WANTED M-37 Arctic Cab NO - Winterization Kit, YES


[Follow Ups] [Post Followup] [Dodge Power Wagon Forum]


Posted by Paul Cook on Monday, January 02, 2006 at 12:29PM :

In Reply to: WANTED.........M-37 Arctic Cab posted by Paul (in NY) on Sunday, January 01, 2006 at 9:55AM :

The only M-37 series, 3/4 ton Dodge truck that had a "factory" hard top was the M-43 ambulance.

All other "hard tops" fitted to M-37 series trucks when they were military were components of aftermarket winterization kits that included a heater and canvas "winter front" to cover the front grill. Most winterization kits included the wiring and the plug for a slave cable for jump starting. Some winterization kits also included a "stick on" clear panel to give windshields and door glass double pane insulation. These kits were authorized for trucks in selected geographical areas and usually could not be requisitioned by units that were not in those specified areas. The kits may have been shipped with new trucks going to those areas but were not part of the truck when it left the factory. If you are going for authenticity, the top is only one part of a truck equipped with a winterization kit. Oh, yes… you should also have the canvas top and all components on hand.

These kits and their individual components were manufactured by various suppliers. It was possible that kits received on the same order might have a mix of steel and fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) cab covers. (The US Air Force was into FRP early on.) Also, based on the design of the cab covers, one may require the use of some of the supports for the canvas top while others did not. The military procedure was to keep all of the original canvas cab top components with the truck "forever" however, in practice, these canvas top components were used up on trucks without the winterization kits.

With the fielding of the M-715 (Kaiser-Jeep) 5/4 ton series, few M-37 series tricks went into retail disposal sales. Almost all went to government or civil defense agencies. Trucks that went to federal agencies such as the forest service often were fitted with steel or FRP cab tops obtained through purchase contracts that may have obtained hundreds of hard tops at a time. I have seen at least one set of plans that were distributed for volunteer fire departments to fabricate steel top for M-37's. It followed very basic metal shop techniques and was suited to a high school metal shop class. One of my M-37's had one of these "metal working class" tops and it was excellent.

Many M-37 hard tops were never military issue. Unless your truck was assigned to a military unit in a region where these winterization kits were authorized, you are more likely to have a hard top procured or produced for the truck after it was retired from military service. That's why a true military issue hard top is scarce - and valuable.

As for some tops fitting well and some not, that was most often a quality control issue. Additional pieces used to make the tops fit were either fabricated locally or were furnished by the original contractor.




Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link
URL:
Title:
Optional Image Link
URL:


This board is powered by the Mr. Fong Device from Cyberarmy.com