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27Photos of Ed's USAF M37
A fellow M37 owner who is restoring a USAF M37 sent me the
following photos and information about his truck...
"I had been looking for an M37 for a while and ran across
one listed on the internet from a fellow out in Spokane back in Oct 2002. After buying the
truck he arranged to have the truck transported out to NJ for me. That worked out well.
When the truck arrived and I started looking at it closely I noticed that the data plates
on the dash indicated that it was procured by the Air Force. That caught me by surprise.
Upon closer inspection I noticed under the 142 coats of municipal white paint that there
was in fact blue Air Force paint. So it really was Air Force. Knowing little about MV's
and the M37 I didn't realize that there were fewer USAF vintage vehicles around. All I
ever saw at parades was green, green and more green. Thus began my quest to write to and
email numerous folks around the country to see if I could find others who had restored an
M37. I didn't have much luck. So I then asked the crew on the 'bigelectric' site
(http://www.bigelectric.com) for some advice and got alot of great info from them. (What a
great group and excellent restoration information resource!) Over the past few months I
did hear from a couple of guys who are restoring their M37 in Strata Blue like mine. So
I'm hoping my truck inspires more M37 owners to restore more Air Force vehicles in
original Strata Blue.
I decided that I'd have a local fellow do the paint and bodywork for me since I had no
facilities nor room to do the work at my place though I really wanted to. As far as
matching the accurate paint color I relied on the MIL-STD number. When the shop called
their wholesaler to inquire about this MIL-STD color number they were able to give him the
correct color (pigment) mix ratio. The color looks even better in person. FYI, I opted to
use Dupont IMRON paint and am very happy with the results. I'm having a friend of mine who
is a retired sign painter hand letter the appropriate USAF lettering and markings on the
truck. At this time (July '04) the remaining two items to tackle are the lettering and
replacement of the entire wiring harness. I'm looking forward to doing my first parade
with the north Jersey group. (http://www.mtaofnj.org)"
The full-gloss USAF blue is known as STRATA BLUE, 15045 (Federal Standard 595B).
The captions were all supplied (along with the photos), by Ed.
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| Photo | Caption |
| 1 | Original truck in Spokane. Have NO idea what those front and rear brackets were for. The previous owner was a municipal sewer department. |
| 2 | Interior prior to work. |
| 3 | Original truck with brackets removed. |
| 4 | Truck after arriving in NJ. |
| 5 | Original condition of rear bed. |
| 6 | Truck during final painting. |
| 9 | Rear bed after painting. |
| 10 | Truck loaded up ready to leave body shop. |
| 11 | Some last minute checks to see that it's tied down securely. |
| 12 | Ready to roll. |
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| 14 | Truck being unloaded at friend's house to do the replacement of the wire harness. |
| 15 | It's amazing I didn't have a major fire on my hands with the condition of the old wiring on the truck. |
| 16 | It actually fits inside my buddy's garage. |
| 17 | (Shhhh... quiet... it's sleeping ...) |
| 18 | Wire harness was a job and a half. |
| 19 | Truck is finally home and I was instructed to pose next to the newly delivered truck. |
| 20 | Blue, blue, blue |
| 21 | Looks nice with the yellow lettering. |
| 22 | OD Canvas looks good against the blue. |
| 23 | The tools painted blue came out nice. |
| 24 | (side view) |
| 25 | Those USAF yellow wheel chocks would stop a house. |
| 26 | Blue Blue Blue. |
| 27 | A photo of m Ed's M37 at the 2005 Picatinny Arsenal Armed Forces Day open house in Dover, NJ. |