| When
first found, the overall appearance of the jeep was poor, with dull
faded paintwork and areas of rust. The driver and passenger compartments
were no different, with rust evident around the screen clamps, switches
and floor panels. |
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As
purchased, the
instruments all read in metric. The speedo had 13,676Km on it, but as it
was not connected, I don't know how many kilometres aren't recorded. The
picture immediately left shows the new mph speedo. |
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| The
foot well and pedal area has changed little except for the fresh paint.
The original hole for the floor starter switch has been welded up at
some point, possibly during its MALT rebuild. This may be refitted at
some point in the future. |
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The four pictures
to the left show the several stages of the glove box door. The first and
second pictures show the door as found, and after respray, with the Hotchkiss/Malt works
data plates.
The second two are a replacement door, welded
up and redrilled for Willys data plates. This has been fitted to replace
the Hotchkiss, though that has been kept for future resale with the
vehicle as it has the true identity information. |
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The
rear compartment looked very bare when found, but improved once painted.
The rear seat was also fitted and the tool locker added below the seat.
Even with the tyre pump fitted to the bottom of the seat, the locker
still has good storage space. |
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For those unfamiliar with jeeps, the driver sits
on the tank. While not sounding safe, this put all the points of maximum
destruction in one place. Either killing the driver or hitting the tank is
likely to kill the whole crew, but hits on other areas would not be fatal
to all the occupants. |
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| In
the rear compartment, holes still exist from the French Army Radio trays
fitted to either side. The large rear seat was replaced with a single
seat for the operator, and the seat mounting holes are still in the
floor. |
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On the right of the jeep, the holes are used to
bolt on a box. This contains a 12 volt battery which powers a CD player,
hidden in the other removable box. The bolt on box can still be unbolted
and removed to access spare oil and water kept in the locker below. |
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The
original Hotchkiss electric wipers were replaced with linked Willys
manual wipers. Currently, the holes for the old Hotchkiss screen rest
brackets are just filled with bolts. Eventually these will be welded up. |
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To finish, standing on the front and rear bumpers,
using a wide angle lens, I was able to capture two plan views of the jeep
passenger compartment. |
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