VEP Radiator

Feb, 1942 - GPW1 thru end of first contract, April, 1942 - GPW15000 NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
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Adam
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VEP Radiator

Post by Adam » Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:53 am

Tons of posts on this topic, lots of mine has this and that. However is there any proof a slat radiator was in any gpw below the 300 serial number?

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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by steven ellis » Mon Apr 26, 2021 6:24 pm

314 has a gpw radiator
GPW 314 DOD 3-14-42
GPW 227 DOD 2/42 2062315 (actual) & US NAVY 195086 hood numbers
MB124997 DOD 3/4/42 2079954 (actual) Slat grill
42 WC51
M38 DOD 3/52 Hood# 20908270 actual

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Michael O.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Michael O. » Sun May 02, 2021 5:03 pm

Adam wrote:
Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:53 am
is there any proof a slat radiator was in any gpw below the 300 serial number?

Adam
Just out of curiosity, why did you place SN 300 or below as the metric?
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Adam » Sun May 02, 2021 5:27 pm

Just want to know what was used at the very beginning, as I have gpw 260. So did ford have the gpw radiator in production from day 1?

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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Michael O. » Mon May 03, 2021 8:36 pm

What’s the DoD of GPW 260? The very, very early GPW radiator was slightly different from the standard GPW radiator...but it was not the very early MB radiator. This is why I am asking for the DoD of GPW 260.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Adam » Thu May 06, 2021 5:52 am

I dont remember, gotta find the glove box plates.

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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by chucks_toy » Fri May 14, 2021 3:48 am

How were the two early gpw radiators different?
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Michael O. » Tue May 18, 2021 7:13 am

The earliest style GPW radiator had a disc (similar to a WWI-1920’s enlisted collar disc) with F/GPW on it which was soldered to the top tank next to the top tank tube while the later style had the raised F/GPW embossed directly into the top tank in the same area. It is thought that only the very first few GPWs assembled in January 1942 to possibly very early February 1942...50 to 100 vehicles maybe (?) had this style radiator. It’s accepted canon that the “standard” GPW radiator with the embossed F/GPW on the top tank was still used very early in production (February 1942) and remained unchanged through the end of production.

GPW-40 has recently surfaced and it’s a true survivor. It has the very early style GPW radiator installed. I’m very well acquainted with GPW-4 but unfortunately it did not come with an engine or radiator. I know GPW-55 exists but I can’t confirm what radiator it was discovered with.

It is interesting to note that many of these January 1942 assembled GPWs had later DoD’s than GPWs assembled in February 1942. GPW-4 was delivered on 4-10-42 while GPW-40 was delivered on 3-27-42. To note, my GPW-2647 was delivered 2-26-42. Some of these very first few GPWs were used as “example” vehicles sent to the various assembly plants as a learning tool so the workers could see what the finished vehicle was suppose to look like. Others, it is thought, were used as “run-about” vehicles early on at the various assembly plants and others possibly sent on dog-and-pony shows to showcase Ford’s new “jeep”. Ford was coming up a little short on the contractual 15,000 completed vehicles near the end of the First Contract, so it is believed that these vehicles were mechanically refreshed before being handed over to the Quartermaster Corps for acceptance....explaining why these few surviving early assembled vehicles have later DoDs than others with higher serial numbers. Once accepted, the vehicle was property of the US Government...so prior to delivery they were still the property of the Ford Motor Company...so they used a few in the manners as I described as they saw fit. I believe that the main feature of a January to very early February 1942 assembled GPW would be the presence of the two-piece Slat Grill MB type battery tray. (Steve Ellis’ GPW-314 was delivered in March 1942 and it has a two-piece battery tray, so my assumption may not be rock solid....or maybe an anomaly or maybe it was also one of the first few assembled in January 1942...or maybe it failed acceptance and had to be sent back to correct deficiencies?). Since Ford used the motor number to serialize the vehicle and given the fact that GPWs were not rolling off the assembly line in serial number order and that six different assembly plants were being utilized at the time, serial numbers are all over the place compared to DoD very early on...even with the very first few production GPWs as described above. This leads to a GPW-200 (for example) being delivered later than GPW-3000...since GPW-3000 could have been assembled before GPW-200. So, for the most part, a lower serial number doesn’t necessarily signify an “earlier” vehicle compared to others with a slightly higher serial number...unless possibly it has the very, very early feature of a two-piece battery tray, for example.

Here is a photo of the radiator in GPW-40.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by chucks_toy » Tue May 18, 2021 9:29 am

Thank you for posting this information.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by Michael O. » Tue May 18, 2021 12:58 pm

I should clarify about my comments regarding the “six” assembly plants that built GPWs. Edgewater didn’t start producing GPWs until Contract W-374-ORD-2798 later in 1942. I was referring to the total number of assembly plants that produced GPWs during the war. Louisville, Chester, Dallas and Richmond didn’t begin production until mid-February 1942. In fact, Dearborn was the only assembly plant producing GPWs in January 1942. Louisville didn’t begin production until 12 FEB 42...followed shortly by Richmond, Chester and Dallas. I didn’t want everyone to get the impression that there were six assembly plants building GPWs from the very beginning, rather, I wanted to demonstrate (along with engine shipments from the Rouge plant out to the various assembly plants) how and why serial numbers don’t always correspond to DoD....how some with higher numbers are assembled and delivered earlier than others with lower serial numbers (not withstanding the first 50 or so which were build in January that I spoke about in my previous post) and why some GPWs that are very close in serial number were delivered weeks apart.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by David Neale » Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:01 pm

Tom has said that Ford used the USA number assigned by the contract to track GPWs on assembly lines.
They would be in sequential order going down the line. That’s why having engine/ frame numbers out of sequence didn’t make any difference to Ford.
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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by David Neale » Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:03 pm

Tom has said that Ford used the USA number assigned by the contract to track GPWs on assembly lines.
They would be in sequential order going down the line. That’s why having engine/ frame numbers out of sequence didn’t make any difference to Ford.
"Have fun with your jeep"

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Re: VEP Radiator

Post by jeep!_r » Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:32 am

Michael O. wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 12:58 pm
I should clarify about my comments regarding the “six” assembly plants that built GPWs. Edgewater didn’t start producing GPWs until Contract W-374-ORD-2798 later in 1942. I was referring to the total number of assembly plants that produced GPWs during the war. Louisville, Chester, Dallas and Richmond didn’t begin production until mid-February 1942. In fact, Dearborn was the only assembly plant producing GPWs in January 1942. Louisville didn’t begin production until 12 FEB 42...followed shortly by Richmond, Chester and Dallas. I didn’t want everyone to get the impression that there were six assembly plants building GPWs from the very beginning, rather, I wanted to demonstrate (along with engine shipments from the Rouge plant out to the various assembly plants) how and why serial numbers don’t always correspond to DoD....how some with higher numbers are assembled and delivered earlier than others with lower serial numbers (not withstanding the first 50 or so which were build in January that I spoke about in my previous post) and why some GPWs that are very close in serial number were delivered weeks apart.
Thanks for posting Michael. Will have to go see what my GPWs have. It seems Ive seen that disc before.
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