HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, HEAT

1941 - 1945, MB, GPW Technical questions and discussions, regarding anything related to the WWII jeep.
bornholmerbertram
G-Private
G-Private
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:41 am
Location:

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by bornholmerbertram » Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:08 am

Northcowboy...

The letter "S" means "Suppression". The "S" indicates that your Jeep was ready for radio installation. The last production of Willys MB´s did not have the blue drab lettering but instead they came with white or yellowish - depends on the source ...
My Jeep is from 4. June 45 so it could be that they ran out of blue drab between mine and yours....(-:

/Søren


bornholmerbertram
G-Private
G-Private
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:41 am
Location:

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by bornholmerbertram » Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:54 am

One other thing... are you sure that you are down to the factory issued number? when they left the factory they were issued the 2 inch blue drab number (or white in the very last days) and when they came out to the units in the field they were painted over with the same number in white... depending on the unit what kind of templates they had you will find a lot of different fonts... you might have made your way to the unit markings and not all the way down to the factory markings - just an idea...

/Søren

User avatar
DavidA
Equipment Operator, Heavy -2nd Class
Equipment Operator, Heavy -2nd Class
Posts: 6305
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:15 am
Location: Millbrae, CA
Contact:

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by DavidA » Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:47 pm

Wish I had found this post in '01 or whenever it was I did this.

Image
David Aro - USN SEABEES '66-'70
1941 WILLYS MB-104354
1942 WILLYS MB-131350

User avatar
The Raven
G-Lieutenant Colonel
G-Lieutenant Colonel
Posts: 1167
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:00 am
Location: Nunya

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by The Raven » Sat Dec 08, 2012 3:12 am

Yeah, too many people advocate sandpaper. Might be OK if you are after just an ID for a later repaint, but for finding the light blue drab or for maintaining originality it is a death sentence. If I could do it again on my jeep I will Start with a powerwasher then move onto more aggressive means. This is what i'm going to do to handle the refresh of the 841 I just found.
The Law of Unintended Consequences has come into play. All the best..-A

User avatar
Chuck Lutz
Gee Addict
Posts: 26829
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Jeep Heaven

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Chuck Lutz » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:40 am

Actually trying to convince your paint stripper to STOP dissolving the paint is a LOT harder than trying to convince your hand to go easy on revealing numbers/letters! It is not always easy to see under those rippling, sagging paint layers to find out if what is under that layer is ALSO being dissolved at the same time.

Using a power washer is great for most of the water-based housepaint Bubba used on jeeps after WWII. But to see what lies beneath the next coat of paint you need to S-L-O-W-L-Y remove paint and keep updating what is revealed with tracing paper....

Most of the white paint used to add a USA number will be put on THICKER than the underlying Blue Drab from the factory so while that stripper is aggressively attacking the layer paint just over the white numbers...it will eliminate the blue drab at the same time.

Patience and wet sanding by hand very SLOWLY is something you CAN control so those elusive numbers aren't lost forever. Always sand where you think the "USA" would be FIRST so you can "learn" what should be found where the numbers are right below it...in fact it is a good idea to learn about the layers of paint in locations where NOTHING will have been painted on so you can see if you have blue, then barn red, then OD. Then you will know that you can go through the blue and red and as the red disappears....you need to REALLY go slow to see what is under it and on top of the OD.

You might find TWO coats of OD since the USA numbers might have been painted over when released from gov't service....

I suggest checking the bumpers first, then the rear panel of early jeeps for stars or unit info and then when you "know" the history of the painting layers, move on to the hood...you only have the hood to potentially tell you what the USA was originally and only if the hood is original to the jeep and only if they didn't sand it prior to releasing it or if Bubba didn't have a disc sander.
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

User avatar
ECVJeeps
G-Major
G-Major
Posts: 894
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 6:09 pm
Location: GREAT WHITE NORTH (Canada) Last Igloo on the right!

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by ECVJeeps » Mon Apr 08, 2013 3:42 am

Found this on the weekend, from a hood minus a jeep.

Image
Image
Image

Paint stripper first, then sanding with paper and fingers, slowly.
Now to find the approximate year since there is no jeep with this.

Cheers
Pat

Fabrizio
G-Colonel
G-Colonel
Posts: 1481
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:14 pm
Location: Chartres, FR

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Fabrizio » Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:04 pm

I found these yesterday on my MB ( edit: now it's a gpw :mrgreen: ) - looks like original numbers , OD overspray, then later numbers.
The star matches the early numbers, and there are 2 pairs of USA, each matching a pair of numbers.

Method was a sharp cutter blade, the 3 yellow paint layers jumped off like quite easily, with almost no damage to the original OD and to the oversprayed one.

Image
Image
Image
Last edited by Fabrizio on Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
GPW #3606 “LIBBY”
"Jeep is America's only real sports car." - Enzo Ferrari

User avatar
Jim Kilbourne
G-Colonel
G-Colonel
Posts: 1860
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:38 am
Location: Staunton, VA, USA
Contact:

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Jim Kilbourne » Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:11 pm

good job fabrizio...

a scraper can work if better if the paint layers are thick and brittle..

you have another layer to go to get to the blue numbers...stripper might be better for that at this point...

would be interesting to see which hood number matches the blue factory...
Jim Kilbourne
I COLLECT WILLYS MB NUMBERS! Please send me your Frame, Engine, Body, Hood numbers and DOD. Thanks!
WANTED: MB unrestored, used, OD paint, dash panel light housings

Fabrizio
G-Colonel
G-Colonel
Posts: 1481
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:14 pm
Location: Chartres, FR

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Fabrizio » Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:52 am

Hi Jim;

They are showing up!
Still using the same technique ( cutter blade ) but with much, much more care, the OD oversprays don't jump off, I have to gently scratch them. Looks like there's another white number between the two you can see on my last pics, and the blue one I'me recovering. My hood is turning into some kind of treasure map! Also found a nice PRESTONE marking on the front of it, posted a picture in another topic in this same section.

Image
GPW #3606 “LIBBY”
"Jeep is America's only real sports car." - Enzo Ferrari

User avatar
lowbonnet
G-Brigadier General
G-Brigadier General
Posts: 2173
Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2002 11:56 pm
Location: Holland

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by lowbonnet » Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:32 am

why not leave it like this (only remove the yellow paint)... it has lots of character... and now that you've partly revealed the blue numbers, I wouldn't go any further. they are there, you have proof... it would rune the rest of the original numbers... I think there aren't many jeeps with original numbers and this is really looking good, even the OD is looking fairly ok.
June 1942 Ford GPW (script)
Transportation Equipment Co. T1, 1/4 ton trailer

Fabrizio
G-Colonel
G-Colonel
Posts: 1481
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:14 pm
Location: Chartres, FR

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Fabrizio » Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:48 pm

HI,

It came out that this hood ( and none of the 3 numbers found ) wasn't original to the car. I revealed the blue numbers only on one side, left the white ones on the other side.

The hood is bent like someone's jumped on it, and is a 43 gpw ( the jeep is a 44 ), so it also misses the grease gun mounts.

So I think I'll remove the remaining yellow paint, find a clean 44 gpw hood for the car, and keep this hood as a decoration for my garage!
I think it would be a real waste to respray it, even if not original to my car, this paint and these numbers have certainly seen combat, maybe D-day, and have earned some consideration...
GPW #3606 “LIBBY”
"Jeep is America's only real sports car." - Enzo Ferrari

vwsf
G-Captain
G-Captain
Posts: 780
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:36 pm
Location: Northern Calif

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by vwsf » Sun Nov 24, 2013 7:39 pm

Why were so many of these jeeps painted yellow. So far my layers are gray, yellow, blue and then OD...I thought it was strange until I started seeing all these other yellow, blue ones. must signify something??
Thanks
Tom
Northern Calif

fiveftsix
G-Second Lieutenant
G-Second Lieutenant
Posts: 575
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 5:37 pm
Location: Kissimmee FL

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by fiveftsix » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:32 pm

I realize my post may be slightly off the main theme of this thread.
And I do apoligize to all as well as to the length of this post.
I too was hoping to recover My 43 GPW`s hood number and having tried all manner of ways to discover under layers of paint
using some excellent ones that precede my post as well as using light as a way too.
Paint has a way of etching into covering coats and a side light similar in the way one would use a light to highlight a chassis number etc.
But to no avail, a previous owner had taken the OD paint right back to the metal on a respray.
I was at the stage of having to accept an estimated one from the chassis number.
Whilst looking at Jons excellent Jeep Draw pages I noticed a link to a War Assets Administration sale in Florida in 1946 there is also another one listed for California too
Being I purchased my jeep in Florida I thought I might get an idea myself of a suitable hood number from the list of vehicles for sale rather than trouble someone else to estimate it for me.
after taking notes of every 43 GPW I came across in that list.
When I reached as far as item number 2522 listed as a Ford GPW 1943 and I looked at the serial number.
There it was MY serial number 135350 bearing hood number 20405731
Result !!!!!!!
And if that wasn`t enough I also learn`t when it was sold and for how much $681.44
So if you have no luck trying to recover numbers by above methods never give up as solutions come from the strangest places.
Geoff Bull

User avatar
Chuck Lutz
Gee Addict
Posts: 26829
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Jeep Heaven

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Chuck Lutz » Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:21 pm

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good" or as a wise man once said, When you are looking a gift horse in the mouth, don't complain about his breath!"

Okay, I made that last one up but this was a real longshot to find your hood number that way.....now go buy a lottery ticket!
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

User avatar
Tom Wolboldt
banned
Posts: 8353
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: HOW TO RECOVER HOODNUMBERS W/ PAINT STRIPPER, SCRAPER, H

Post by Tom Wolboldt » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:42 pm

Hi Geoff,

Great job finding your GPW's original hood number. Another option would have been to ask the " GPW Whisper " if he had the original number data-based in his GPW records . Then if he did ( and he did ) you could throw him $20 bucks to help offset his time in adding the Florida WAA GPWs to his spreadsheet back in Sept. 2009 saving you a lot of time and effort / headache .


Post Reply

Return to “MB GPW Technical Knowledge Base”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: floater, Google [Bot] and 56 guests