Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Nov. 18, 1941 - MB100001 thru Mar. 6, 1942 - MB125809 NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
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Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by sprprops » Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:20 am

So if a slat grill jeep went through a rebuild program postwar did it get to keep its unique grille or would it have gotten a stamped one? I know they stripped them down to nothing and they weren't concerned with it being all Willys or all Ford parts so there was a lot of mixing and matching to bring them to a fresh military standard. Just didn't know if the grille would have ended up back on a jeep after a complete refit. Seems to me they would have wanted to use a stamped grill for consistency sake.


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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by W. Winget » Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:13 am

More than likely they were not selected for rebuild and sold off.
That's how a lot of pre-standardized vehicles end up in surplus, only the standard items go in for rebuilds.
Just my thoughts.
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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by IvorGPW » Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:44 am

A while back a slat grille sold near me and it had a 1943 GPW frame and a slat grille body and grille that had a rebuild tag from one of the major rebuilders. Not that that means anything either way but maybe it means they had no real bias against using earlier vehicles either.
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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by brucemb » Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:13 pm

I agree with Tate (previous post). They did rebuild slats rather than surplus them because they were non standard. That might have been true for the pre-production Jeeps but not for the standardized Jeeps starting with the early MB’s. One of my two slats is 103198 and it was rebuilt by Betchel in 1945 (with tag on dash). It has its complete original slat body but was put on a 1942 GPW frame with all GPW running gear. BTW, my other slat (100018) was not surplused until well after the war and spent all its life at fort Lewis Washington).
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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by Gary C V » Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:34 pm

There are photos of slats in Korea with the U.S.forces.
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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by BERLIN RED » Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:55 am

I’d say that 1/2 of the gov rebuilt slats that I have seen have had the slat grill replaced with a later stamped grill.

This is only my observation of about 20 unrestored slats over the years in the states.

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by 70th Division » Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:01 am

Hello,

I have a slat rebuilt in March of 1945 .
The body, hood, front fenders with air deflectors, hood and grill , all slat grill Willys were kept together.
But they put in onto a 1943 GPW, frame , transmission, transfer case and axle assemblies.
The slat jeep seats also stayed with the body as well as slat gauges.
The the has a rebuild tag, as well as the Ford axle assemblies from the Moore Equipment Company dated 1945.
I am restoring a 1943 GPW and will be using this frame to build it.

I have a slat rolling stock that I will restore the slat grill back into a 100 percent slat grill.
The Slat jeep has no rust on it 😁


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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by dpcd67 » Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:06 am

At least the SOW I review are written to save as many parts as possible with the criteria of Form, Fit, and Function. And of course serviceability standards which apply to either version. So, without actually having the scope of work for each facility that rebuilt vehicles on hand, I would say that they reused the slat grills.
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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by patd » Fri Jul 09, 2021 12:29 am

i have a march 42 Slat that went thru factory rebuild in England in 1955 that retained most of all slat parts then as best as i can tell sold to Norway as they did change Data Tags and frame number, the company in England was Rootes under DLA number and that Data tag was added to dash

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by David » Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:33 am

Maybe they just took off fenders etc and threw it in the back, and only looked at the moving parts? That would explain why body, fenders etc were kept together.

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by Mark Jesic » Fri Jul 09, 2021 3:25 am

Interesting one this. Slat grills totalled 5% of all jeeps made in WW2. A good amount have survived, but what percentage of the 5% , i really dont know, any ideas guys ?

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by 70th Division » Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:28 am

Hello Mark,

That is a great observation, and I would be very interested in knowing the answer !

I have 2 of the 5 percent 😁😁

One is a BRT.


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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by Mark Jesic » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:42 am

Dont know the answer yet Ray, but i own one of the 5%. It would also be interesting to know how many slatties are in the U.K. :D

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by MARKA » Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:16 pm

Hello ,
I have a Jan 42 slat grill that served with the Australian Army after the end of WW2.
It was rebuilt by the Moore Equipment Comapny in March 1945. Has the brass plate on the dash panel.
The tub including seats , grill and all body parts are original Slat MB (no rust) , it was mated by the Moore Co with a 1943 GPW Frame and has a 1943 GPW engine.

So it appears certain that Slats were rebuilt without regard to matching frames to the same make of tub or visa versa. All that mattered was that the rebuilt Jeep came up to spec with regard to a newly rebuilt Jeep.

Heck the US Govt sold them to overseas allied Armies for a new life so they HAD to be up to scratch . My jeep served until 1959 (14 extra years) with the Australian Army before being sold off to the public. It was bought by a farmer who hardly used it but did maintain and store it well. It was not not altered at all. I have located the jeeps service History in Australian Government records.

I will not alter it or try to make it a pure 100% Slat MB or GPW. It was rebuilt by the US army under contract and it will stay this way. It is part of its history and will not be undone .

Mark.

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Re: Did Slat Grilles Survive Rebuilds?

Post by slatgrille » Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:50 am

The slatgrille engine (106727) that I'm rebuilding now, has a rebuild tag on it from 1944 and many internal parts removed were Ford script...pistons, wrist pins, rods, 5 tappets, and an intake valve.

Craig


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