Photos of Gary's M38

Photos of Gary's M38.

Gary sent me a note in March of 2003 stating that he had taken some pictures of his M38 for his insurance company and he thought that I might want to see them. He stated that these are definitely "BEFORE"pictures with much dirt and crud hanging onto everything. He stated that he was embarrassed by the engine compartment, but that it runs great (he obviously hasn't seen my engine compartment recently...).

He also stated that the weather had been warming up and that he had thoughts of getting his painting started, but that it is acting like Winter again so that it will be a while longer before he starts to paint...

He sent me the following the same day with this note: "Here are a few more pictures from trips to the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada. The old cabin is an abandoned homestead. Don't know how old it is. It's maintained by a dirt bike club around here and it's open for anyone to use for shelter. It's a mile or so from where we camp."

Gary sent me these photos when I started to ask him questions about differences that I had noticed in our respective trucks.

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Here are some shots of the safety strap and seatbelt setup. The safety strap is just held by an eye bolt on the dash and a footman's loop in front of the right, rear fender. There isn't one on the driver's side. The seatbelts are from a C-130. They are of good quality, safe, comfortable, and they have the military look instead of car belts that are plastic and civilian looking. The are attached using eye bolts and existing holes in the M38 so there was no drilling.

It's October 2003 and Gary has sent some more shots of his M38 out in the desert. His note stated that he had taken his M38 on a recent trip back to the Black Rock Desert where it ran great except for a minor leak in the water pump.

I figure that I need to make a trip out west...

Photo	Note/Caption
18	That's a friend of Gary's driving the M38 across the Playa. He had on an old German uniform coat and goggles and the sepia tone makes it look pretty good. (The Playa is an ancient dry lake bed).
19	This was taken at Black Rock Hot Spring. M38 in the background. That's an abandoned wagon left over from the pioneer days. This area was heavily traveled in the 1840's and 1850's. Black Rock Hot Spring was a stop over spot for the wagon trains. This wagon has been dated to 150 years ago. It's buried up over it's axles.
20	Another shot of Allan driving the M38 across the Playa. This is how they get in and out of the area that they camp in. It's much faster than the dirt road.
21	Coming out. This is how Gary gets the M38 up there and out once they are near the asphalt. On the way in he unhooks it and it's driven the last 25 miles across the Playa and then another 30 miles on a dirt road to camp. Same on the way out. Keeps it from getting completely inundated with the fine dust on the lake bed.

June 2004: Gary sent me some more photos of his M38. Seems like he not only got around to painting it, but that he took it to a local car show... His note with the photos reads "I have to share this story with someone because I am about to bust. I took my M38 to a local car show today. It was actually just an after thought and my 12 year old son wanted me to take it. I had already committed to putting our Mustang in the show so having a second car in there is a bit of a hassle. So I get there this morning with the Mustang and get all set up and then go home and get the M38. I put some of my militaria in it for authenticity purposes and just left it sitting. I noticed a few people stopping to look at it but nothing extraordinary. So at the end of the show when they are giving out the awards they call my name and give me the first place trophy in the "Other Manufacturer" category. This category is usually reserved for the "orphan" cars made by companies no longer in existence. I couldn't believe it and didn't expect anything so I was sitting pretty far away from where they were giving out the trophies and they had to call my name a few times before I got up there. I was floored. "