Do I have a USMC Holden Ambulance Jeep?

[MATT]

Here are some photos of a jeep I drug home today. I was told that it has been in the same family since buying it from the military in the mid 1950's and according to the seller it has been untouched except for the roll bar. The original owner was a game warden here in the California central valley. It is MB 414346 with a DOD of 2-6-45. The frame tag matched the data plate.

The jeep has the J hooks and pole mounts I have seen on other Holden jeeps. If you have any info please let me know.

Thanks,

Matt

[Bill M]

Matt, You do appear to have an ambulance jeep from what I can see. There is a good article by Frank Steele on the USMC ambo jeeps in Army Motors 127. If you do a search here I think you will find him posting under the Fireman username. Frank stated in his article that he believed the later ambulance jeeps were converted to this configuration in the USA, I am of the opinion this makes makes sense. Congratulations on your discovery.
Bill.

[ajlang]

Nice find Matt!!!
Here are some pictures of mine:
http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 51#p782851" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I am sure Frank will chime in as well.
Any chance I could get you to take a close up picture of the hinge behind your hood hinge? I think it is the remains of the spare tire carrier and I want to see how it is oriented.
Thanks much,
Andy Lang

[MATT]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I have to admit that when I first laid eyes on the jeep I was pretty upset. The seller told me over the phone that the jeep was all original and untouched. After a two hour ride to his house I saw a jeep that was hacked up.... I guess it is not so bad after all........

Andy, here are two hinge photos. If you need photos of anything else let me know. I am sure I will be bugging you from time to time. I think I may restore the jeep as a tribute to my grandfather who was a Lieutenant in the 3rd Marine Div and was on Iwo Jima.

[Mark Tombleson]

Hi Matt.

Since you are in Modesto I urge you to come to the MVCC meet in April at Tower ParK.

http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=152920" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Frank should be there with his restored USMC Holden Ambulance jeep.



His is USMC 5th Division... My father was 25th Reg. in the 4th Division on Iwo Jima. With you we will now have all three Division represented, 3rd, 4th and 5th.

[ajlang]

Andy, here are two hinge photos. If you need photos of anything else let me know. I am sure I will be bugging you from time to time. I think I may restore the jeep as a tribute to my grandfather who was a Lieutenant in the 3rd Marine Div and was on Iwo Jima.

Thanks Matt - I appreciate you taking the time to do that. It confirms what I see on my jeep. I will be happy to help out where I can. Frank Steele (Fireman) is the man in the know and has been a great help as I have pestered him with countless questions. I believe the G503 member AVG is in your neck of the woods. He has an ambulance jeep and has the remnants of the original storage box. I would love to have some pictures of that as well as some measurements. Your jeep Looks like a very nice jeep. The body looks very straight and clean. Wish mine were that nice.
Good luck.
Andy
PS As an aside I purchased a 1942 GPW over the summer that I think you restored. Nice jeep.

[nirvana]

gotta admit, Im jealous. Lovely find.
chris

[hell-fire]

I would like to find one of these out here, I beleive the Factory which converted them is under 2 hours from me. Great find.

[The Fireman]

MATT,

Good find. Keep in contact with Andy since he is fabricating many of his parts for his. You don't need the Willys hook and rings by looking at your rear bumper panel, so it wasn't a contract jeep per se.

Could you post a photo of the rear seat looking down at the bottom panel. It appears to have the cut out for access to the tool locker box when mounted in the correct location on the wheel well housing.

Have fun and try to get a copy of the AM the article was in, there are some more photos in it.

Frank

[Dave 56]

I stumbled across this thread and have to chime in, even if I'm a little late... Yep, definately a USMC Ambulance jeep. I'm working on mine to get it ready to bring to the April Camp Delta meet at Tower Park. I have a 43 GPW ambjeep and thought it was modified by some farmer when I first saw it, too. I'm in Shingle Springs near Placerville not too far from you. Interesting having another one found so close.

Dave

[The Fireman]

MATT,

As your is a later jeep, your superstructure is higher than the ones in Cam's photo. The ones in the photo were the original "Holdens". The one you have would most likely have been converted stateside and technically not a "Holden".

Frank

[Bill M]

The only reference I could find in GM Holden's official war record publication was for 200 jeep stretcher kits in early 1943.
I have a hunch it may be refering to these "Holden" ambulance jeeps but cannot verify this at this point in time.
Bill.

[warecki]

hi all
i bought car with similar modifications
it is also 45 willys with MB 406710 frame no.
and DOD 1 - 15 - 45
so this is car produced 3 weeks earlier

it also has cut out tail gate
and propably the rest of oryginal side modification
i found pig tails and holes on grill and hood for catches

is it possible that Holden made ambu jeeps also in 1945?

[ajlang]

hi all
i bought car with similar modifications
it is also 45 willys with MB 406710 frame no.
and DOD 1 - 15 - 45
so this is car produced 3 weeks earlier

it also has cut out tail gate
and propably the rest of oryginal side modification
i found pig tails and holes on grill and hood for catches

is it possible that Holden made ambu jeeps also in 1945?

warecki,
Frank (AKA The Fireman) is going to be able to give you better info on details than I am ... but this is what I see. Your truck has clear Holden style features. However it is different than the ones I have seen. Your tie down brackets are welded on. Most of the ones I have seen they are bolted on. Can you tell if they were bolted on at one time? I am not sure about the 3 holes in your hood. The spare tire carriers I have seen are mounted to the cowling right behind the hood hinge. Check out Matt's photo above and the remnants of the hinge. Can you detect any holes (perhaps welded or filled) in that area?
It looks to me that bubba ripped out most of the medical box and welded the door in place ... then screwed in some sheet metal for your nice custom passenger side opening.
I am not sure about the production dates of jeeps actually converted by Holden ... but I thought that was fairly early and a very limited number. The Marines did their own conversion later on and I suspect that most of the Holden's style jeeps that have popped up over the past couple of years fall into that category.
Just my 2 cents.
Andy

[warecki]

thx for infos Andy