GoranWC51

Hej Björn,

The Swedish group going to Normandy, 10-12 vehicles, will be leaving Göteborg on May 30th at 14.00 arriving in Gent/Belgium at 22.00 May 31st. We'll be outside Coleville sur Mere from June 1 to June 10 or 12. Our camp is just outside the Big Red museum off Omaha Beach.

Hope to see you there.

My e-mail BTW: goran_noren (at) yahoo (dot) com

About GMC's in Norway:

There were so many GMC's for sale at Kongsberg in April (27th) 1994 when I bought my own 1944 Dodge WC51 that they sold for very low prices. The only one that fetched more money was a very early closed cab GMC with the civilian instrument cluster.

As always,

Göran Norén

Lidingö

Sweden

OOppss! My wrong, I read "Cletrac" and interpreted it as Clark. Sorry!

As always,

Hi,

Clarkats, and Clarks are great little vehicles. Not that often to be found here in Europe.

Try joining this Yahoo-group:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Clarktugs/

There's a host of useful information to be found there. Good luck.

As always,

Hello everyone,

The Swedish group consisting of 10-12 vehicles (mostly Willys MB's/Ford GPW's and Dodge WC's) will be camping alongside the Big Red One museum outside Coleville sur Mere, a stone's throw from the US Cemetary and Omaha Beach.

We will arrive on June 1st and stay until around June 10th.

I will be riding in my 1944 Dodge WC51 marked as an ambulance vehicle of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force [a far cry from all 101st/BOB marked vehicles ;-)]

(See picture of an original BEF Dodge WC51 ambulance)

My Dodge will be going to the paint shop soon for a complete new paint job.

Recognizing fellow HMVF members:

What about printing out the HMVF-logo (see attached picture), say 5 x 20 cms (aprox 2 x 8 inches) and putting it in the outer upper hand corner of the passengers side windscreen?

As always,

I think that the guy who took the film "From D-Day to Berlin" was GEORGE STEVENS, not Frederick Stephens.

There's a scene in the film of a late Dodge WC51 used as an ambulance. I've tried to catch a still from the one posted on Youtube, but it turned out very grainy. I thus ordered a copy of the DVD so I can get a good still of the WC51. I have such a vehicle and am marking it as an ambulance.

You can see from the attached picture that it is lacking sorely in detail.

As always,

Energumen

"Serial no. 81755***". That's a pretty late serial number. My WC51, also ex Norway, is 81741448 and was by all accounts built in February 1945.

As always,

Goran N

Thanks, everyone. I promise I'll throw a BBQ (Barbeque) while in Normandy. I'll be in Creully with the rest of the Swedish group.

As always,

Goran N

Lidingo

Sweden

Nice condition. They are for an early model WC 51/52.

As always,

Goran N

Sweden

The Allies used a number of vehicles for ambulance and medical duties. The Dodge WC54, off course, but also the Dodge WC51 (able to carry 5 stretchers with some overhead cover for the patients). Dodge WC 62/63's were used to carry medical supplies, tents, etc. Halftracks were used as frontline ambulances when the Jeep ambulances offered too little protection. The Studebaker M29 Weasel was another makeshift ambulance.

Various aircraft were used in the evacuation role.

As always,

Try searching for pictures with the photographers name.

As always,

Goran N

Hi Tony,

Nice picture! Where did you find it? An more pic's where that came from?

Note the rope on the front bumper of the Dodge WC51 (late) in the middle. Some people have claimed on different forums that MV's during WW2 NEVER had hemp rope attached to front bumpers.....

I bought a roll of 1 1/4" handmade Manila Hemp Rope on my summer vacation in Finland. I wanted around 10-12 meters (10-12 yards) for my late Dodge WC51. The store, an old fashioned general store out in the country, didn't split the rolls, so I wound up with 30 meters of rope! Enough to make 3 full length ropes. I'll be splicing the ends so the ropes can be used as tow ropes.

This is a picture of a prototype recoilless gun vehicle for the Swedish army, dated 1946.

As always,

Goran N

All of the M3's from Brazil have been sold...

They went for between 65.000 and 85.000 Euros.

As always,

Goran N

Takes a Norwegian to do it....

As always,

Goran N

Sweden

My WC51 has been called "Popeye" since I bought it in 1994. I thought the name was fitting as the Dodge is strong :-)

I will mark my WC51 as an ambulance of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, under Gen Clark and 5th Army, Italy 1944-45, for the 2009 season.

I'll mark it "TIAOZHIÑO", nickname for Sebastian (my 9 year old son). Marking will probably go on the top of the radiator.

I plan to go back to Normandy with my Dodge in 2009. Last time I was there was in 1994, a looong time ago now....

As always,

Goran N

Sweden

What vintage are we talking about, WW2 or post WW2?

A few inside pictures, as well as a few not-so-blurry ones of the exterior would have been helpful...

I'm always on the lookout for living quarters were I can fit myself and my electric wheelchair.

Anyone has any leads on the US M7 Directors Trailer? Preferably in good condition.

As always,

Goran N

Hi,

Here's a quote from Wikipedia:

"The T-26 was a light tank used by the Soviet Union from the 1930s until World War II. It was based on the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and widely considered one of the most successful designs of the 1930s.[1]

The T-26 made-up the majority of the Red Army's armour force until late 1941, and saw a long history in the armed forces of various different nations around the world. For almost a decade the T-26 proved to be one of the best tanks in production, with a total of around 12,000 units produced.[2] Success and failure in the Spanish Civil War, where it served as the most widely used tank, ultimately played a major role in influencing the Soviet doctrine of tank warfare in the late 1930s. The T-26 participated in German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 as one of the most numerous tanks in service,[3] contributing to the defense of the Soviet Union.

Although the T-26's reputation was marred by its abysmal performance during World War II, it was nevertheless the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War and played major roles during the Winter War and the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939. Between its introduction and its retirement, the T-26 saw a great deal of modernization efforts between 1932 and 1941."

I will be going to Parola in about 3 weeks time to take tns of pictures. The Finnish Armored Museum at Parola contains lots of rare and unusual MV's. A great number of Sovjet T-26's

became war trophy's and used by Finland for several years after the war.

As always,

Goran N

Russian T-26's

As always,

Goran N

M48 tank with flame thrower, picture probably taken somewhere in Vietnam.

As always,

Goran N

Paul,

I stand corrected. I really like those small "tractors". They are hard to find here in Sweden. I know of only one, owned and restored by Thomas Terräng, a MV surplus dealer in Gothenburg. I think this vehicle was one of several hundred (!) sold in Italy in the 1960's or 70's.

As always,

Goran N

Halftracks were used as ambulances in all theaters. They offered some protection for the patients as opposed to the other softskin ambulances.

Here's another nice Medical unit, a GMC CCKW 353 surgical unit.

As always,

Goran N

The picture is a genuine 1945 WW2 picture. This is the only clear picture of a Dodge with doors that I've found. It's not that strange with the GI's making up doors for their vehicles. I've seen all sorts of ingenious devices put on Jeep's, Dodge's, GMC's and others. The rear bustle rack on Jeeps is one example.

I've been told that rear echelon mechanics used 105 mm brass shell casings as mufflers, on Dodge's, when originals couldn't be found. Still need confirmation on this to actually put a 105 mm muffler on my own Dodge WC51.

As always,

Goran N

Here are pictures of FEB/BEF (Brazilian Expeditionary Force) M8's in Italy 1944-45. The Brazilians were given 13 M8's during their stay in Italy (I suppose destroyed vehicles were replaced) and bought/were given a number of M8's from US stocks after the war.

I have had the Brazilian patches replicated (picture no 6). They are handmade to look like they were "Theater made". The "Brasil" patch was used in the beginning, later to be replaced by the "Cobra" patch (of which there are 3 slightly different designs). The last picture shows a map of the FEB/BEF movements in Italy. I can supply this on regular A4 paper or high quality A4 photo paper. Matte, glossy and (very high quality) parchment paper.

Anyone interested in the patches can me contact at:

goran_noren@yahoo.com

As always,

Goran N

This little vehicle is a Clarkat, equipped with a 230 c.i. Dodge engine and gearbox.

There's a Yahoo group if you're interested:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Clarktugs/messages/980

As always,

Goran N

A winter 1945 picture of a late model Dodge WC 51/52.

(Posted elsewhere on the forum)

As always,

Goran N

I saw the firearm too. A Thompson SMG on the drivers side.

The GI's driving Chaplain's were regular soldiers picked by the Chaplain, if I'm not mistaken? Still looks odd with a Chaplain's Jeep with a gun attached :angel:

Enclosing a picture of a Dodge WC51/52 in the winter of 1945, probably sometime around the Battle of The Bulge.

As always,

Goran N