Joined: Mar 14, 2012 Posts: 25 Location: Texas Panhandle
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:01 pm Post subject: Hello All !!
Hi gang. I just joined this forum to hopefully gain some knowledge on the M38A1. First a little background on how this all happened...so, where I work, we have a substantial lot with junk trucks parked on it. Next door is a forklift dealer with lots of old forklift parts, and so it happens, 3 old jeeps. Now, I'm a car guy (have a totally restored '79 Chevy C10 SWB pickup, and '34 Ford pickup that my grandad built up in the late 50s), but haven't really ever been into the MV scene. So I see these 3 old "jeeps" rotting away on his back lot. I get online to try to find out what they are. Last week he happened to come into work so I asked him the skinny. He told me that they belonged to an older gentleman, who had moved 300 miles away some years ago. He said that him and his dad brought in about 25 or so of the jeeps around 1981-82ish. (Turns out that they are NEKAF units that were imported by Sam Winer motors in the early eighties) Said he hadn't talked to the owner in about 10 years or so. Soooo, I call another guy that knows the owner, get his phone number and give him a call. Made him an offer, and 5 minutes later, his wife calls and says "they're yours". I was pretty happy to have saved them from mother nature. The next day the guy that owns the forklift store shows up with all 3 titles !! Unbelieveable !! So here I am, wanting to learn all I can about them. I will try to post pics, so everyone can give me their opinion. Right now, my goal is to use all 3 to get one decent running rig, with minimum expense, so my wife and my almost 2 year old can go driving around the pasture. Ultimately, I'd like to do a frame off restoration, but that may be further down the road.
Joined: Mar 14, 2012 Posts: 25 Location: Texas Panhandle
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:25 pm Post subject:
Here's the first unit that I picked up. Cleaned her up a little. Tub floor panels, hat channels, tool box area, under fuel tank, and lower door panels are pretty well rusted out...the good news is the engine appears mostly complete with the exception of missing spark plugs and wires. Sprayed PB Blaster in cylinders, and it turns over about 60 degrees or so...gonna keep rocking the motor back and forth for a couple of days and spraying more PB.
If it were you, would you try to save the body ?? I have a MIG welder and am pretty good with it, as well as being a pretty competent mechanic (6 years in an automotive electrical shop rebuilding starters and alternators, wiring etc., 6 years as a diesel mechanic, and there's not a part on a Chevy pickup that I haven't been into, including the automatic tranny, so I'm not scared of a simple little jeep ) Would you try to get this one running ?? I'm guessing the tank is fried from the looks of the fuel tank sump panel, so that might be a problem. If y'all want more photos, let me know.
Rear Shot
Joined: Oct 25, 2010 Posts: 31 Location: Seale, Alabama
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:22 pm Post subject: Wow!!
Congratulations!! Great looking jeeps, let the fun begin!!
The lever on the fuel pump is used for priming the pump. Have you downloaded the manuals on this site? They have helped me greatly, in addition to everyone's posts.
Joined: Mar 14, 2012 Posts: 25 Location: Texas Panhandle
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:43 pm Post subject:
Thanks MattyT !! I'm pretty excited about this whole project ! As a side note, does anyone have any ideas how many NEKAFs made it back into the states ?? Does anyone know the correct paint color for a NEKAF assembled unit ?? From my limited internet research, it appears darker than US issue M38A1s. Also, is anyone here familiar with NEKAF front and rear bumper markings ? If I do later go the full resto route, I'd like to get one of them back just like it was issued in Holland with the correct paint and markings if possible.
Joined: May 14, 2009 Posts: 973 Location: South Dakota
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:13 am Post subject:
Give up, it's a lost cause, I'll come down and help you haul them off to get rid of them --------I've never seen such a like pile of Jeeps and parts. Great find. I'd bet with titles you can have one done , sell the other two, and end up with a almost free Jeep. I have a '52 A1 and find it to be a cadillac of a Jeep. If you like it and enjoy it, there is a danger involved--------Green Disease. Flat fenders, 3/4 ton, 2.5 ton, tracked, trailers, WW2, Korean, Viet Nam era machines. A real candy store. I think putting one back as it was issued would be a good idea since you have all the stuff still there. Get all the pictures you can and study how they were, and you'll learn history on top of everything. Maybe a search on the internet will yield you pictures and details of your type Jeeps in service. Should be major fun for you. Thanks for sharing the pictures. John
Joined: Aug 31, 2010 Posts: 1751 Location: SO IDAHO
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:56 am Post subject:
Is it just the foto angle or does the white one have
a longer wheelbase-like a M170 maybe?? _________________ keep 'em rollin'
RICKG MC 51986 DOD 01-52, '50 CJ3a
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) Would you try to get this one running ?? I'm guessing the tank is fried from the looks of the fuel tank sump panel, so that might be a problem. If y'all want more photos, let me know.
