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This is the same 1951 M37 that I drug out of the woods 2-3 weeks ago. I pulled it to my shop. I am a high school shop teacher. My kids and I worked on it for 5 hours a day for 2 weeks straight to have it presentable for a local "Farmer's day" festival and parade. We pulled it down completely...except the cab. We left that on the frame. All of the other parts were sandblasted, or ground down to bare metal with wire cup brushes on side grinders. Dents were removed, rusty holes were cut out and replacement panels welded in.And a couple coats of paint. then reassembled. It is not a perfect job,it was done by high school students, and a jack-leg agricultural mechanics teacher .

fuel pumps, fuel lines, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, lines etc were all replaced or rebuilt.

We did not touch the inside of the cab, nor the inside of the bed....yet, but that is to come.

We did have it ready in time to drive it in the parade, and it got lots of attention. There were only two military vehicles in the whole 1 1/2 hour long parade.

Comments, concerns, nasty remarks, rotten fruit?

Andy

nc.....it looks GREAT! But I have 3 questions for you.....

1. Can you send those kids up to my house for a few weeks when you're done with them?

2. Do you have a "before" pic?

3. How about putting up a few closeup pics of that machine gun mount in the bed?

Again....looks fantastic!!

regards,
bob

You and your students have done an OUTSTANDING job in only two weeks. If you continue that rate of progress will will have a trophy quality show truck in less than a year.

Very impressive work! The students should be congratulated for their excellent and very hard work. They should be justifiably proud of what they have accomplished.

Keep up the good work and keep us updated with pictures of your improvements.

I bet some of the canvas vendors would be willing to sponsor / contribute to your restoration.

52 M-42

1. I wish I could send some of them to you! However, I like my job....

2. Before pictures can be found in the following thread.
http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5085

3. That gun mount is an M1917a1 tripod and cradle for my semi 1917a1. I set it up in the back with the gun on it for the parade. It just looked cool!



Here's a picture of the watercooled and one of my other projects, a 1943 Willys MB



Andy

I just looked at the "before" pic. WOW!

later,
bob

The truck looks good. I hope your kids learned a few things along the way. Joe

I love the fact that you've gotten the youngsters involved with saving these old trucks, as us old timers worry about the future of our hobby-just doesn't seem to be much interest from the younger folks....
Your team did a fine job in a short amount of time and I can speak for all on this forum: VERY PROUD of you and your kids!


Gary

This is our second military vehicle. We also did that '43 Willys MB. Here are two before pictures of how I found it and one of me and my 5 year old riding it in the local Christmas parade last year. Oh we did the M100 trailer behind it too!

My students love it! We normally restore antique tractors and have done several of those, but these trucks are more fun.

NC....great job keeping the younger crowd involved! I don't know any kids that actually "work" on cars. Heck, I bought my girlfriend's son a dirt bike two years ago and he's ridden it 4 times. He'd rather play a video game where he's riding a dirt bike rather than actually doing it.

So if you can get today's youth to actually get dirty fixing things.....my hat's off to you!!

regards,
bob

Great work. You and the kids should be proud. Keep it up. Perhaps many of those youth will get OD fever now

Andy,
Just spotted your M37. I had to laugh, I teach Auto out in San Leandro, CA and we just picked up an M37 to play with. You guys did a great job. I'll have to show your photos to my students for some inspiration. I'd love to see more photos.

Andy

(yes, I'm "Andy" too...)

nc_reb wrote:1. I wish I could send some of them to you! However, I like my job....

2. Before pictures can be found in the following thread.
http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5085

3. That gun mount is an M1917a1 tripod and cradle for my semi 1917a1. I set it up in the back with the gun on it for the parade. It just looked cool!



Here's a picture of the watercooled and one of my other projects, a 1943 Willys MB



Andy

First and foremost, Welcome to the fold, we can always stand to increase our numbers. My only question is, with you being so dangerously close to Berkely and all; how can you actually own firearms and remain in the teaching proffession in California? It seems down here in Lala land that the mere mention of the word "Gun" either as a noun or verb, can lead to review, censure and either expulsion or dismissal for student or teacher respectively.
In any case, all kidding aside; you've done a great deal with that truck already, It looks pretty good to me.

Looks good..........must be nice to have that free labor..

Truck looks great, in truth these trucks were originally driven by soldiers barely older than high school students... not bad for a Depot rebuild job.
More young people in the world with mechanical knowledge and respect for old machines is a good thing, those kids don't even know it yet but they are going to have an advantage in life because of your class.