Navy Grey Jeep

[lucakiki]

I ve noticed that some Jeeps are painted Navy Grey, I really like the color, but I'm wondering if this color is authentic. What colors are correct for navy Jeeps?

Samned,here is a link to a grey (whatever name you want to call that very grey) navy jeep. It was posted by Daddio, and only to day I managed to find it again, after much useless searching.

< go to this link and to "Mid-1944"
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/06a.htm >

[lucakiki]

Here is the picture, directly : jeep is on the left. If any kind soul cares to enlarge the jeep and repost it for us, I thank him very much. I am too computer challenged to do it myself.

[demon]

That appears to have grey seats too.... Do you think they just painted the canvas or had grey ones made?

[daddio]

Here is the picture, directly : jeep is on the left. If any kind soul cares to enlarge the jeep and repost it for us, I thank him very much. I am too computer challenged to do it myself.

Thanks for finding that again - I had forgotten about it. That Navsource site has a lot of great images. It is worth browsing to search for more. That one is captioned:

TBM "Avenger" torpedo bombers warming up on the after flight deck during operations in the Pacific, circa May 1944. An F6F "Hellcat" fighter is on the midships elevator, in the foreground. The original Kodachrome color transparency was received by the Naval Photographic Science Laboratory on 29 May 1944
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-1590).

I wonder if the archives has more photos from that roll.
http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=15

Here are two more black and white navy jeep photos and my guess of colors- maybe someone could post them. If link doesnt work, try pasting the url.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/091903707.jpg -
"borrowed" jeep on the Merrimack in 1947 OD with USN number painted over blacked out USA number?

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/09373512.jpg
Navy jeep at Anzio. Looks OD?

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/14009h.htm
Not a photo, but a great anecdote from the LSM-9:

We then carried 150 troops to New Britain and had a kind of r & r there along with the LSM 14. Here were great beaches to swim on, a nice river to swim in, and Army Nurses not far away!. We also picked up an Army jeep, which we painted battleship gray.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/1018022201.jpg
Cool color photo, but its an army jeep, Salerno 1943.

[Mark Tombleson]

I'm beginning to believe my MZ-1 is the only contract Navy jeep made in WWII.

Color was forest green. So anyone see any forest green Navy jeeps?

[daddio]

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/17.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021712.jpg
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021731.jpg
Jeep on the USS Bunker Hill, after kamikaze hit, 11 May 1945. Looks like the hood is painted a light color?

[Tom Wolboldt]

Hi daddio

In looking at photo http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021731.jpg there is another what was a jeep in the bottom center of the photo.

[Bob N]

If the photos are in black and white you have to use caution in how you decide what the colors should were. Using different filters you can change the "color" represented in a BW photo. Take different pictures of the same object and make it look like different objects. Some colors like the same in black and white, certain filters can be used to separate them into differing shades of gray. Also using different types of film will change how an item will look in a BW photo.

Interesting jeep photos never the less.

Mark, there is some small evidence that 50 Willys jeeps were sent to the Navy early on. I have seen some documentation to supports that, certainly not the complete story but it is a start.

[Mark Tombleson]

Yes, BobN, I have that listed in My list of Navy jeeps.

Three kinds of jeeps were used by the Navy.

1. Contract jeeps, i.e. MB-NOM, MB-NOM-12, MB-NAVY-MZ-1, MB-NAVY-MZ-2. To date it appears
Contract documents have yet to be found on Navy jeeps. We know they were produced, but in most cases not how many.

2. Jeeps under contract with the Army that were diverted under some kind of agreement with the Navy.
This includes 50 MA viewtopic.php?t=19081
653 GPW made in 1942 under QMC contract 11424 and 1310 MB in 1945 under ORD 33-019-3339.
So far the only difference between a standard jeep and these diverted jeeps may be in lieu of a USA number at the factory, these jeeps may have had USN marked on them or unmarked at all.

3. Jeeps obtained by the Navy/USMC by whatever means from the Army, used as Navy jeeps.

Can someone post that documentation as I cannot seem to bring up that thread anymore.

[Jim Gilmore]

Mark.........

Re. contract jeeps........

What about the direct contract Ford jeeps built for and delivered to the Navy?


Jim Gilmore

[The Fireman]

Yo Mark,

Before I get started, your jeep looks great, want to take it out in the desert next year and get alkali dust all over it ? Just joking.

I am trying to follow this thread and the train of thought and now with my limited ability in reasoning, I have a question to throw into the pile.

My 5- -43 GPW 109XXX, USA 20376332, USMC 79576, a USMC ambulance conversion, where does this fall into the pile at. It has an original blue drab USA number and a yellow USMC number. Was it taken from a Ford contract or just taken from a shipment of jeeps that may or may not have been delivered to the Navy. Or was it taken and converted after the doggies left it unattended ????

Keep up the good work Mark, it seems the more one finds out, the more questions there are. Ain't it great !

Frank

[Jim Gilmore]

Frank wrote,

"......My 5- -43 GPW 109XXX, USA 20376332, USMC 79576, a USMC ambulance conversion, where does this fall into the pile at......)


Frank,

Are you sure that these numbers are correct?

20376332 is a bit early for a 5/43 GPW.

Your motor number, if correct, would put it in the first week of April, 1943. April would also be correct for the USA number you have posted.

May of 43 would be a bit late for this motor/USA number combo.

Your complete motor number isn't 109528 is it?

As for the USMC part...........this jeep would have been delivered to the Army (or QM/ORD depot) and then reassigned to the Marines.

However, midnight procurement cannot be ruled out! :-)


Jim Gilmore

[Mark Tombleson]

You talking about the eight jeeps for the USMC at the White House, the 653 I noted above, the one radio jeep (is that the one photographed?) or are there other GPWs I don't know about, Jim? Are they forest green, Navy gray or OD? I'm always interested in learning.

Ah, Frank, your jeep would fall under this heading:

3. Jeeps obtained by the Navy/USMC by whatever means from the Army, used as Navy jeeps.

The Holden jeep is a special case where it was modified after they may have been used elsewhere. Now, it is possible the USMC gave the ambulance builders any jeep out of the three catagories I listed, except for the radio jeeps.

Frank, you ever figure out how many ambulance jeeps were made and if there were different locations where they were made?

[The Fireman]

Yo Jim,

The entire number in question is 109730, it is a number matching frame, engine and data plate gpw. The usa number is correct as 20376332, the usmc number is also correct as 79576. The USMC number falls in line with Mike Bruce's USMC ambulance conversion USMC 79527. Mike also has a GPW 5-14-43, GPW 117918. The delivery date of 5- -43, has no day date stamped within it. The collection of USMC photo's that I have show the USMC number to be of the same sequence as the USMC ambulance conversions that were on Iwo. Additionally, there is a small arms or shrapnel hole that entered through the F marked drivers seat and a corresponding exit hole in line through the drivers side wheel well housing. The jeep has all the same colors on it on all the parts of the jeep. The exception is the litter framework, which has been reprodued to scale from the above mentioned collection of photos.

As to the why isn't closer to what information you have, I do not know. Lloyd White verified these numbers when he sanded the hood and the rear panel of my jeep.

I hope this helps some.

Frank

MVPA 1854

[Jamie M]

My contract USMC MB has Navy grey overspray on various chasis components. Who ever painted it only managed to put a very light coat on the easy to get to parts. They painted only a quarter of the transfercase oil pan and partial areas of the axles.

The body only shows eveidence of Navy grey on the dash. If the rest of the body was painted, it was so light that it has worn off. The grey was painted right over the factory Forest green.

I first thought that perhaps the jeep had been maintained at a Navy motor pool. But after finding the overspary on the transfercase I am not so sure.

Did the Navy and Marine corps share vehicles?