Help me unlock the mystery of my ex army truck

[fredscarryall]

I pulled my truck in the garage today. I found out the entire truck was painted drab green. Then someone painted it dark blue with a roller over the top of the green. Then I saw some numbers or letters on two of the fender so far. There in not a lot of info on the net. Does anyone have info, pictures or can shed some light on this truck. I don't see a star on the door or hood. But about half the truck is covered in blue.

[fredscarryall]

Fender2

[fredscarryall]

Under the dash

[fredscarryall]

Saw this on the internet

[fredscarryall]

Picture

[fredscarryall]

Pic

[mr48chev]

The number on the fender might be the number it was listed by in the motor pool

If you can find numbers on the bumper (s) that would lead to the unit it was used in. Most likely a truck like that was used by a maintenance crew on a base in the states. Civilian style trucks have been used by the military for non combat jobs for a long time where you didn't need 4 wheel drive and waterproof ignition to do jobs around a base.

[OrrieG]

If it was a true military truck there would be data plates riveted to the dash or inside the glove box, plus remnants of other painted instructions on the dash. At least every military truck, jeep, goat or tracked vehicle I drove had them so the learning curve jumping from vehicle to vehicle was not steep. Should also be old paint on each fender over the tire listing " TP 35" or similar. Fuel cap area was usually marked as gas or diesel. I did a little research to see if I could turn up at Technical Manual (TM) for them, but could not find it. Like MR48 said was probably use on State side base. Most "factory" AD and TF dual cabs came from Air Force or Army Air bases for hauling crews to planes. Also if original would not have any chrome, all chrome went to the war effort and trim was painted.

[fredscarryall]

All the fenders have a white painted code on them. The guy I bought it from gave me the original grille. It's beat on but its painted green. I can't tell if there was any instruction on or around the dash because someone painted blue over it.

[fredscarryall]

Found this on the door

[fredscarryall]

This stamping was on the title plate c50 298

[1project2many]

Anything like the plates found in this thread?

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=597109

[OldChevysRule]

Go to this link......

http://www.combatindex.com/store/tec...TB_43-0209.pdf

[67GMCkid]

Back in the early 80's a friend of the family had a small yard with a few of the 53-55 Ford trucks that came from the local bases All had some type of message stenclyed on the dash that read something to the tune of "This unit cost the Taxpayer $9xx" and then something to the tune of treat it with respect or use it gently..

Get out you real fine wet or dry sand paper and a bucket of water and see what all you find..

[47 Fasttoys]

I don't think a star would be on most military trucks. As I understand it only the base or wing commander would have a star on his car which would not be a truck. As for the paint it is possible it was a Army truck when new and later changed to an Air Force truck as a base changed. Keep in mind the Air Force became a separate service in 1947 before that it was the Army Air Corps. Later some of the Army bases where changed to Air Force bases and with the change the new colors would have been dark Air Force Blue. It would be cool to find out the history. As far as chrome is concerned it could have had a little, the war ended in 1945 by 1950 chrome was back in full swing.
Rob

[ChuckDriver]

"TP-XX" over each wheel is a quick reference for Tire Pressure.

[chevyguyase]

OrrieG is talking about the Korean war, not WWII. TP XX over the tire is the tire pressure. I was wheeled vehicle mechanic in the Army, with a few tracked vehicles thrown in because I was in an armored division.

[OrrieG]

My experience was late 40's and 50's surplus jeeps and 70-73 army vehicles. Looking at the links I remembered the max speed stencil on the dash along with transfer case and pto instructions (metal plates). Also things like fire extinguisher location.