New to m37s as of today!

[98taco3]

Howdy, my names mike and im in colorado. I just got off the road and brought a 53 m37 back with me. Im new to them and it looks like i found a real gem in it and was very lucky to find this forum. I got it out of Sunflower, AZ. Bit of a drive but the truck has very little rust and its all superficial surface rust. floors and the cab are straight and rust free. frame as well. Only damage on it is the passenger bed corner, looks like it got hit with something pretty good. It does look like it may be a "shrapnel wound" of some sort, whatever hit it was MOVING and sheared part of the metal out. The truck is about 90% complete and was running a few years ago. Is there any way to find records about a particular vehicle? Were any of these trucks shipped back over here after use in an overseas duty station? Heres some pictures of it as she sits right now.

truck
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...91127-1126.jpg

hood numbers
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...91127-1121.jpg

Bed damage
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...91127-1124.jpg

[Doc Dave]

Welcome,
You will find a lot of info and nice folks on this site.
Your truck is interesting. Is the cab top steel? It looks substantial, and with the rectangular rear window I wonder if it is an arctic top (which sounds strange coming from Arizona). If so they are very desirable.
As to your question as to records, what I did with my m37 is I got the VIN number off the data plate, and wrote to Chrysler in Detroit, and got the build card. Unfortunately the military vehicles are a little harder to decipher the data off the build card, but it might be worth it nevertheless. Do a search for "build card" by using the search function at the top of the page, and you will see posts on how to do it.

[98taco3]

thanks for the info, ill write chrysler, i did it a few years ago for my 74 charger since the under seat one was unreadable. The cab top is steel but the rear window is does not slide like i understand the artic cab top did. Looking around on the net it seems to be an oddity, if someone built it they Really knew what they were doing or had access to stamping equipment. heres a picture of the inside of it and rear window...


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...91127-1131.jpg

[Gsmith]

Yeah, that's not an arctic cab but someone did a really nice job on that one.

[98taco3]

thats what i figured but just was not sure. another one i looked at did have an arctic cab on it that had a insulation like headliner in it and the sliding window. Guy i got it from bought it in 76 supposedly and said it was on it when he got it. id sure like to know who made it, they did a real nice job.

[medic1241]

Nice looking 37. Lots of potential. Mike

[Gsmith]

I should have mentioned it is in good shape, should make for an easy restoration! How is the bed floor, and tool box area?

[98taco3]

pretty much completely rust free! Only very minor surface rust here and there. I knew the Arizona truck would be better than what i would find even here in CO and was worth driving for. It doesn't have any dents or gouges in the bed floor at all which is surprising for an old ranch truck. Toolbox is in great shape too, no holes but the latches are messed up a bit from usage. The underside of the cab is completely clean and still painted as well as everything underneath.

[Gsmith]

Ironic

A bit of irony, last May we drove to Rocky Ford, Colorado to pick up an M43 which was in excellent shape because it was in Colorado. It would been a mess if it had lived down here. Now it will be out of the elements for sure.

[98taco3]

wow, It is truely amazing how far some guys drive for these vehicles, that makes my trip look like nothing! Ive seen some pretty rust free military vehicles out here but there is always some rot somewhere. I worked on an M43 that came from a local guard unit and it had some rot on the rear wheel wells. To bad it ended up not having a title available for some reason, my buddy would have bought it. I ended up getting it fired up for nothing.

[Gsmith]

Mine had some rust through above where the roof and sides join, luckily not too bad and fixable with just bondo. Everything else in amazingly good shape. Owner had a clear title too, otherwise I wouldn't have driven that far.

[98taco3]

thats great, glad to see it got saved. Ive seen quite a few sitting around in fields but always got the "its not for sale" Theres a m43 that the local rug company has used for YEARS as an advertising gimmick. It has been restored but is deteroriating very fast since its always been outside. And they still want 12k for it. Hope someone gets it and saves it.

[Warren Watt]

thanks for the info, ill write chrysler, i did it a few years ago for my 74 charger since the under seat one was unreadable. The cab top is steel but the rear window is does not slide like i understand the artic cab top did. Looking around on the net it seems to be an oddity, if someone built it they Really knew what they were doing or had access to stamping equipment. heres a picture of the inside of it and rear window...


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...91127-1131.jpg

I had the exact same top on mine when I bought it in 1978. It was badly dented on the corners so I bought another one last May at Aberdeen. Some company mass produced them I'd say. There are no visible markings on either of mine.

[98taco3]

ya theres no markings on mine at all. Id be curious to know what company made them...

[Kaiser2boy]

Not to HiJack the thread but I read about the steel tops and the question about if it was an Arctic top or not.
The truck I picked up has a steel top that seems to be double walled and has a rectangular sliding rear window.
Is that an Arctic top?
I do get a kick out of the amount of steel used in M37. It seems that gas milage was not a concern at all.
This top looks like it is bullet proof and probably add 200 pounds to the total weight of a truck that is already too heavy.