she's home?

[Jay Mallari]

AHA! I did find some A2 on it, I will see if anyone else finds it. It is real small and insignificant. Not the mirrors since I have seen photos in country of them. The only thing out of place I can find is the gas can holder, There should not be one. he can would sit on the bumperette. Other than that it is immaculate. Nice job.

Rick

It's the rubber bumpers on the wind shield frame.

[rickf]

We have a winner! Jay got it, the snubbers on the windshield on an A1 are square, same as the clutch and brake bumpers. Have to give credit to MCman also since I didn't catch the chain plate.

Rick

[rickf]

I noticed in picture #2 the antenna was mounted much lower, I had to lower mine down to that point to get in the garage. Why the antenna's and no radios? Does that hold down unsnap or come off in some way?

Rick

[johnfal]

I told you it wasn't perfect, why do you think I have not posted any close ups old Hawkeye Faunce and others of his ilk would have a hay day on it . The reason the snubbers are round is simply because I cannot find any square ones here. The chain plate was put on by the re-builder because he thought it looked better. Why the antenna mount is so low? good question, don't know, why no radios? simply because of the cost and availability and they don't work anyway, the Vietnamese military disables them. For a non working radio without attachments or cables etc you will have to pay over $700 per unit, I can get a lot of spare parts for that kind of money rather than wasting it on a useless ornament. Why the antenna? here in Vietnam it is accepted decor on a mutt whether you have radios or not.

Some parts on the jeep are of Russian or Taiwanese origin simply because I have as yet not been able to get the original part here or if someone does have an original part he wants an extortionate sum for it which I am not prepared to pay. A lot of the parts we get here now are ex Taiwanese or Korean military original US stuff is getting scarce because of the increasing interest in jeep ownership.

However having said all that I do value your comments and will strive to improve it where I can but it might be a slow process now that the off road A2 is being built. The A1 will not be used for heavy off roading, it will probably become the family run around.

Mark - Thingamajig is an international word it means "something that is hard to classify or whose name is unknown or forgotten" you can even find it in most english dictionary's. There is even a chocolate bar called Thingamajig made by Hersheys containing cocoa crisp & peanut butter. Hows that for some useless information

[johnfal]

I forgot to add to someone else's query that the vinyl top is local made. Made to measure within 2 to 4 days at a cost of <$200. Not exceptional high quality but sturdy enough. The one on my normal runner has seen many off roads and has withstood attacks from branches and other pieces natural objects jutting into the path of the mutt and it is about 98% waterproof but in warm rain who cares.

[Mark]

Johnfal; Thanks alot for the info on the word,that really impressed me, as the meaning was how it was used,but I remember it from the 60's and 70's,
On the snubbers, I had to go outside and look at my 151 to see what was on it, surprise !! my 151 doesn't have any. maybe owen export has some.
mark

[SEABEE62]

Mutt Bling trim too Rick..... Seabee

[rickf]

He explained the bling from the beginning so we have to let him go on that one. Jon, You had to know we would be searching. The chain plate is just common sense if you tow a trailer. I have one on mine as should anyone. I only mentioned the antenna height because it was different between pictures. The mutt looks good, just ignore what we say.

Rick

[johnfal]

Not offended in the least guys, just joshing. Anyway the feedback is good because some of it I didn't know so please don't stop, I will try and post close-ups later. I will try to make it right when I can. Anyway at the moment I have a bigger issue to deal with first. Just found out that the guy who built the A1 has just stolen the documents of my normal runner the A2 61K 9831.

In Vietnam we have a registration book and a registration card which are issued with the jeep when it is first registered and they follow the jeep from owner to owner, the loss of these documents is serious over here because trying to get new ones is a very difficult and a very expensive process. However if you can manage to get a set of registration documents for a jeep you can make up a new vehicle from parts or whatever then change the registration numbers of the engine and body to match the numbers in the registration book and card and then take it to be licensed. The licensed jeep can then be sold for a lot of money in Vietnam terms, the fact that it means there is two vehicles on the road with the same licence number does bother the crook, he just wants the money.

The guy who built the A1 rebuilds old trucks and resells them as his core business, some he scraps to provide parts for repairs. We think he had scrapped a truck with a number very similar to that of the A2 so he had a licence book the looked the same as mine so a plan formed in his mind. Normally when we go out in a vehicle over here you have to take your papers with you in case the police stop you. So he must have noticed that we kept our papers in the glove compartment (VN Bling for those not used to glove compartments on their mutt). We normally check it every now and again to make sure nothing is missing. About three weeks ago on one of my normal Saturday trips to see what progress he had made on the A1 we had a problem with the A2 brakes pulling to the left so we asked him to look at them. Normally he would do checks or test outside his house in our view or if he needed a longer run he would take one of us with us. On this day he went alone without any warning or notification returning about 10 mins later saying the suspensions bushes were shot on the left front causing the A2 to pull over when we braked. It was during his test run that we believe he pocketed the registration card and only had the book to get.

We lived with the problem for a couple of weeks but it was getting pretty bad so I decided to get it fixed last Saturday, we agreed to take the jeep to him and come back with the A1. Before we set off last Saturday we decided to check the documents just to be sure that they were still OK and we found that the card was missing, well we hunted high and low for it but to no avail. We could not understand how it had become lost as nobody ever opened the glove compartment other than to get the documents out for the police, and nobody had access to the vehicle other than us. Anyway we set off to get the A1 and take the risk the cops wouldn't stop us. One we got to his house we transferred everything in the A2 including the book for the A2 and A1 over to the A1. Just as we were about to leave he asked us if he could have the book for the A2 because he would need it for testing the A2 after he had changed the bushes just in case the police stopped him, so my driver gave him the book, checking the registration number first to make sure he was not passing him the A1 book.

We left and took the A1 home leaving the A2 for him to work on. On the Sunday he called my driver and my wife to complain that we had given him the wrong book and could we give him correct one. On Monday I sent my driver to get the book back to see what was wrong with it and what he was handed was a book with the number 61N 3981 and for a Vinasuki truck. My driver challenged him saying that he had made the mistake because this book was obviously for one of his trucks, the guy then turned on my driver accusing him of trying to set him up by giving him a false book for the jeep to cover up the fact that he (my driver) had lost the original. This we could not understand because for months he has been very friendly to me and my driver and very helpful. Anyway when the realisation of what had happened sunk in I realised that the documents for my runner had disappeared and that I was left with a jeep without papers and no concrete proof that he was the culprit. Very clever.

Anyway I sent my driver to get the A2 back this morning and he recovered it OK and it was fixed nicely and the guy was his normal amicable self. Tomorrow my driver will return with the guy I bought the A2 from originally to reclaim another A2 I have there which was for building as an off road jeep along with all the parts that came off of the A1. Until I get my papers back he will get no more jeep work from me or probably the jeep club(s) either, so it will hurt him more than it will me.

As for me I am left with the problem of trying to get new papers for my jeep, left to me and the wife it would be nigh on impossible but luckily the guy we bought it off knows someone in the vehicle registration department who can probably do it for me quite quickly for some under the table remuneration and hopefully he can also issue a closure on the original number to prevent the guy from register another jeep under it. Have I thought of going to sort him out physically, of course but here in Vietnam I am more likely to damage my residency status than get my papers back so all I can do is try and stop him gaining from it legally. I am not allowed to go to get my other A2 from him with the other guys tomorrow for reasons that could see me locked up or thrown out of the country. A sad tale but true.

[toptiger]

that sucks. Hope it turns out ok in the end with new papers.

[199th mp]

good luck john---we all understand the inner need to give this guy a serious tune up, but in the end you probably still wouldn't have your papers back, and the problems you might face after would far outweigh those registration docs issues.

[rickf]

Jon, As much as I know you might not like to hear it I will say it anyway. I doubt the guys from the club will stop going there. They know the score, they probably know a lot more about your papers than you would like to know. Face it, you are an outsider in their country. They like you because you spend money there and make them laugh. This is not just about Vietnam, it is any country,including my own. If you are a foreigner you are going to be taken advantage of. Hell, here in the U.S. we get that just between different regions of the country. As far as the guys from your club, they are your friends, threat them as such. Have fun with them. Just remember that you are an outsider in their country, An outsider with money. Some will look up to you but more will look down on you.

P.S. I owned a 4X4 shop and I know how clubs work. No matter where in the world they are. There are good guys and there are thieves in every club. Generally everyone in the club knows what is going on. I had a lot of stuff walk out of my shop and I "found" most of it in peoples garages that belonged to one particular club. Being in a foreign country you do not have the option of just walking into someones garage!

Rick

[johnfal]

What you say is true Rick but it still does not make it any easier to accept. Currently I have withdrawn all Jeeps and parts from his garage as of yesterday until I think my next tactic through. I still have my offroad jeep to build and to be honest he is the best I have found here for doing jeep work. He has done two of my Jeeps already and body and engine wise they are very sound. We have come to realise that the culprit is his wife, she works on the shady side and total controls him. He just loves working on jeeps and he is always very proud to show you what he has done before he paints it so you can see what he has done, the standard of his work and the quality of the metal or parts he has used. I think he is generally an honest guy. I may yet decide to use him again as there is some truth in the saying "better the devil you know" and making allowances for it than taking on a new unknown untested challenge and you get more seriuosly screwed somewhere else.

[rickf]

I certainly cannot argue about the quality of the work, If you do decide to use him again make damn sure the vehicle is stripped clean of everything before he gets it. If the police have a question I am sure they can ask you. I would bet they are aware of his dealings, and his wifes. The question is, can THEY be trusted? If you and the rest of the club do not patronize him for a few weeks or a month he will get the idea real quick!

[johnfal]

If we do decide to let him have a second bite of the cherry we obviously need to protect our investment while it is in his possession, the trouble is he could claim it was stolen and even if the courts said he had to pay it's value back to me he could claim his business is small and that his income was very low etc. etc. I would probably end up getting a hundred thousand Vnd about 5 USD a month for the rest of my life.. you get the picture, anyway it is unlikely that payment could be enforced. The worst is that it could appear on the road under my own vehicle licence number then I would have the problem of trying to prove to the police that mine is the original, the likely hood is that both jeeps would be impounded. He has done two jeeps for me and they have both been good. We just don't understand their reasoning, they stood to gain a lot from the work they were doing for me. He does not do work for the Jeep club just a few isolated guys who own jeeps, I could have opened the gateway to the club and he would have been kept pretty busy. Also I had a few projects planned for him to do work for me that would have earned him a fairly reasonable income for a year or two. Now he has lost more than he will probably gain from the possession of my vehicle documents. I'll keep you posted on where we go from here.

CLOSURE

It turns out that despite my suspicions and those of many others the guy is not guilty. The guilty party turned out to be the Police who returned the wrong papers and poor diligence on our part by not checking the papers thoroughly. However in our defense what are the odds of being given the papers for another vehicle with exactly the same numbers and letters in the registration number with all numbers & letters in the same sequence bar two which had been transposed. A million to one or more. Anyway the guy in question is now happily working on my off road jeep and has also been working on my friend Juanle's jeep.