New guy with a 1953 M38A1

WhiskeyFive · Post by **WhiskeyFive** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:46 pm

Hi fellas, I appreciate that there must be a lot of "flash in the pan" members. I hope to not be one of them. I'm new to the military jeep world, but I've spent time restoring an MG Midget and gained some knowledge along the way. I'm hoping to learn a bunch on this new endeavor.

I bought a M38A1, pretty well in boxes. I paid $700. I started wiping the hood clean and some lettering popped up on the passenger side. I can distinguish "USN" for sure, and a few numbers, but not all of them. There also appears to be some lettering directly above this, but again, can't make it all out.

Are there cleaning solutions that might help me reveal the lettering without damaging it? I would love to post some pics, but I'm struggling with that right now. I can email them to anyone who wants to look closer.

Thanks for your help.
Mike

oilleaker1 · Post by **oilleaker1** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:00 pm

Depending how dry or gummy your paint is, I exposed all my #'s using green scotchbrite pads. You go a little at time until it just appears and quit. John

evanso1975 · Post by **evanso1975** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 12:03 am

This post from the "G" might give you some ideas (there's 3 pages to it!):
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=112487

P.S. Welcome to the forum.

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:43 am

Hey Mike!! If you wanna you can e-mail pics to me and i'll post 'em
for ya till you get the hang of it. Be sure to request your own
photo album while you're at it. You're at the right site if you're
gonna restore an A-1!!

Whiskey Five's A-1 project

WhiskeyFive · Post by **WhiskeyFive** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:49 pm

Guys thanks for this help, and Rick, thanks for posting my pics. I've just bought some scotchbrite pads, paint stripper, scrapers, and sand paper. Will let you guys know how it goes.
M

WhiskeyFive · Post by **WhiskeyFive** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:59 pm

So I used a paint stripper on the hood thinking I was going to bring out the faint "USN 94...." that you can see in the pic in this thread, but that disappeared right away. 3 coats later I got to the original paint and out came this "USMC 197772" clear as day. I'm very happy about it because my family (father, mother, sister, and brother who is an active CWO4) were/are in the Corp.

I'll be digging for history on this, but if anyone can help get me started I'd sure appreciate it.

Feels like a small success. Thanks for the help.