I put a few miles on a Mutt while in Vietnam, 1969. The anti theft device (no key required to start the vehicle) was a chain welded to the steering column. Loop the chain thru the steering wheel and secure with a padlock. Equipped with an electric fuel pump the engine would sometimes fail to start until the fuel tank, under the driver's seat, was beat upon with a solid object. Hammer, rock, etc. It was common to carry five passengers with their weapons, flack vests, steel pots, ammo, and a radio.
While I am (just) too young for Vietnam, I operated a number of these (A2's) and I found the biggest anti theft device was the kids trying to operate them couldnt find the starter button down on the floor. I remember freezing my left foot off in Germany because of all the rainwater channeled in through the drain hole by the drivers front tire which acted like a bilge pump in reverse. These were cool because they could fit on the tailgate (and still allow it to close) of a C-130. Try that with a HMMWV!
It is tiny. I'm 6'2" and I remember how cramped it was to drive or ride in. With my LBE set up with two canteens and a butt pack, my knees were up to my chin sitting in the front seat.
I loved the M151. We had 9 of them in a scout platoon that I was in. That was '79-'80 in Korea. We drove the hell out of those things and they just kept on running. The only jeep that needed any major work was the one we rolled down a hill. We flipped it right side up and completed the rest of the field problem with it, afterwards it went in for body work. The M-60 mounted on top didn't fair as well. Those things went places you would never get a hummer to go.
@@EnterpriseXI Make the Humvee narrower (which will never happen), because we took those things up trails that were WAY too narrow for a Humvee. In fact that's how we rolled the M151 that we rolled, the driver got it too close to the edge of a very narrow track that was on the edge of a steep hill (all the hills were steep it seemed) and the edge of the roadway, if you can call it that gave way, and down she went. The driver bailed, the team leader bailed and the gunner bailed. fortunately no one was injured beyond minor bumps and bruises.
1981 I was driving a M151A2 down range as part of a training mission. Our vehicle was last in line of our convoy and we lagged behind due to some rough terrain. My sargent instructed me to catch up, so as I increased speed I came to a bend in the road. As I turned the bend several large ruts in the road presented themselves with one getting acquainted with my left front tire. Deep rut plus tire equaled roll over. Jeep flipped forwards tossing me and both of my passengers out. I was knocked unconscious and when I came to, crawled out from under what was left of my jeep. The only thing that saved me from being crushed was the M60 mount that had been left in the vehicle from a previous training mission. The medic that attended to my head wound told me we were the first ones (at my post) in 22 years that had all passengers survive a jeep roll over. I loved my M151 but I loved that M60 mount more.
I also never knew them as "Mutt's" till I saw a plastic model of one in a hobby shop years after my army days were over. I drove one daily for over 3 years, lol
@@mitchellsmith4690 Yep, I didn't even realize until after I was out of the Army that they weren't the same one's that they had in WW2, for all I knew at the time they were. I have a friend whose brother was in an M151 that rolled over in the early 80's, at the hospital he got a blood transfusion that turned out to be tainted with AIDS, since it was before the virus that causes AIDS had been isolated no one could understand what was making him sick when he started getting ill all the time a few years down the road, by the time they figured it out it was too late because it had advanced into it's later stages, not that it made any difference, back then even after they figured out the whole AIDS thing there really wasn't much they could do about it, effective treatments were still years down the road.
@@artstmartin3186 No, his last name was Riley, I never met him, he died about the time I was in the Army, 83-86. I got to be friends with his sister and husband about 2 years after I got out and then heard about it.
Great video! Brought back many memories of the M151 (not A1 or A2, just M151) I bought from a surplus scrap dealer in 1966 or so. Got it running and loved it until I heard about the rollover issues. Sold it to a dealer who was positive it was a Willys Jeep, despite the registration clearly describing it as "Ford M151 MUTT." Oh well hope he enjoyed it too. I got a new El Camino out of the deal so there was that.
We still had the A2 in our unit in 1990 and was finally replaced the next year with the Hummer. HQ70 was its number. I loved that old Jeep. Was great in heavily wooded areas. It could go where the Hummer couldn’t.
Thankyou. That video brought back some awesome memories for me, I drove those things for almost 10 years in the 1980's. The Chieftain touched on the subject but didn't go into detail but Ford designed the 7 slot pressed grill but didn't think to copyright it. After the war Willy's copyrighted the 5 slot vertical grill and now whenever you see it you KNOW its a Jeep. As for the hardtop, the only time I saw one of those was when we deployed to Alaska for a training exercise and we got issued them, which was okay but not nearly as important as the gasoline heaters they put between the front seats at the same time
Our 151's in Germany got heaters that were mounted on the front right fender, sure was toasty, but i loved the 4WD on the fly, and a little tuning would get it up to 70mph on the A-baun.
I was in the US Army in S. Korea 71-72. We had canvas tops but were not allowed to use them. The thinking was we were driving a tactical vehicle and would be more able to tell if we were under air attack while driving. :-O Couriers driving M151A1's were allowed tops as they were not considered "tactical'.
The Australian Army experienced a similar problem with roll overs when transferring from the Land Rover Series III with leaf springs to the Land Rover Defender (Perentie) with coil spring suspension in the late '80's and early 90's. The cause being the difference in behaviour between the leaf springs and the coils which would suddenly give way during hard cornering. The first solution to fit roll bars would choke occupants using their own seat belts in the event of a roll over as the bars bent backwards . The roll bars went through several different designs during the service life of the Defender.
I believe the British Army had issues with 110s rolling over too... the new comfortable suspension meant they could be driven faster without comfort issues... apparently they banned officers from driving them as too many were being injured lol
My unit in Germany (86-89) had 6 Ford Mutts in the TO&E. Slow as hell, but you could drive them out of the Hohenfels mud like a champ. Oh, I should also mention that ours had the pheumatic windshield wipers that works about .01% of the time. It was common practice to tie string to the wipers and the co-driver would operate the wipers manually with the string.
I owned and happily drove my a2 for years.. Went hunting, rallying, beach days and was my daily driver.. Honestly the best most comfortable ride ever.. Off road capability was better than anything on four wheels.. The drive train however did break down at least once a year cause of the cross bearings failing
I remember watching the training video in the army on the jeep. They showed in slow motion how the front wheels would toe-in if they both came off the ground at the same time as well as how easily they rolled over. I never really liked riding in them. I later owned a World War II Willys MB and actually found it a somewhat more stable vehicle although stable is a very relative term.
I see old guys in green fatigues, driving these things around here in Hanoi. The irony, seeing an old NVA vet cruising around in an American vehicle with USMC patches on the shoulders.
I learned to drive one in '71 in MP School. They WERE dangerous, though. As a CID Special Agent, I don't recall how many M151 rollover deaths I had to investigate. Don't know why, but typically the driver wound up with his head about 3" wide! Too many tried to drive them like race cars, even souping up the engines so that they could go "per" (when the speedometer needle was pointing to the "per" in "miles per hour" at the bottom of the dial). I currently own a M151A2 which I restored, and which is great for running around out in the desert.
@@zidan1hao917 I drove UAZ during my service, such a neat little 4x4. You can fit entire squad with their gear in one and it will drive through any terrain. Somewhat maintenance heavy cars though (120 pages of work, in one '95 UAZ service manual).. it warmed my heart when mechanics always wished me luck when I took one out for a spin.
The most frightening vehicle I ever drove was an early swing axle M151 with bad bushings that developed a terrifying shimmy at any speed over 45 mph. We used to joke that the front suspension was independent and the rear suspension was downright defiant!
Looked in my 151s side mirror one day just in time to see the guy behind me roll. He got into the shoulder, over-corrected, and that's all it took. We used to have to watch a film annually about their tendency to roll.
Many years driving them in the USAF, just called them the Jeep or 151. Was a bit confusing when we had CJ's too. Things were exciting going around corners with and 4 guys in it.
When the 151s came out of service they could be bought in Property Disposal Office (now DRMO) auctions, modded to satisfy civilian standards, and registered at State DMVs. NTSB or some other Fed agency deemed them unsafe, and the PDO system was instructed to ‘quarter’ the bodies to prevent civilian use. So, folks would buy the four pieces, weld them back together, and drive on, so to speak. After a while, a new requirement was levied on the PDOs; quarter the body as before - and then run over the pieces w/a tracked vehicle. Local military museum near me has restored one of the ‘quartered’ vehicles, and the new welds make the thing look like a Frankenstein monster, which adds character.
Good vid Nick and I'm wondering about when Ford or Willy's finally incorporated a collapsable steering column? Many people were badly injured or killed when the steering column impaled drivers in front end collisions. Thoughts.
I saw someone roll one on Umptanum Ridge at Yakima Training Center. He crawled out from under the upside down jeep with only scratches, the radio mast acted as his roll bar. I drove one for years, mostly without canvas so I could see traffic. With no heaters in Washington state, no one wanted to ride with me. Never came close to rolling mine in thousands of miles, but I learned to drive in a 1960 VW pickup, so swing axles were no problem for me.
The solid axle M151 was actually a project for Canada, who wanted new vehicles but wanted parts compatibility with our M38A1’s. Project was a total failure. Canada ended up buying M151A2’s, and then tried to develop a conversion using the M151 engine in the M38A1. It was a failure as well.
lot of white crosses in wiesbaden cause of these.....2nd vehicle i drove you have covered.......other on the go anywhere.....slowly gamma goat (withRATT RIG) THANKS for the berlin bde memory lane
6:50 Wasn't that starter pedal the running gag in "Good Morning Vietnam"? As allways, pleasure to listen to you - especialy without the obnoxious background music WG insists on for no apparent reason.
My dad just bought this Jeep. It's an old auctioned Jeep but was owned by a previous civilian owner. It's missing a lot of parts that go on the Jeep such as Jerry cans, turn lights, side view mirrors, original wheels, shovel and ax, some internal components including instrument cluster and canopy. If anyone knows where I can buy these from please let me know.
Never cared for the 151 all that much. Army did have a problem with them flipping easier than other vehicles. In the late '70s the surplus ones going up for auction on base were listed as "Residue". If you bought one you had I believe, 48 hours to strip it off all you wanted except the body / frame. At the end of the time allotted they would run over the vehicle with a bulldozer and then you could have the rest. At the time because of liability or something, they thought that they were to dangerous for the street.. Our main problem was that the engineers would back blade the trails in the hills and that would fill the ruts but with soft dirt. You could not tell were the ruts were then and if you caught one wrong it could flip you.
Being a farm boy growing up driving tractors I never got on two wheels and I drove the piss outa that thing .76,79 1/59th ada delta battery..during blasa guard duty in the snow we tried to run over rabbits at 40mph punched flipping ueys all over the place... so I think big part of problem was drivers
Oh shit, a guy I bought a Klr from had the one with the hard top, he was planning on removing it because He though it was a civilian after market thing. This is why you do research before modifying something.
I am sorry, but Ford is not the original first Jeep. Bantam developed the Jeep according to the demands of the American army in 1939. The demands were, a 1/4 ton vehicle. Which could transport up to 4 people, with packing. It also had to meet a certain length, width and height measure. Because Bantam was only a small firm, it wouldn't be able to handle the large amount, so the army brought in Ford and Willy's. And said, "Look here this is how it should be, can you make that? And if so, everything, all the parts, has to be interchangeable."
Bantam made the first Jeep-type vehicle, based on a design from an freelance designer they had commissioned, to meet an Army tender. The Army then invited Ford & Wilys to produce versions from that design, which it then combined the best bits of the 3 companies' efforts, and awarded the virtually all the wartime production to Ford & Wilys, leaving Bantam to make the majority of the trailers.
Why didn't they just put a roll-bar on them they don't look like they weigh very much so it wouldn't have cost very much? Like a very simple welded cross frame in the center would have worked fine similar to many modern CJ Jeeps.
Did anyone who serve ever call this a Mutt? I always heard it call a “quarter ton”. Not a Jeep or a mutt just a “1/4 ton” or a “one five one”. Great overview. Never saw a prototype.
RedTipAlpha, I was referring to what soldiers called it. And it was often called a 1/4 ton or 151. I can’t recall anyone calling it a mutt. For the most Pat, unless the soldier had the Tamiya model they probably never heard the term mutt.
Ya know, this looks, suspiciously, similar to a vehicle the USPS used to deliver rural and semi-rural mail circa 60 ' s & 70 ' s - steering wheel on left side and has side rear windows.
Yeah, those are the DJ-5A, made by Willys and Kaiser (1955-70) and AM General (1971-84). The last ones were made in 1984, but USPS kept them going for about another 10-15 years. The mileage on them was incredible. The AM General jeeps were replaced by the boxy Grumman LLV in the early 1990s, which are now reaching the end of their service life. USPS is now looking for a replacement for the LLVs.
@@markfryer9880 I'm specifically referring to a Chieftain's Hatch episode about the Panzer I that he announced already filmed in back in September, but which WG for some reason hasn't released yet. Last time I asked, it was "early April" as best he could tell. Really looking forward to that one.
Ah a sliding mechanism to regulate the door glass, a little less elegant than the door glass regulator handle but it works. Also what was that button/round thing beside the accelerator pedal?
