Milsurp vehicles, weapons and exhibits from the Edmonton CHAS show (picture heavy)
- Thread starter fugawi
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Nice looking show there with some well restored vehicles. Does everyone know what the word JEEP stands for? Just Empty Every Pocket. When you go to a show a common line heard will be "I have a friend of a friend of my uncle who bought one for (insert ridiculous low amount here), new in a crate from "war surplus" or some vague variation of that line. To which I reply hey give me the fellows contact info and I will buy ten, twenty or all at that amount, never did hear a reply to that. Then I walk the person around and chime off the cost of various parts, Cbt rims $150X5, simple footman loops, umpteen of them at $3 a pop. The fact is there is no such thing a "cheap jeep". Another thing asked will be "where did you find it" as if all you have to do is wash it off, gas it up, put a fresh battery in it and drive away. Whats not seen is the hundreds of hours of research and effort and thousands of dollars sent downrange restoring a "cheap" jeep.
Restored military vehicle, the fact is your never "done" a restoration as there is always something to improve, a better part found, paint to touch up, etc. And the vehicles condition is actually a sliding scale, older restorations will be improved upon and newer ones start ageing (dings/stains/wear) as soon as they are "done" and condition starts sliding downhill. Talking about paint I like joking that guys with shiney hot rod/muscle cars worry about keeping the shiney paint shiney and I have to worry about keeping my drab paint dull. Bling on vehicles, wow, some people like to load a ton of crap on their vehicle, and install stuff that was never there in the first place. I like to work with "less is more" at a show or event. I have seen a jeep literally buried under a heap of stuff like flags/webbing/uniforms/guns, I knew there was a jeep buried under the load of bling as I watched it get buried. 99.5% of jeeps where just simple knock about vehicles and not command post, gunships, rolling QMs. Thats supported by lots of actual wartime pictres. I am sure there are more WWII jeeps today sporting a MG then actually happened back in the day. Anyways there are some nicely done vehicles there and I like how the group is a small, and interesting, jeep sized collection in a good venue.
Restored military vehicle, the fact is your never "done" a restoration as there is always something to improve, a better part found, paint to touch up, etc. And the vehicles condition is actually a sliding scale, older restorations will be improved upon and newer ones start ageing (dings/stains/wear) as soon as they are "done" and condition starts sliding downhill. Talking about paint I like joking that guys with shiney hot rod/muscle cars worry about keeping the shiney paint shiney and I have to worry about keeping my drab paint dull. Bling on vehicles, wow, some people like to load a ton of crap on their vehicle, and install stuff that was never there in the first place. I like to work with "less is more" at a show or event. I have seen a jeep literally buried under a heap of stuff like flags/webbing/uniforms/guns, I knew there was a jeep buried under the load of bling as I watched it get buried. 99.5% of jeeps where just simple knock about vehicles and not command post, gunships, rolling QMs. Thats supported by lots of actual wartime pictres. I am sure there are more WWII jeeps today sporting a MG then actually happened back in the day. Anyways there are some nicely done vehicles there and I like how the group is a small, and interesting, jeep sized collection in a good venue.
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Thanks for following along! It's great to have supporters and people enjoying the build progress. I have decided on a grey colour that is close to original. Also, a lighter colour makes it easier to see what's what under there both for work and display. I decided to shoot engine enamel primer then paint for the robust finish and I will be shooting it this Saturday. Pics should be Sunday or early next week.
I would argue that the same goes for the snorkel kits. They're a semi hokey setup, especially at the tail end, and man does that exposed tail pipe get hot!!
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No Jeep, but I do have a 1944 BSA WM-20. I agree it takes a LOOOONG time to restore this stuff.
Took mine to pieces and repainted all the bits, then had to reassemble it.
Also have a Cushman Airborne that needs the same amount of work, but don't know if that will ever be done
Took mine to pieces and repainted all the bits, then had to reassemble it.
Also have a Cushman Airborne that needs the same amount of work, but don't know if that will ever be done
There was cheap jeeps at one time, just like cheap .303 surplus ammo, that day came and went a long time ago. We had the M38A1 when I was in along with the 3/4 ton and Deuce, although everyone called it the M38 or Jeep. They were certainly better off-road than the M151 or the CJ-5 we bought to replace them while awaiting the Iltis's. Why we bought the Iltis design when everyone was moving to the G-wagon I will never know, but I suspect price and lobbying by Bombardier.
Lobbying by Bombardier certainly happened but it was only the icing on the cake.
Trudeau HATED the West and he also hated Ontario, which is where a Canadian vehicle would HAVE to be built.
Added to that, he hated the USA just as bad, so that was "out" also.
That left QUEBEC as the new centre of Canada's automotive industry, exactly as it NOW was the centre of Canada's aeronautical industry and the centre of Canada's railroad industry..... none of which it had been previously.
Being that the Kama River plant was not yet fully operational, some of us were surprised that he didn't just buy straight from Gorkiy Avtomobiliya Zavod.
Amid all of the deification and writing of pseudo-history which has been going on, Canadians have forgotten that our country was ruled for nearly two decades by a man who worshipped anything Marxist and who despised anything outside of Quebec.
The most important point about the Iltis was that it was NOT AMERICAN and NOT BUILT IN ONTARIO. It didn't matter if the Canadian Armed Forces could use the thing: they were ordered to use it, exactly as they were ordered to use second-hand, worn-out, obsolete Leopard tanks which already had done 5 years in the Carberry Desert. Those we paid more than new price for; the Iltis cost us nearly double the Austrian cost because of the enormous expense of "tooling" Bombardier to "make" the things. Sometimes I think that patronage and graft are the biggest industries this country still has.
Nice vehicles in the photos, though. Was the show just Jeeps or did the supremely-rare Harley XA make an appearance? I know that there IS one in Edmonton.
Thanks for the pics!
Trudeau HATED the West and he also hated Ontario, which is where a Canadian vehicle would HAVE to be built.
Added to that, he hated the USA just as bad, so that was "out" also.
That left QUEBEC as the new centre of Canada's automotive industry, exactly as it NOW was the centre of Canada's aeronautical industry and the centre of Canada's railroad industry..... none of which it had been previously.
Being that the Kama River plant was not yet fully operational, some of us were surprised that he didn't just buy straight from Gorkiy Avtomobiliya Zavod.
Amid all of the deification and writing of pseudo-history which has been going on, Canadians have forgotten that our country was ruled for nearly two decades by a man who worshipped anything Marxist and who despised anything outside of Quebec.
The most important point about the Iltis was that it was NOT AMERICAN and NOT BUILT IN ONTARIO. It didn't matter if the Canadian Armed Forces could use the thing: they were ordered to use it, exactly as they were ordered to use second-hand, worn-out, obsolete Leopard tanks which already had done 5 years in the Carberry Desert. Those we paid more than new price for; the Iltis cost us nearly double the Austrian cost because of the enormous expense of "tooling" Bombardier to "make" the things. Sometimes I think that patronage and graft are the biggest industries this country still has.
Nice vehicles in the photos, though. Was the show just Jeeps or did the supremely-rare Harley XA make an appearance? I know that there IS one in Edmonton.
Thanks for the pics!
It wasn't just a jeep show though you might think so given my posts. Unfortunately no military Harley. I will post more pics from the CHAS show, its just that I'm real busy right now and am posting other threads and in other forums. All in good time...
Again without getting into a political debate (see my comment in the 'Picture of the Day' sticky about this...) the Canadian military had (has) its share of politically 'inspired' purchases which were/are contrary to better judgement. Why the upgrade to the GPMG in the early 80's instead of just buying MAG 58s outright...
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The STEN is age appropriate for the registration number of the M38A1, but those racks were for the SMG 9mm C1. I can see various signs of restoration on that one - shiney bolts, shiney data plate, etc. But his is running and mine is not. **CGN plug - I bought it off the EE. **
For beginners, the Jeep is probably the easiest true military vehicle to start with. Sure the 5/4 and CUCV series, and the Iltis are more recent, but arguably they are not "true" miitary vehicles. The M38A1 looks like a CJ5, but it isn't. They come up on Kijiji surprisingly often, so go take a look and start!
For beginners, the Jeep is probably the easiest true military vehicle to start with. Sure the 5/4 and CUCV series, and the Iltis are more recent, but arguably they are not "true" miitary vehicles. The M38A1 looks like a CJ5, but it isn't. They come up on Kijiji surprisingly often, so go take a look and start!
