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Preserving History – One Military Vehicle at a Time
By Mike Heltborg
Preserving History – One Military Vehicle at a time
I always have been interested in old or antique mechanical items and this interest just carried over into my Ham Radio Hobby. Because of my interest in early military radios, I became interested in Military Vehicles both old and new, Tracked and Wheeled.
A couple of years ago I found a 1972 M35A2 a military 6x6 (deuce and half) that I could afford. It was built by a firm called AM General and they have built a lot of vehicles for the military over the years.
I was interested in this truck because I could drive it home without have to do much other than installing a new set of batteries and having some of the tires repaired. Since then, I have been slowly bringing it back to the way that it looked when it was on active duty, carrying loads and troops. It has involved both repair and replacement of parts and catching up on the maintenance and paint on the truck.
The truck has a 465 cubic inch multifuel diesel engine with a 5 speed transmission and a two-speed transfer case to drive all 3 axles; it weights over 13,500lbs and has a top speed of around 55 to 60 MPH. They were designed as tactical vehicles for use over all types of roads, highways, and cross-country terrain. They will ford hard bottom water crossings up to 30 inches deep with no problems. The M35A2 is a somewhat newer version of the truck with the biggest benefit being the air shift front axle. It has a soft top on the cab and a cargo box with troop seats and cargo cover over the cargo area. The term multifuel means that the engine will run on quite a few different types of fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel. This was done so the troops had a better chance to get it back to base or protected area if their fuel ran low.
For me it is a kick to drive, the longest trip being a round trip of over 300 hundred miles for a Living History (or also called show and tell) weekend at Ft Stevens Or. I have also bought an M105A Ton and half trailer which also has a cargo cover on it. . My truck makes around 7 to 8 miles per gallon of diesel whether I am towing the trailer or not.
My reason for buying this truck was to display my military radio equipment in the cargo area of the truck. I have it setup so I can use and display my Vietnam era radios across the front of the box and the Cold War era radios down the drivers side of the box. When I take the truck and trailer to historical events or living history events or even car shows, I have been very surprised at the amount of interest there was in the truck and trailer. To me that is the biggest reason to restore and preserve these military vehicles.
I have included a number of photos of the truck, the first one being what it looked like when I bought it and drove it home and the second one is of the truck and trailer just after I had arrived at Ft Stevens Or in August of 2010. I also have two more photos of the truck, one of me and my big green toy and another one, of my setup at a living history event.
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Contributor's Note
Big, Green, and Ten wheels Whats not to like!
Mike
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Ready to drive it home
Deuce and trailer
Me and My Big Green Toy
Living History
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Mike, I'm not really into military vehicles but had to stop by and say congrats on your first intel since returning to Qondio. Happy New Year! Rosemary
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Rosemary Thanks for the kind thoughts! Mike
Hello Mike.
I can see you have great talent for looking after these vehicles, not to mention the dedication. A wealth of information here. I bet the driving around catching the eyeballs gives you great satisfaction.
Keep 'em rolling James Harman Phillips
(Ex Royal Marine Band)
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Hi James,
Yes the Deuce is a real Kick to drive! Before I got the cab cover, the wife and I would for rides in my big convertable! Just a Kick....
Mike
Thank you for sharing all of this interesting information, Mike. This is a 5***** intel in my book and the images top it off.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes.
Frederick
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Hi Frederick, I enjoyed writing about the Deuce, and I really enjoy driving it and showing it at living history events. Mike Also I just noticed that I could do reply! Hi Hi
The copyright for this content entitled "Preserving History – One Military Vehicle at a Time" has been specified by the contributor as:
GNU Free Documentation License
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This content may be copied, distributed, and modified, as long as a) the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page, and b) if the work is modified, the result is distributed with this same license.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://mikenpa.qondio.com/
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This intel was contributed by mikenpa
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May, 2012
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