I Bought A Jeep M38A1! 

Build it for sure

That recess is for a plug to plug a cable into to jump start other vehicles

Those extra holes in instrument cluster are for the dash light's

Another great find. Can't wait to see what you are going to do with it. I would make it a driver. Way to nice to part out!

Well heck, Jacob! If you wanted a V-6 Jeep, you should have bought my blue one. You wouldn't have had to work on it. LOL! Just kiddin', bud. Thats a cool old jeep you scored. Looking forward to an update on it. You're gonna love the V-6. They are really nice in a jeep...not to mention the heart warming, soul satisfying rumble of an odd fire Buick!

I'd pull the engine transmission and transfer case. Rebuild them if they're good and put them in the flat fender. Save the rest.

Build this old jeep for sure, i am going today to buy a 1955 m38a1, and thankfully this jeep has the data plates and a title. My other jeep is a 53 cj5, and every place where there should be a body number or tag they are gone. The only numbers i can read, are the engine, which is a 1948 L134, and the plow pump numbers. I don't know if i will end up fixing both of them, but the military jeep is in far better shape, and the motor ain't locked up. G-d bless, hope to see more of this jeep.

Nice! I picked up a 51 M38 about 4 months ago. All original. Was sitting in a barn since 74

When you get a plan for where the V-6 is going, hit me up about the Astro van power steering conversion. It's amazing. I never knew a jeep could drive so well until I did my conversion!

Man, I'm jealous. I'd love to have more than one of them but I live in suburbia and don't have the space.

Build it for sure. Had a CJ5 with the V6 myself, it was an awesome rig...

Had a v6 Dauntless back in the day, all ways wished I didn't sell it.

Nice! Definitely worth fixing. The only other thing nobody else commented on is that fuel tank is a civillian model. The stock M38A1 filler neck is huge and has a pull out extension that locks in place with a twist. It was designed for easy refueling in the field from a jerrycan. Looks like whoever changed the tank swapped in the part of the civillian body around the filler neck to fill in the hole. Since you're not doing a full blown restoration, who cares as long as this tank is good. Period correctness in the military only referred to as delivered condition anyway; I have pictures of an M38 with an F head swap and a home made hood scoop to clear the carburetor that was done in the motor pool shop on the Duluth Air Base.

SAND BLAST THE HOLE BODY THEN GET ARMY GREEN PAINT OR ARMY GREEN RHINO-LINER THE HOLE BODY / NICE FIND GOOD LUCK WITH IT THE V 6 IS SWEET

My favourites are the CJ5 CJ6 M38A1 M170. Love how the Cj5 kept all it stampings held over from the M38A1. I want a ventilating windshield.. those are the holy grail

That 225 odd fire Buick had 160 H.P. I owned a few of them back in the day and I love em too. I believe they had a Spicer 20 transfer case and the tranny’s held up well too. Can’t wait to see what you do with this one. THX.

I have a 1954 M-38A1 that I'm restoring. It was a Calif. Jeep so no rust.

Nice! I am working on an A1 project right now.

Sweet Find! I had a '68 cj5 with the 225 dauntless v6. That engine was great. I wish I'd kept that Jeep. Can't wait to see more of the m38a1, they are really cool.

The hinges on the grille were only through 1953. By '54 jeep had gone to the single bolt in the center to hold it on. As Mike Weldon in the chat mentioned, those holes in the dash are for the back lit gauge lights and the lower center one is either a high beam indicator or when the blackout lights are on. Haven't figured that one out yet. Those lights are really cool, red glass lenses for the gauge lights and the indicator . Underneath looks untouched from original.

Hey there buddy how are ya? What a great find those old m38a1s are really neat, looks like the base paint maybe blue could of been a navy Jeep??? I’m working on my 69 cj5, I hope to get the tranny swapped this winter, the transfer case rebuilt with the tapered bearings and an over drive. Going with a sm465. Need more gears to pull heavy logs on the log arch for the sawmill. Gonna keep the 225 v6 for now later will swap to a vw ALH tdi engine so I can run alternative fuels. Thanks for sharing God bless you and the family.

Good for you and there are numerous good rigs out there, just have to find them and the really good thing about these old ones is that they are NOT metric!

I only hope that this V6 engine block, has no cracks and is good enough to have it machined and rebuild it. There in the States you can find every part you want for this. Stock or advanced . New or "New old stock" or used one ..Here in Europe though it is next to impossible to find one of these engines. At least some 45 years ago when I was restoring my M38. Now, it is only impossible.. Anyway you could use the extra power of it, on any of your Jeeps but personally, I'd prefer on the green one.. This "new" one is somehow " a diamond in the rough" now.. It is very early to talk about it.. Anyway thanks for the videos and good luck with the "new" one..

My favorite video so far lol can't wait to see what you do with it and I'm happy you're happy with it.

That box on the under the passenger side dash looks like a heater/fan box, similar to what was used on CJ2s. Should be hoses coming to it from the engine. Aside from the rust spots, it looks like a fun little project.

Great find! Love the cool little touches like recessed lights, hinged grill, battery box etc. Those wheels look fantastic too. Keep the videos on this coming for sure

Man. I'd really like to have a camper shell like the one in the picture that your friend sent you. Where I live they just aren't around. The fiberglass one's are everywhere but the old style aluminum ones not so much. I learned to drive a manual trans. in a 1969 Jeep CJ-5 that my Late Dad bought from the og owner. It had the factory installed Buick V-6. My high school friends and I drove the wheels off that thing.

KEEP IT / THEN FIX IT / THEN SELL IT / YOU MAY BE THE NEXT GO TO GUY THAT IS KNOWN TO HAVE CLEANED -UP OLD JEEPS .........

Great find. These A1's came in several colors depending on which branch of the military had them. Looks like the data plate is missing, but as someone said that one is a 53, the 52 year had screws that held the battery box cover down. Look on the passenger rear wheel well right above the toolbox and see if there is an ID plate there that has the serial number. With that serial number you can see the year It will start with "MD" They only put the number in two places, on the dash data plate and the wheel well. I have had two of these a 52 and a 53. Still have the 52 since it was made early in the production run and was assigned to the Marines.

nice jeep id restore it. that blue color is from the air force. good luck and have fun.

If you gently remove the hood paint near the fenders, the military numbers may still be there. Might even have the branch of service it was assigned to.

Box under dash is a heater. Looks like a Hupmobile 256 heater.

Exciting to see you do another Jeep build!!!!

The two holes in the gauge panel are for the factory lights to aluminate the gauges...

Definitely save it. Would love to see you rebuild the Dauntless. I just got mine back following a freeze crack repair. Yes, T-86 trans. Mine was shot. Big bearing d-18 single stick transfer case. Trans had a 2” thick adapter to the Buick bell housing.

I would like to see the diesel tag with a button installed in it. There have been several claims that a few M38A1’s came with the Perkins diesel. However, none have been substantiated. Also, the Navy painted their M38A1 blue…Look it up on the internet. You could have something great there.

Nice. You are correct. It should have been OD green from the factory. All Jeeps should be. :)

I’m resto-modding a ‘52 M38A1 with the original F 134. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration for my build from your videos, so I’m excited to see what you do with this one.

That's an exciting find. My Dad had an M38A1 when I was a teenager. We had a ball in the thing. Just loved it. I'd make the necessary repairs to the body and swap in an aluminum Rover V8. Light and peppy. Installing electric power steering would make an interesting video. Does yours have reverse thread wheel studs on one side of the rear end?

That will be a fun rig once it’s done man. I’m doing a m38 with a v6 in it right now. It was my grandfathers, pretty rough from sitting out in the weather but the motors strong.

I have a pair of the Selectro hubs. Came off an old MCM38 I had. If your interested. Oh by the way no extra holes in the instrument cluster. Those two center hold where for the gauge illumination. Being a military vehicle it had black out style gauge lights.

That’s a nice find!! If it were up to me though, I’m partial to the 3b’s

Those bracket in back are the seat rest

Mounting pad if for a pedestal mount

On the t case, look to see it the shifter pivot is a pin with set screw or it threads on (threaded would be original M38A1 t/C. Also the clutch cable would have a Threaded boot going into the bell if it's original M38A1

Cool

The power port on the side was just to jump start it or another 24v mil vehicle, the box looks like a heater.

03:12 - Or Navy blue. Willys MD (M38A1) vehicles were built for the U.S. armed forces with late issues also ordered by USMC to be 'transferred' to 'friendly' nations during the Cold War period. 03:29 - The removable gauge panel on M38 (Willys MC) and M38A1 (Willys MD) vehicles was one of their very best features. Should have carried over to the Civvy (Universal) models, but did not. 05:40 - The 'F Head' (overhead intake valves) 134 was, indeed, the engine installed in M38A1 (Willys MD) vehicles. The 225 V6 was a Buick engine (225 Fireball) for which rights to manufacture, along with machinery, had been purchased by Kaiser in 1966 for use in Jeep vehicles. Kaiser engineers had heard of a California speed shop that did 225 V6 conversions on Jeeps and after investigating had decided to manufacture and install them 'in house' as a hopped up version of CJ5 and Jeepster offerings beginning in 1966, rebranding it as Dauntless and with a heavier flywheel. The 'Odd Fire' 225 ignites at 90 and 150 degrees of crank rotation, unlike the 'even fire' 120 - 120 - 120... of a conventional 90 degree V8 engine. Such 'odd fire' impulses impart massive torque, particularly at low RPM, yet rap up the R's at a flick of the accelerator (sprint racers loved them). Hot rodded, they sound like three Harleys strapped together. 05:54 - That 'leaf spring' engine mount for an odd fire V6 may be an unrecognized stroke of genius. I'm thinking vibration dampener _par excellence_ from William E. Bobb (Billy Bob) Engineering. 07:00 - It's a heater. Nothing to do with an electrical output socket, for which your MD has a delete. 08:20 - You're looking at this in reverse. The twin stick T90 came with the M38A1 (Willys MD), the 225 V6 was a later (non 'stock') addition. As Kaiser had used the 225 V6 from 1966 through 1970, bell housings to fit a 225 V6 to transmissions used by Kaiser - Jeep were once common junkyard fodder and can still be found. 09:08 - _"I'm sure there's a few things I'm missin' about this that sets it apart from the CJ5..."_ Like the lack of a tailgate? 09:22 - Yes, that is the plate on which to mount a pintle for the .30 or .50 caliber MG. All military 'Jeep' frames were so equipped. All in all, one heckuva good project there. I'd say keep the V6, hotrod it, keep the D18 twin stick but add Warn overdrive (be sure to match spline count), keep the 5:38 geared diffs. View the Advance Adapters / Novak 'site for information regarding the 225 V6, adapters, and such. My 'daily' (just drove it about an hour ago) is a flatfendered (titled as 1946) Jeep with Kenne Bell equipped 225 V6 Odd Fire, MSD, too much carburetor, fat (Advance Adapters) headers, 4 speed through Dana 18 with Warn od... . Windshield down, goggles and a grin.

in the next video time lapse it and and do a will it run

It will be great for you if that motor is good, as to the rest???? Still waiting to see the 3B finished.

Damn, i'm so jealous, you have to restore it back to original, or close.

Southern wives must be more tolerant then our northern ones.....lol

👌💯👍🐬😎

Nice! Where are you located?

Rims look like 1985 Chevy/GMC Rally wheels?