About Army Surplus Vehicles
April 27, 2008
Military surplus vehicles have been popular for a long time, and not just among army aficionados. The great thing about army surplus vehicles is that they are durable, relatively inexpensive, and easy to work on.
There are army surplus jeeps that date back all the way to the Vietnam War but are still in service. With a few simple tools, you can perform routine service on them yourself, making them great vehicles for hobbyists.
When I was growing up, my dad actually bought an army vehicle once. It was a jeep from the Vietnam era and in pretty bad shape when he got it. Most army surplus vehicles have never actually seen combat, but many of them have been through some pretty tough terrain.
I think the one we had had been used for training. It had been out through it’s paces and had probably been driven over rocks and really rough terrain. The floor pan had large holes in it, and the one wheel was ruined. For this reason it was dirt cheap, which meant money could be spent on repairs.
Nowadays, it can be hard to find parts for these old and aging army surplus vehicles. Back then, however, it was pretty simple. Army outdoor surplus gear - no matter if it was a Jeep or a sweater - was affordable, practical, and well built.
Most of the parts we required, we got from a mail-order catalogue. The wheel and remaining parts we sourced from our local army surplus store. It wasn’t long before we were able to start working on the Jeep.
Nowadays, the Hummer is the main vehicle that the army uses. It replaced the Jeep which was much easier to work on and because of it’s small dimensions, would fit in the garage with no problems. This wouldn’t be the case for a Hummer.
It took around three months of work. We spent around 20 hours per week on it, but when we finished we had an almost restored army jeep. It still needed some body work doing to it, but when we test drove it it ran great. And it’s still going today.
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