I even opened up the port on the carb that was probably meant for a fuel return line. No joy. Disgusted, I packed things up and walked away. I wasn't retreating. I was advancing in a different direction. I needed time to think. A day later, I had a plan. A 'Reagan Plan' that began with me trusting my own work, but verifying. That odds against having two carbs develop a stuck float were astronomical. So, I went back out, pulled off the tarps from the tractor and...
okay, why is my new carb weeping fuel?
I hadn't snugged down the last fitting properly and THAT weeping fuel meant that the carb's bowl was full. Trust....but verify. So I verified in the most optimistic way I could. I tried to start the tractor.
It fired right up, very happily. What began as a long-slumbering tractor, with a rotten, badly mangled fuel system and a power steering leak of epic, Olde Faithful proportions, was now ready to go to work, despite the fact that I had not yet hung the tin back on to hide the working bits. It was just a bit shy about transferring fuel from the tank to the carb. Apparently, these things take time.
The following day Señor Beel and I pulled the gloriously decrepit Jeep Willy's Scout Car / MB chassis out and with the help of my still-nude tractor and it's handy-dandy loader, we separated the leprous beast into a power pack and two axle groups and later, returned the roller wheels & tires to the other, MoBettah MB chassis. Friends, that disassembly was about as quick and easy as it ever gets. And a little action with The Death Wheel neatly reduced the chassis into manageable sized bits.
The frame was rendered unto Caesar and the spirit of 1945 MB number 411063 was rendered unto God. Fare thee well, mighty warrior! I thought it somewhat poetic (and a bit serendipitous) that this plucky little MB had been assembled by Ohioans in 1945 and made its way to Texas where a displaced Ohioan found, acquired and disassembled it, 80 years later, in 2025. Dust to dust.
As for Nickel, the malignant, much abused tractor that was conveyed to my care and tender ministrations with and by the transference of one wooden nickel and a handshake, well....
...it has already proved itself worthy of every penny I put into it.
Cheers,
TJ
Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
Moderators: rickf, raymond, Mr. Recovery
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
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Last edited by m3a1 on March 9th, 2025, 3:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
I have seen people pay ridiculous amounts of money for those frames. In much worse condition than that one. If you had advertised that on G503 I bet you could have covered the bill for most of what was spent on the tractor.
And when I say worse condition I mean rotted out bad. BUT' they still had that serial number for accuracy.
And when I say worse condition I mean rotted out bad. BUT' they still had that serial number for accuracy.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
The space I recovered is worth more than the few bucks I might have gotten for the frame and space is in short supply around here. YES, it did have a good tag on it...which I have kept as a souvenir.
I can assure you, that frame was the proverbial 'village bicycle.' Everyone had a ride on it and it was JUNK.
Cheers,
TJ
I can assure you, that frame was the proverbial 'village bicycle.' Everyone had a ride on it and it was JUNK.
Cheers,
TJ
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
I wish I had pics of some of the frames and rotted WWII Jeep body parts my buddy has sold. A couple of those frames were over 1000.00!
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
I have two frames. One is a new reproduction, from way back when...when the dollar went a little further.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
And now, boys and girls, we are back on Mister Bones, a 1942 White M2 Half Track.
Mister Bones is getting a new, mo bettah, electric fuel pump. And, since he's a frankentrack, he is equipped with the ammo lockers from an M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage. Now those lockers have been a minor annoyance since Day 1.....BUT (you know, the 'badonkadonk thing') I am going to put one of those lockers to work. It is where the mondo fuel pump will live, along with the mondo fuel filter...all to be neatly installed in a protected steel locker, well out of the way....and yet, so easily accessible.
Easy of accessibility? Wow, what a concept.
Half Tracks are really just a collection of small, hard to reach spaces, with lots of hard, unforgiving corners and sharp edges...and, when the sun is out, all that metal is like having a hot iron against one's skin. So, having important, working bits where they can be gotten to is something of a rarity for a half track. ANYHOO, today we culled the old fuel pump out, made some adjustments to the existing fuel line and made all the necessary holes for mounting the filter and pump. Heck, I even cleaned up the mounting surfaces a bit and primed 'em. So, tomorrow, we will continue by actually putting the working bits in and then look into how best to run the wiring.
Yummy!
Cheers,
TJ
Mister Bones is getting a new, mo bettah, electric fuel pump. And, since he's a frankentrack, he is equipped with the ammo lockers from an M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage. Now those lockers have been a minor annoyance since Day 1.....BUT (you know, the 'badonkadonk thing') I am going to put one of those lockers to work. It is where the mondo fuel pump will live, along with the mondo fuel filter...all to be neatly installed in a protected steel locker, well out of the way....and yet, so easily accessible.
Easy of accessibility? Wow, what a concept.
Half Tracks are really just a collection of small, hard to reach spaces, with lots of hard, unforgiving corners and sharp edges...and, when the sun is out, all that metal is like having a hot iron against one's skin. So, having important, working bits where they can be gotten to is something of a rarity for a half track. ANYHOO, today we culled the old fuel pump out, made some adjustments to the existing fuel line and made all the necessary holes for mounting the filter and pump. Heck, I even cleaned up the mounting surfaces a bit and primed 'em. So, tomorrow, we will continue by actually putting the working bits in and then look into how best to run the wiring.
Yummy!
Cheers,
TJ
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
After a yesterday of hauling my fat tukkus up and over the side of the half track, TODAY my shoulders and arms are screaming. I'm out of shape. WAY too much winter hibernation, I reckon. I must have looked like a fat raccoon struggling to get into a dumpster. And a fat raccoon struggling to get into a dumpster just happens to be my spirit animal.
Now, thinking back on my previous post, I realize that ammo lockers and M16 half tracks might not be something that many of you are familiar with. Just imagine a whole bunch of shoe boxes and assorted other sized boxes all hot glued together and kind of neatly arranged into a great big cube which is situated in between the frame rails of the half track, right behind the aft bulkhead of the driver's compartment. The M16 is always hungry for ammo. How my M2 came to have 'em is simple math. The museum that formerly owned this rig had 3, maybe 4 half tracks which were made up of a variety of half track parts not original to their build. Mine, being the hindmost, got leftovers, like the red-headed step child it was/is.
Now, because I needed a highly accessible fuel pump and equally highly accessible fuel filter, not small (like those itty bitty 'will it run?' YouTuber mechanic filters) but BIG, like the ones that actually belong on a machine of this size (think. race car fuel filter and you'll have it) I decided to use that unused locker space to my advantage and put all that fuel delivery business in the large, center locker.
Run-on Sentence Badge - AWARDED!
What a concept. A fuel system that is under foot, yet NOT 'under foot'! But it is below and very close to the fuel tank, which is most desirable.
Double Entendre Badge - AWARDED!
My goodness! Two badges in one post!
TWO Badges In One Post Badge - AWARDED!
All of this to avoid having to pay a WHOLE lot of money for a fuel system styled after the original design which would be a very princely sum. But I was soon to find out that M16 ammo lockers are....
...wait for it...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
ARMORED.
Yes, despite their rather thin sheet metal, these lockers are, like everything else, good, American, face-hardened, WWII era, Square-Your-Shoulders-And-Face-The-Hun, top quality steel. And what happens when you face-harden a sheet of high quality steel that is only about 3/16" thick? Well, fella, it becomes hardened all the way across. How did I find that out? Because I had to drill holes in the darned thing in order to route fuel lines and wires out of it. It took about and hour and half to do two ding-danged holes! Now imagine doing all this monkey business whilst twisted into a very uncomfortable, Cirque du Soleil, can't breath cause I'm fat, contortionist pose because...well, just because. Trust me. That's what it took and if there had been an easier way, I would have done it.
And, because of all this, Arthur Itus came to see what I was up to and to remind me that, unlike Elvis, Arthur will NEVER leave the building. So, I am presently gulping down Ibuprofen and Tylenol the same way fat kids eat M&Ms. Goodbye liver. Sayonara. It's been nice knowing ya.
However, because I come from hardy European stock, I never say die and yes, those two lousy holes eventually got drilled.
We cleaned up the mating surfaces, primed them with rusty metal primer and eventually coated that with whatever color of Rust-oleum that came to hand the quickest. After that dried, I bolted in all the new goodness, plumbed the plumbing and then called it a day. As a sort of reward, I am looking forward to some Granny Smith's Dutch Apple pie tonight (Happy Pi Day, by the way..because the date is 3-14. Get it?) and that pie, along with a good stiff cup of coffee, fortified with Blanton's single barrel straight bourbon whiskey should help....
...or perhaps the other way around, with the whiskey being fortified with some coffee. Why?
Because I earned it. Every drop.
Cheers,
TJ
Now, thinking back on my previous post, I realize that ammo lockers and M16 half tracks might not be something that many of you are familiar with. Just imagine a whole bunch of shoe boxes and assorted other sized boxes all hot glued together and kind of neatly arranged into a great big cube which is situated in between the frame rails of the half track, right behind the aft bulkhead of the driver's compartment. The M16 is always hungry for ammo. How my M2 came to have 'em is simple math. The museum that formerly owned this rig had 3, maybe 4 half tracks which were made up of a variety of half track parts not original to their build. Mine, being the hindmost, got leftovers, like the red-headed step child it was/is.
Now, because I needed a highly accessible fuel pump and equally highly accessible fuel filter, not small (like those itty bitty 'will it run?' YouTuber mechanic filters) but BIG, like the ones that actually belong on a machine of this size (think. race car fuel filter and you'll have it) I decided to use that unused locker space to my advantage and put all that fuel delivery business in the large, center locker.
Run-on Sentence Badge - AWARDED!
What a concept. A fuel system that is under foot, yet NOT 'under foot'! But it is below and very close to the fuel tank, which is most desirable.
Double Entendre Badge - AWARDED!
My goodness! Two badges in one post!
TWO Badges In One Post Badge - AWARDED!
All of this to avoid having to pay a WHOLE lot of money for a fuel system styled after the original design which would be a very princely sum. But I was soon to find out that M16 ammo lockers are....
...wait for it...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
ARMORED.
Yes, despite their rather thin sheet metal, these lockers are, like everything else, good, American, face-hardened, WWII era, Square-Your-Shoulders-And-Face-The-Hun, top quality steel. And what happens when you face-harden a sheet of high quality steel that is only about 3/16" thick? Well, fella, it becomes hardened all the way across. How did I find that out? Because I had to drill holes in the darned thing in order to route fuel lines and wires out of it. It took about and hour and half to do two ding-danged holes! Now imagine doing all this monkey business whilst twisted into a very uncomfortable, Cirque du Soleil, can't breath cause I'm fat, contortionist pose because...well, just because. Trust me. That's what it took and if there had been an easier way, I would have done it.
And, because of all this, Arthur Itus came to see what I was up to and to remind me that, unlike Elvis, Arthur will NEVER leave the building. So, I am presently gulping down Ibuprofen and Tylenol the same way fat kids eat M&Ms. Goodbye liver. Sayonara. It's been nice knowing ya.
However, because I come from hardy European stock, I never say die and yes, those two lousy holes eventually got drilled.
We cleaned up the mating surfaces, primed them with rusty metal primer and eventually coated that with whatever color of Rust-oleum that came to hand the quickest. After that dried, I bolted in all the new goodness, plumbed the plumbing and then called it a day. As a sort of reward, I am looking forward to some Granny Smith's Dutch Apple pie tonight (Happy Pi Day, by the way..because the date is 3-14. Get it?) and that pie, along with a good stiff cup of coffee, fortified with Blanton's single barrel straight bourbon whiskey should help....
...or perhaps the other way around, with the whiskey being fortified with some coffee. Why?
Because I earned it. Every drop.
Cheers,
TJ
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Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
And now we're on to wiring which is my least favorite thing. By the way, did you ever notice that a 20' roll of black wiring is a dollar more expensive than a 20' roll of any other color wiring? No wonder we're all so confused when it comes to wiring. Nobody wants to pay the extra buck to buy black-colored stuff and make it easy for the next guy to figure out what goes where so a fuel pump doesn't run backwards. Like hot dogs and hot dog buns that are never packaged in the same number, good sense and uniformity are being held hostage.
Yeah yeah yeah.....I spent the extra durned dollar and bought the black stuff...
,,,but I'm not happy about it!
I did save a shekel or two with a used, waterproof MS35058-22 toggle switch for controlling the fuel pump; one that I had squirreled away as a spare for the Gama Goat. Good aircraft-grade stuff but it seemed a shame to use it in this way. I located the switch well out of harm's way, in one of the holes formerly meant for the fuel tank selector valves. It's in plain sight but, unless you're actually looking for it, it gets lost in all the background clutter. Best part is, it is readily accessible to the driver.
Today, Billyboi and I got the first half of the harness completed, that section being from the switch to the battery box. We were lucky to get that done with all the other business going on around here. Naturally, I miscalculated the length of protective wire wrap; one of those snakey plastic hose thingies that is split down its long axis and, because it is made of plastic, it will make for a smokey and long-lasting fire should things really get out of hand. Ohhhhh goodie. So, that miscalculation necessitated a trip back to HF where I got the necessary bits along with some impulse purchases, such as polishing compound for buffing up brass and a few metal ammo cans that were on sale because...
one can never EVER have enough metal ammo cans.
The second half of this harness will be from the battery box to the pump (to include a standard blade fuse that will be readily accessible should something go sideways).
Crawling under my half track is always such fun. It never ceases to amaze me how much crud can grimly hang on to the underside of this machine, just waiting for some human (who is only there with the best intentions) to come along and be in the absolutely correct body position for receiving a tablespoon of God-only-knows-what straight down the ol' ear canal. For crying OUT LOUD! And, until I was able to get back to the house to unload my head of all this detritus, what was in there sounded like the unmistakable crunching of some drunk staggering up a gravel driveway in the dead of night. Ya just cannot make this sort of thing up. 33,333.3 Q-Tips later, a lot of the crumbly bits were removed and most of the crunching noise has subsided. How is it that I need only be present under this machine, in order to be baptized in decay? Is the Mister Bones sensitive about his 'private parts'? Obviously, there are ome things I'll never understand.
Tomorrow, I'll stuff cotton in my ears as a precaution.
Cheers,
TJ
Yeah yeah yeah.....I spent the extra durned dollar and bought the black stuff...
,,,but I'm not happy about it!
I did save a shekel or two with a used, waterproof MS35058-22 toggle switch for controlling the fuel pump; one that I had squirreled away as a spare for the Gama Goat. Good aircraft-grade stuff but it seemed a shame to use it in this way. I located the switch well out of harm's way, in one of the holes formerly meant for the fuel tank selector valves. It's in plain sight but, unless you're actually looking for it, it gets lost in all the background clutter. Best part is, it is readily accessible to the driver.
Today, Billyboi and I got the first half of the harness completed, that section being from the switch to the battery box. We were lucky to get that done with all the other business going on around here. Naturally, I miscalculated the length of protective wire wrap; one of those snakey plastic hose thingies that is split down its long axis and, because it is made of plastic, it will make for a smokey and long-lasting fire should things really get out of hand. Ohhhhh goodie. So, that miscalculation necessitated a trip back to HF where I got the necessary bits along with some impulse purchases, such as polishing compound for buffing up brass and a few metal ammo cans that were on sale because...
one can never EVER have enough metal ammo cans.
The second half of this harness will be from the battery box to the pump (to include a standard blade fuse that will be readily accessible should something go sideways).
Crawling under my half track is always such fun. It never ceases to amaze me how much crud can grimly hang on to the underside of this machine, just waiting for some human (who is only there with the best intentions) to come along and be in the absolutely correct body position for receiving a tablespoon of God-only-knows-what straight down the ol' ear canal. For crying OUT LOUD! And, until I was able to get back to the house to unload my head of all this detritus, what was in there sounded like the unmistakable crunching of some drunk staggering up a gravel driveway in the dead of night. Ya just cannot make this sort of thing up. 33,333.3 Q-Tips later, a lot of the crumbly bits were removed and most of the crunching noise has subsided. How is it that I need only be present under this machine, in order to be baptized in decay? Is the Mister Bones sensitive about his 'private parts'? Obviously, there are ome things I'll never understand.
Tomorrow, I'll stuff cotton in my ears as a precaution.
Cheers,
TJ
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
A lot going on. My new pit bull electric fuel pump ran right over my half track's fuel pressure regulator and pushed fuel past the needle and seat, filled the bowl and went right out the vent tube. Woo HOO! It's a gusher! So, it's back to the drawing board. Another pressure regulator and another electric fuel pump are on the way.
Meanwhile, weather has kept me from getting back to it and other things have come along...such as the biannual Warrenton, Texas rummage spectacular. So, Billyboi and I climbed into Longfellow and when we reached Luling, Texas we stopped at Buc ee's for some fuel. There, we noticed dripping oil that could only have been coming from a leaky rear main seal. Checking the oil level, I concluded this had been going on for some time. Oh yay. So, I topped off the oil. We would sally forth.
On to La Grange (yes, the ZZ Top La Grange) where I decided to pop into an O'Reilly's for some snake oil. What could it hurt? There, I found a Barr's Stop Leak product meant for rear main seals in engines with an oil volume of 5-8 quarts. It claimed to show results in 100 miles or 2 days. Okay. I'll bite. Bought it, poured the concoction into the big diesel engine and after a short drive with the Barr's snake oil hopefully working its magic, we reached Warrenton and the games began.
First tent we stopped at I came away with a 1943 children's publication titled Soldiers Sailors, Fliers, Marines. Five bucks. I have an extensive collection of WWII Home Front memorabilia and this little book was pure gold. Every page was fabulous. I couldn't have been more pleased.
In the second tent we found ourselves looking at a tarp just covered with odd bits and pieces and a sign that said, "anything on this tarp is $2". I immediately recognized the lid of a liner of M1941 Mermite food/blood plasma container and told Bill to look around. Maybe the bottom half was nearby. Sure enough, there it was, not 5 feel away. These Mermite containers are rare....like hen's teeth. The interior containers for them, such as this one, rarer still. I couldn't get the money out of my pocket fast enough.
Then, with Bill idly conversing with the seller, I spotted a very nice WWII 50 cal ammo can partially covered on the seller's table. I picked it up and the seller looked away from Bill and looked at me and said, "ten bucks". My WWII trifecta in hand, I scooted off to put my purchases in the truck.
By day's end, I had gotten not one, but TWO model 1909 Schieble Dayton pressed steel hill climber tank; a very notional, yet charming example of a Mk VII tank.
I got em from two different sellers. One was in terrible shape and I snapped that up for $2 but it yielded a fine example of the tank's turret, which was completely missing on the better of the two. With some love and care (and now, having a fine example of an original turret to copy) I can put both right again. Children that had these toys must have been completely thrilled with them. After all, at that time, tanks were regarded as something of a wonder weapon. But, by today's standards, these toys really don't look like much to the casual observer. It makes me wonder...
Are we better off, or worse?
I also brought home a couple of nice vintage tractor work lights from a single seller (one light for each tractor) the sort mounted on a rear fender and used to illuminate the plow or whatever implement was attached; I got both for a giveaway price.
And there was other stuff to be had but I didn't over-do it. We'll save some for later. I love going to Warrenton. There's just an endless supply of amazing stuff to find, contemplate, learn something about and work a winner-winner-chicken-dinner kind of deal on. And there will be more in the autumn. We loaded up our goodies, drove to Schulenberg and stopped for dinner. Looked under the truck and....not a drop. Not even a hint of a drop.
Impressive. Even more impressive than finding a two separated pieces of a rarer-than-hen's-teeth WWII Mermite can liner for $2, or a brace of WWI tin tank toys.
Cheers,
TJ
Meanwhile, weather has kept me from getting back to it and other things have come along...such as the biannual Warrenton, Texas rummage spectacular. So, Billyboi and I climbed into Longfellow and when we reached Luling, Texas we stopped at Buc ee's for some fuel. There, we noticed dripping oil that could only have been coming from a leaky rear main seal. Checking the oil level, I concluded this had been going on for some time. Oh yay. So, I topped off the oil. We would sally forth.
On to La Grange (yes, the ZZ Top La Grange) where I decided to pop into an O'Reilly's for some snake oil. What could it hurt? There, I found a Barr's Stop Leak product meant for rear main seals in engines with an oil volume of 5-8 quarts. It claimed to show results in 100 miles or 2 days. Okay. I'll bite. Bought it, poured the concoction into the big diesel engine and after a short drive with the Barr's snake oil hopefully working its magic, we reached Warrenton and the games began.
First tent we stopped at I came away with a 1943 children's publication titled Soldiers Sailors, Fliers, Marines. Five bucks. I have an extensive collection of WWII Home Front memorabilia and this little book was pure gold. Every page was fabulous. I couldn't have been more pleased.
In the second tent we found ourselves looking at a tarp just covered with odd bits and pieces and a sign that said, "anything on this tarp is $2". I immediately recognized the lid of a liner of M1941 Mermite food/blood plasma container and told Bill to look around. Maybe the bottom half was nearby. Sure enough, there it was, not 5 feel away. These Mermite containers are rare....like hen's teeth. The interior containers for them, such as this one, rarer still. I couldn't get the money out of my pocket fast enough.
Then, with Bill idly conversing with the seller, I spotted a very nice WWII 50 cal ammo can partially covered on the seller's table. I picked it up and the seller looked away from Bill and looked at me and said, "ten bucks". My WWII trifecta in hand, I scooted off to put my purchases in the truck.
By day's end, I had gotten not one, but TWO model 1909 Schieble Dayton pressed steel hill climber tank; a very notional, yet charming example of a Mk VII tank.
I got em from two different sellers. One was in terrible shape and I snapped that up for $2 but it yielded a fine example of the tank's turret, which was completely missing on the better of the two. With some love and care (and now, having a fine example of an original turret to copy) I can put both right again. Children that had these toys must have been completely thrilled with them. After all, at that time, tanks were regarded as something of a wonder weapon. But, by today's standards, these toys really don't look like much to the casual observer. It makes me wonder...
Are we better off, or worse?
I also brought home a couple of nice vintage tractor work lights from a single seller (one light for each tractor) the sort mounted on a rear fender and used to illuminate the plow or whatever implement was attached; I got both for a giveaway price.
And there was other stuff to be had but I didn't over-do it. We'll save some for later. I love going to Warrenton. There's just an endless supply of amazing stuff to find, contemplate, learn something about and work a winner-winner-chicken-dinner kind of deal on. And there will be more in the autumn. We loaded up our goodies, drove to Schulenberg and stopped for dinner. Looked under the truck and....not a drop. Not even a hint of a drop.
Impressive. Even more impressive than finding a two separated pieces of a rarer-than-hen's-teeth WWII Mermite can liner for $2, or a brace of WWI tin tank toys.
Cheers,
TJ
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by m3a1 on April 15th, 2025, 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
Do you know how that stop leak works? It does work BUT, It swells up ALL of the seals which eventually wear out due to the swelling or some of them turn to mush. So, it might fix the rear main but it will swell up every seal in the engine and then in the middle of summer they will all let go. I have fixed many cars with that same scenario. And 90% of them were bought within the last 6 months before the oil deluge started. Yup, stop leak and sell quickly. Surely you are aware of that scam. Neat finds otherwise. I have to run and clean out my storage unit before the rent is due tomorrow but Iam going to call you later today. I have something you would definitely be interested in. Been fighting pneumonia for the last 10 days, I really do not fell like moving junk but I feel even less inclined to pay rent on it.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
I love it when things come around full circle. Weeks ago I bumped into a lady at the rummage store who, only by the chance of an overheard speck of conversation did she conclude that I'm the guy in town with all the military vehicles. So, she engaged me in conversation and told me her husband had a few green things. As is often the case, our spouses know very little about our hobby so she wasn't able to tell me a great deal about the vehicles he had. I also found out he needed some information about what she called a 'military jeep' he was supposed to be working on for a guy. We'll call her husband Mister Fixit. What she knew was, 'It' needed an engine. Big time. She called him up, put him on speaker and we had a nice little chin wag which ended with him identifying said jeep as a M151 and saying I needed to come out and see what he had. I left my phone number with her and that's where we left off. A lot of time went by and I didn't hear anything and chalked the whole thing up to being just one of those things that turn out to be all smoke and no fire.
Well, what I found out today was, apparently he HAD been calling me and through the miracle of modern technology, all those calls went straight to voicemail and were lost forever.
I'm still shaking my head and rolling my eyes about the benefits of modern tech and so-called 'smart' phones.
ANYHOO, this morning, somehow my phone decided that it would allow him to actually ring me up like everyone else and out of pure luck, I managed to catch his call. He wanted me to come on out and have a looky loo and I, literally having nothing better to do, took him up on it.
Rolled on into his place and found this fella up to his eyeballs in automotive projects. Goodness! It took hours of looking at everything; and we did just that, soup to nuts. Finally we got to the M151 which, after the tarp was removed, turned out to be of a 1966 Ford A1 flavor. At first blush, it qualified for the 50 foot rule. Maybe even the 30 foot rule if you squinted a little bit, turned your head just so and the light was waning. 'It' was an older, somewhat extensive, yet low-bid restoration finished with reasonably decent paint. Obviously, the owner had just wanted a rig that drove and stopped and didn't look like every other vehicle out there and he didn't worry about beer dents and/or some other things. That, he certainly had achieved. So, what had happened to break that love interest?
Well, apparently a big hole in the block developed suddenly....a hole about the side of a Hoyle playing card. Yikes!
Okay, so what was Mister Fixit doing about all this because, by the look of it, NO progress had been made. Everything was still all together. Well, he sourced a power pack and then the seller never got back with him and as Rick told me, power packs really don't just grow on trees. Especially in the middle of Texas. That's the truth of it. Now, I don't know what you but my takeaway from the lack of progress is, someone wanted to be rid of this rig because it had been squatting right in the middle of a covered and otherwise usable space for about 6-8 months. The A1 languished in limbo with its big hole and with the passage of that time, the owner found himself another girl to dance with and this rig officially entered the status of Unloved & Unwanted....and Mister Fixit wanted it out of his garage. The owner wanted it out of this life.
Now, at this stage of the game, I'm still thinking I've been invited there in order to help the owner and Mister Fixit figure out a way to dispose of the truck in a way that is best for them. Fair enough. So, I began my assessment. It was a cut truck, welded back together and that done fairly well, but not a great deal had been done to dress the welds. Patches on the floor pan abounded, again, not very pretty, but solid enough. Whiskey dents in all the usual places and some of the usual rust perforation but despite all that, the rig was solid and repairs not too unsightly. If one wanted to pursue a heightened level of mo betta-ness, it could still be achieved with some care and not a lot of effort. Some minor bits such as footman loop or a rubber snubber for the windshield were absent, bows and canvas also absent, the gas tank was the epitome of The Devil's ---hole but in all, nothing that was really a deal breaker. The big rubber gasket under the windshield was toast. Tires looked tolerable. Someone had gone through the brakes at some point. Under the hood, everything was right where it was supposed to be. Hoses looked newish. Radiator looked fabulous. Carb looked new. The steering wheel was beautiful. Seat pads were all in place. Body was amazingly straight overall; everything neat and tidy but....
....that hole in the block was really quite something. Something you cannot look away from in good conscience.
Okay. Full disclosure. I have started projects with a helluva lot less. And, there was more good here than bad. BUT, we all know how all the little things add up. We kept circling the A1 and I finally kinda got the feeling like Mister Fixit and I weren't really on the same page as to the disposition of this truck. So I finally said, "I'm gonna ask you something point blank. Did I get invited here to assess this A1 and help find you a buyer, or did I get invited here because you hoped to sell me a truck...because, full disclosure, I didn't come here to buy. I kinda thought you really wanted some help finding a buyer." Well, that broke the spell and he replied that he had hoped I would be interested enough to at least consider buying it.
I said, "Okay, fair enough. The thing is, sometimes I'll buy even if I'm not all that interested, but my interest will go up if we're talking a giveaway price and even then, it has to be a number that I can swing without a lot of financial pain and later, should push come to shove, it is something I can dispose of without losing money. So, OKAY....why don't you call the owner and see if he'll consider a lowball offer because, and you should tell him this - as I see it, I'd be buying a blown up engine and on top of that, I'd be taking ALL the chances with the rest of this thing. There are still a lot of other things that can be wrong with it." He rang the guy up and laid it out. I overheard the guy say he would listen to a lowball offer and I loudly said, (insert very low number here). I also heard the guy immediately come back and say, "No, absolutely not."
Now I can understand the seller's position. Between the loss of the engine, which rendered his nice little 151 unusable, and having even more money tied up in another cool ride, he was between a rock and a hard place. Too far to go forward. Too far to go back....unless he lucked into another engine and that didn't seem to be happening. And despite all the apparent goodness of this truck, with it dead in the water (so to speak) there was no way for him to prove that everything else was hunky dory.
There are several lessons to be learned here. One is, document document DOCUMENT. At the very least, photograph everything you do on your vehicle when you do it. Keep receipts. Whatever is necessary to show buyers down the road exactly what they are getting beneath that pretty paint job. And the other lesson is, if YOU are the buyer and you're not being shown every last little nut and bolt, DO state your position to the seller. If a seller is asking that you take things on nothing more than faith, you are assuming all the risk and friends, that's worth something. If you are assuming all the risk, you should be getting paid for it (i.e. a deep discount). That's not cut-throat piracy. It's just good business.
I told Mister Fixit that I had heard the reply and that I understood that was a definite NO. Didn't offend me in the least and I wasn't there to give offense but rather, to help a couple guys out. So, after the owner hung up, we continued to stare, point, discuss, and fidget with the A1 because I might yet find a buyer for him. Somebody with deeper pockets. There was more good with the truck than bad and I was having trouble reconciling the fact that my mad money finances at this point were a little slim, owing to my recent visit to Warrenton.
And actually, I was kinda relieved. I need another project like I need another hole in the head. But, not fifteen minutes later, Mister Fixit's phone rang. Then MY phone rang. Xloflyer was inviting me to dinner. Italian. 1830 hrs. Capsice? Sì, signore!
The A1's owner spoke with Mister Fixit and then hung up. Mister Fixit said, "He reconsidered. He wants it sold. He said I should take what I can get from you for it." I counted out (insert the same very low number here) and then l took back $20. "What you see here is all I got. I'm gonna need $20 for dining out tonight so I'd like to hang onto it. Is that okay?"
Whew! It was crazy town but we did the deal. I got a bill of sale and Mister Fixit got some invaluable garage space back. And I'm back in the M151 family.
Cheers,
TJ
P.S. This A1 is going to be gifted to my wife for our 30th wedding anniversary. You see, a long time ago, after I traded off my A2 toward the purchase of my Gama Goat, my wife wistfully said she really loved the M151 and she loved riding it in with the top down, dogs in the back and going through the drive through at Whataburger late at night. Being a woman, naturally she said not one word about that until AFTER the A2 was gone. SOoooo today I told her that I bought her a convertible for our anniversary (which earned me an immediate and lengthy eye-roll because, by now, she knows me only too well). When I told her she was getting a M151 of her very own, and that I did not dip into important funds to achieve that, she got a great big honest grin on her mush. Women love it when you spend all your mad money to buy em stuff.
Well, what I found out today was, apparently he HAD been calling me and through the miracle of modern technology, all those calls went straight to voicemail and were lost forever.
I'm still shaking my head and rolling my eyes about the benefits of modern tech and so-called 'smart' phones.
ANYHOO, this morning, somehow my phone decided that it would allow him to actually ring me up like everyone else and out of pure luck, I managed to catch his call. He wanted me to come on out and have a looky loo and I, literally having nothing better to do, took him up on it.
Rolled on into his place and found this fella up to his eyeballs in automotive projects. Goodness! It took hours of looking at everything; and we did just that, soup to nuts. Finally we got to the M151 which, after the tarp was removed, turned out to be of a 1966 Ford A1 flavor. At first blush, it qualified for the 50 foot rule. Maybe even the 30 foot rule if you squinted a little bit, turned your head just so and the light was waning. 'It' was an older, somewhat extensive, yet low-bid restoration finished with reasonably decent paint. Obviously, the owner had just wanted a rig that drove and stopped and didn't look like every other vehicle out there and he didn't worry about beer dents and/or some other things. That, he certainly had achieved. So, what had happened to break that love interest?
Well, apparently a big hole in the block developed suddenly....a hole about the side of a Hoyle playing card. Yikes!
Okay, so what was Mister Fixit doing about all this because, by the look of it, NO progress had been made. Everything was still all together. Well, he sourced a power pack and then the seller never got back with him and as Rick told me, power packs really don't just grow on trees. Especially in the middle of Texas. That's the truth of it. Now, I don't know what you but my takeaway from the lack of progress is, someone wanted to be rid of this rig because it had been squatting right in the middle of a covered and otherwise usable space for about 6-8 months. The A1 languished in limbo with its big hole and with the passage of that time, the owner found himself another girl to dance with and this rig officially entered the status of Unloved & Unwanted....and Mister Fixit wanted it out of his garage. The owner wanted it out of this life.
Now, at this stage of the game, I'm still thinking I've been invited there in order to help the owner and Mister Fixit figure out a way to dispose of the truck in a way that is best for them. Fair enough. So, I began my assessment. It was a cut truck, welded back together and that done fairly well, but not a great deal had been done to dress the welds. Patches on the floor pan abounded, again, not very pretty, but solid enough. Whiskey dents in all the usual places and some of the usual rust perforation but despite all that, the rig was solid and repairs not too unsightly. If one wanted to pursue a heightened level of mo betta-ness, it could still be achieved with some care and not a lot of effort. Some minor bits such as footman loop or a rubber snubber for the windshield were absent, bows and canvas also absent, the gas tank was the epitome of The Devil's ---hole but in all, nothing that was really a deal breaker. The big rubber gasket under the windshield was toast. Tires looked tolerable. Someone had gone through the brakes at some point. Under the hood, everything was right where it was supposed to be. Hoses looked newish. Radiator looked fabulous. Carb looked new. The steering wheel was beautiful. Seat pads were all in place. Body was amazingly straight overall; everything neat and tidy but....
....that hole in the block was really quite something. Something you cannot look away from in good conscience.
Okay. Full disclosure. I have started projects with a helluva lot less. And, there was more good here than bad. BUT, we all know how all the little things add up. We kept circling the A1 and I finally kinda got the feeling like Mister Fixit and I weren't really on the same page as to the disposition of this truck. So I finally said, "I'm gonna ask you something point blank. Did I get invited here to assess this A1 and help find you a buyer, or did I get invited here because you hoped to sell me a truck...because, full disclosure, I didn't come here to buy. I kinda thought you really wanted some help finding a buyer." Well, that broke the spell and he replied that he had hoped I would be interested enough to at least consider buying it.
I said, "Okay, fair enough. The thing is, sometimes I'll buy even if I'm not all that interested, but my interest will go up if we're talking a giveaway price and even then, it has to be a number that I can swing without a lot of financial pain and later, should push come to shove, it is something I can dispose of without losing money. So, OKAY....why don't you call the owner and see if he'll consider a lowball offer because, and you should tell him this - as I see it, I'd be buying a blown up engine and on top of that, I'd be taking ALL the chances with the rest of this thing. There are still a lot of other things that can be wrong with it." He rang the guy up and laid it out. I overheard the guy say he would listen to a lowball offer and I loudly said, (insert very low number here). I also heard the guy immediately come back and say, "No, absolutely not."
Now I can understand the seller's position. Between the loss of the engine, which rendered his nice little 151 unusable, and having even more money tied up in another cool ride, he was between a rock and a hard place. Too far to go forward. Too far to go back....unless he lucked into another engine and that didn't seem to be happening. And despite all the apparent goodness of this truck, with it dead in the water (so to speak) there was no way for him to prove that everything else was hunky dory.
There are several lessons to be learned here. One is, document document DOCUMENT. At the very least, photograph everything you do on your vehicle when you do it. Keep receipts. Whatever is necessary to show buyers down the road exactly what they are getting beneath that pretty paint job. And the other lesson is, if YOU are the buyer and you're not being shown every last little nut and bolt, DO state your position to the seller. If a seller is asking that you take things on nothing more than faith, you are assuming all the risk and friends, that's worth something. If you are assuming all the risk, you should be getting paid for it (i.e. a deep discount). That's not cut-throat piracy. It's just good business.
I told Mister Fixit that I had heard the reply and that I understood that was a definite NO. Didn't offend me in the least and I wasn't there to give offense but rather, to help a couple guys out. So, after the owner hung up, we continued to stare, point, discuss, and fidget with the A1 because I might yet find a buyer for him. Somebody with deeper pockets. There was more good with the truck than bad and I was having trouble reconciling the fact that my mad money finances at this point were a little slim, owing to my recent visit to Warrenton.
And actually, I was kinda relieved. I need another project like I need another hole in the head. But, not fifteen minutes later, Mister Fixit's phone rang. Then MY phone rang. Xloflyer was inviting me to dinner. Italian. 1830 hrs. Capsice? Sì, signore!
The A1's owner spoke with Mister Fixit and then hung up. Mister Fixit said, "He reconsidered. He wants it sold. He said I should take what I can get from you for it." I counted out (insert the same very low number here) and then l took back $20. "What you see here is all I got. I'm gonna need $20 for dining out tonight so I'd like to hang onto it. Is that okay?"
Whew! It was crazy town but we did the deal. I got a bill of sale and Mister Fixit got some invaluable garage space back. And I'm back in the M151 family.
Cheers,
TJ
P.S. This A1 is going to be gifted to my wife for our 30th wedding anniversary. You see, a long time ago, after I traded off my A2 toward the purchase of my Gama Goat, my wife wistfully said she really loved the M151 and she loved riding it in with the top down, dogs in the back and going through the drive through at Whataburger late at night. Being a woman, naturally she said not one word about that until AFTER the A2 was gone. SOoooo today I told her that I bought her a convertible for our anniversary (which earned me an immediate and lengthy eye-roll because, by now, she knows me only too well). When I told her she was getting a M151 of her very own, and that I did not dip into important funds to achieve that, she got a great big honest grin on her mush. Women love it when you spend all your mad money to buy em stuff.
Last edited by m3a1 on April 4th, 2025, 12:18 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Redlight
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 264
- Joined: January 17th, 2016, 5:38 pm
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Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
Happy Wife-Happy Life.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
How time flies. I bought Harbor Freight's 240V spot welder WAY BACK in March 2021 and, much unlike my normal modus operandi, I didn't even buy it on sale. If I had bought it for a specific job, I certainly found I didn't need it so, the thing sat on the shelf in the back of the M109A3. It was not forgotten but obviously I didn't need it if it sat new in the box for 4 years. That is, I didn't need it until I brought home the tin tank toys from Warrenton.
What harm had befallen this little tank? Had it been destroyed in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette? Nope. After having been repeatedly damaged by being carelessly tossed into the toybox, it had probably been destroyed and then abandoned in the Battle of Little Timmy's Back Yard. In any case, the chassis had somehow been broken in half, the wheels fell off and, if-you-can-name-the-abuse-it-probably-happened. Then it sat out and rusted.
So, like some of the other 1:1 scale toys I bring home, I decided to breathe some life back into it. Not that I think it's necessarily worth a great deal but because I find such toys charming. Some careful final disassembly occurred and much of the chassis (thus far) was bathed in Evaporust because...
...this is what I do.
Eventually, it was time to attach the patch panel to the chassis and make it whole again. Now keep in mind, this my first effort, using a new tool of unknown ability and doing this repair pretty much on the wing.
Aside from the rather buckshot method of locating the spot welds I came away very happy with the results. It would have looked better had I really made an effort to get the welds located more uniformly. Two pieces of the chassis that had been completely divorced from one another for years were now rejoined and the notorious weak spot is now twice the thickness that it was. A very happy day for this little tank.
Where the use of the spot welder is concerned, the tricky bit involves understanding the quality of the metal to be welded (thickness, hardness, etc) as well as ensuring that both panels are clean and carefully clamped together by other means and not relying upon the spot welder to do that for you. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Taking time to carefully prep the work also prevents poor results.
Another critical point is learning not to trigger the welder for too long (as I did several times). Trigger time is purely arbitrary with this unit so everything rests upon the operator's shoulders. Trigger too long and it WILL weld right through the metal, leaving you with a donut weld. Not the end of the world, of course, but not what most of us want.
Towards the end of the job and after about 15 welds and while eventually learning that less is more, I was making very few mistakes. Because I was welding a rather small piece, I found my full-sized locking pliers/clampilator thingies were a bit too big for this small job. Afterwards, I went to Tractor Supply and bought some of the el cheapo mini locking pliers which come in a three pack for $4.99. Wow, I finally have a real use for mini tools which I always thought of as just a way to separate fools from their money. Their small size would have been perfect for this job. TS's mini locking pliers 3-pack is a buck cheaper than HF, by the way.
Chicago Electric claims the welder will weld up to an aggregate thickness of 3/16". Max trigger time should be no longer than 5 seconds (according to warning labels) and that would probably be all one would need for 3/16." Duty cycle is a very efficient 5 seconds on - 5 seconds off. This tool comes as a most basic starter kit with all the limitations of a small, non-commercial unit. (That's how they keep the price down, folks) Throat depth on the electrodes is limited to 5 inches but other electrodes are available online. The unit is sold with 4 electrode tips. Tips are consumable; they can be cleaned and even reshaped to suit your needs. And if you work carefully and don't rely upon the welder to be your clamp, they won't suffer much abuse.
Also, the unit is h-e-a-v-y which would make working off the bench top very difficult. So, some good. Some bad. All summed up, I feel it is worth the money..even for a tool that would probably be used very infrequently.
Cheers,
TJ
What harm had befallen this little tank? Had it been destroyed in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette? Nope. After having been repeatedly damaged by being carelessly tossed into the toybox, it had probably been destroyed and then abandoned in the Battle of Little Timmy's Back Yard. In any case, the chassis had somehow been broken in half, the wheels fell off and, if-you-can-name-the-abuse-it-probably-happened. Then it sat out and rusted.
So, like some of the other 1:1 scale toys I bring home, I decided to breathe some life back into it. Not that I think it's necessarily worth a great deal but because I find such toys charming. Some careful final disassembly occurred and much of the chassis (thus far) was bathed in Evaporust because...
...this is what I do.
Eventually, it was time to attach the patch panel to the chassis and make it whole again. Now keep in mind, this my first effort, using a new tool of unknown ability and doing this repair pretty much on the wing.
Aside from the rather buckshot method of locating the spot welds I came away very happy with the results. It would have looked better had I really made an effort to get the welds located more uniformly. Two pieces of the chassis that had been completely divorced from one another for years were now rejoined and the notorious weak spot is now twice the thickness that it was. A very happy day for this little tank.
Where the use of the spot welder is concerned, the tricky bit involves understanding the quality of the metal to be welded (thickness, hardness, etc) as well as ensuring that both panels are clean and carefully clamped together by other means and not relying upon the spot welder to do that for you. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Taking time to carefully prep the work also prevents poor results.
Another critical point is learning not to trigger the welder for too long (as I did several times). Trigger time is purely arbitrary with this unit so everything rests upon the operator's shoulders. Trigger too long and it WILL weld right through the metal, leaving you with a donut weld. Not the end of the world, of course, but not what most of us want.
Towards the end of the job and after about 15 welds and while eventually learning that less is more, I was making very few mistakes. Because I was welding a rather small piece, I found my full-sized locking pliers/clampilator thingies were a bit too big for this small job. Afterwards, I went to Tractor Supply and bought some of the el cheapo mini locking pliers which come in a three pack for $4.99. Wow, I finally have a real use for mini tools which I always thought of as just a way to separate fools from their money. Their small size would have been perfect for this job. TS's mini locking pliers 3-pack is a buck cheaper than HF, by the way.
Chicago Electric claims the welder will weld up to an aggregate thickness of 3/16". Max trigger time should be no longer than 5 seconds (according to warning labels) and that would probably be all one would need for 3/16." Duty cycle is a very efficient 5 seconds on - 5 seconds off. This tool comes as a most basic starter kit with all the limitations of a small, non-commercial unit. (That's how they keep the price down, folks) Throat depth on the electrodes is limited to 5 inches but other electrodes are available online. The unit is sold with 4 electrode tips. Tips are consumable; they can be cleaned and even reshaped to suit your needs. And if you work carefully and don't rely upon the welder to be your clamp, they won't suffer much abuse.
Also, the unit is h-e-a-v-y which would make working off the bench top very difficult. So, some good. Some bad. All summed up, I feel it is worth the money..even for a tool that would probably be used very infrequently.
Cheers,
TJ
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Last edited by m3a1 on April 8th, 2025, 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
I have one of these that I bought 30 years ago or so. This is what I do all the spot welding on my 151 with. Not this machine but the exact same one. The machine is probably 50 plus years old. It is close to three hundred lbs. You cannot beat old school transformers!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166899432719?c ... item&gQT=1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166899432719?c ... item&gQT=1
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
1953 M37 W/W
1953 M37 converted to 12 volt
Re: Beverly Hillbillies, Part Deux
One of the great things about this hobby is that it almost never fails to provide a reasonable excuse to goof off.
By way of example, let's say you need a replacement wheel for your M151 and giving credit where credit is due, let's also say you have a chum who spends every spare moment on his phone. Pretty soon, The Billmeister can be counted on to come up with some social media post from a guy who has a small mountain of M151 steelies for sale.
Yeah.....right on!
So, Señor Beel reached out to the seller (because the g838 is about as social as I get where media is concerned) and we made an evening of it. We headed over to the SW Austin area by way of Wimberley and the wonderful Wimberley Cafe; a place that serves three of the most delicious food groups...
Hot, Brown, and Plenty of It.
With dinner out of the way, we wended our way through one of many wine producing regions that have sprung up in Texas, and around some seriously high-acreage/high-dollar residential enclaves. Hays County is unusually wealthy (no doubt owning to it being where the seat of Texas governance is located) and it boasts some of the most perfectly paved roads in the state. Just like riding on a sheet of glass.
Money gets stuff done.
Especially when you're closer to the flagpole.
Anyhoo, we arrived at the seller's place, located (predictably) in the cheap seats of Hays county. There, we found Hillbilly heaven hidden away at the end of a long curving driveway; the view obstructed by a lot of growth. A 37 Plymouth 4 door. A 47 Buick coupe. A 47 Ford pickup....and more, all very whole, yet in various states of disrepair. My kind of place. We headed straight back to behind the garage where you would expect to find a small mountain of 35 or 36 MUTT rims; rims that were the result of an auction purchase back in the day when MUTTs were finally over being cut and crushed, their design improved, and then finally erased from the T.O.&E. when they were arguably at their best. And now, on this warm summer evening, that lot was being resold with a deep deep discount for buying in bulk.
G'wan. Take your pick.
Okay! I'll be your Huckleberry.
In the fading light of the day, I picked out 12 very squared away rims. (That's a wheel joke. Because wheels are round an... Never mind. If I have to explain it to ya, I can't explain it to ya.) All had some surface rust (but not pitted) and a lot of flaking paint. So, yes, they would require a light acid bath and a little elbow grease by me to be made pretty again but they were in excellent shape. I inquired about the mag wheel which was set apart from the steel ones but he wouldn't part with it. I would have liked to have had that just because it interested me but I wasn't willing to back my inquiry with cash. Nope. Not THAT interested. We have bigger fish to fry and I am not in the mood to recommit to a life rife with M151 paraphernalia. However, these nice rims might just make good trading stock.
Cheers,
TJ
By way of example, let's say you need a replacement wheel for your M151 and giving credit where credit is due, let's also say you have a chum who spends every spare moment on his phone. Pretty soon, The Billmeister can be counted on to come up with some social media post from a guy who has a small mountain of M151 steelies for sale.
Yeah.....right on!
So, Señor Beel reached out to the seller (because the g838 is about as social as I get where media is concerned) and we made an evening of it. We headed over to the SW Austin area by way of Wimberley and the wonderful Wimberley Cafe; a place that serves three of the most delicious food groups...
Hot, Brown, and Plenty of It.
With dinner out of the way, we wended our way through one of many wine producing regions that have sprung up in Texas, and around some seriously high-acreage/high-dollar residential enclaves. Hays County is unusually wealthy (no doubt owning to it being where the seat of Texas governance is located) and it boasts some of the most perfectly paved roads in the state. Just like riding on a sheet of glass.
Money gets stuff done.
Especially when you're closer to the flagpole.
Anyhoo, we arrived at the seller's place, located (predictably) in the cheap seats of Hays county. There, we found Hillbilly heaven hidden away at the end of a long curving driveway; the view obstructed by a lot of growth. A 37 Plymouth 4 door. A 47 Buick coupe. A 47 Ford pickup....and more, all very whole, yet in various states of disrepair. My kind of place. We headed straight back to behind the garage where you would expect to find a small mountain of 35 or 36 MUTT rims; rims that were the result of an auction purchase back in the day when MUTTs were finally over being cut and crushed, their design improved, and then finally erased from the T.O.&E. when they were arguably at their best. And now, on this warm summer evening, that lot was being resold with a deep deep discount for buying in bulk.
G'wan. Take your pick.
Okay! I'll be your Huckleberry.
In the fading light of the day, I picked out 12 very squared away rims. (That's a wheel joke. Because wheels are round an... Never mind. If I have to explain it to ya, I can't explain it to ya.) All had some surface rust (but not pitted) and a lot of flaking paint. So, yes, they would require a light acid bath and a little elbow grease by me to be made pretty again but they were in excellent shape. I inquired about the mag wheel which was set apart from the steel ones but he wouldn't part with it. I would have liked to have had that just because it interested me but I wasn't willing to back my inquiry with cash. Nope. Not THAT interested. We have bigger fish to fry and I am not in the mood to recommit to a life rife with M151 paraphernalia. However, these nice rims might just make good trading stock.
Cheers,
TJ
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.