion. I am at this point working towards starting the truck, but only after all else is in order. Lube, fluids changed, new fuel pump, brakes etc... I would like to here opinions of how to preserve the original paint. How far to go as far as making it driveable like new repro tires that are 7:50x20 or inexpensive 9:00x20 used military surplus from more recent 2 1/2 ton trucks. The parts for this truck are nearly nonexistent. But the good news for me was this truck was said to be the better in most ways to the CCKW. Lots of really interesting info about these trucks on the web.
BTW, the date of delivery was 6/45 so who knows if it saw action or not. I have more photos so pm me and I can send some.
Thanks for your time and appreciation of History. Without folks like you things like this truck will be forever lost.
Sean
