GPW Navy Jeep Help

[Dan S]

I am restoring a 1943 GPW. Since this is jeep #3 for me, I thought I would try something other than green.

I am interested in restoring this jeep to a Navy jeep. I have done some initial research and haven't found any good info yet.

If you have the 2008 calander put out by Military Vehicles magazine, you will see a WWII jeep restored in Navy colors on this month. This restoration shows the frame in OD green and the jeep in grey. Any other picture that I have seen of Navy jeeps shows the jeep and frame in grey. Which is correct?

Also, I have a picture somewhere around here of Admiral (?) Nimitz (spelling??) sitting in a WWII jeep. This jeep has street tread tires on it. I thought I saw this picture in All American Wonder or Army Motors but have not been able to find this picture again. Anyone know which publication this picture is in?

Any help you can give me, research or info, about Navy jeep colors would be very helpful.

My project jeep is in the frame repair stage and it will be time to paint the frame soon.

Thanks,
Dan S

[Milo 42 GPW]

I have the picture in a word doc that I will email you

Admiral Chester Nimitz - Ford Jeep The jeep shown in the photo is a VERY early ( possibly Jan, 1942) Rouge built GPW.

In the Ford Archives is a copy of this photo along with a letter from the Admiral to Ford Motor Company saying how much he liked his Ford jeep. It was specially given to him by the Army.

A lovely battleship gray with black below the "waterline" color scheme & nice quiet street tires mounted on combat split rims.

[Mark Tombleson]

David A. some time ago sent me a copy of the U.S. Navy Preventative Maintenance Program for Domestic Transportation Equipment (including jeeps) dated August 1944 he found at the museum in Port Hueneme, California.

In summary:

All U.S. Navy domestic transportation vehicles shall be painted medium gray #123.

How marked. - Lettering and numbers shall preferably be applied by Decalcomania transfers, otherwise with paint. Color of markings shall be black.

So, now we have hard documentation that the Navy painted jeeps gray during the WWII war period, from August 1944 until the end of the war. However, it is noted this was done only within the continental United States.

Interesting to note medium gray #123 is as set forth in Color Card Supplement (21 April 1943) of U.S. Army Specification No. 3-1. It is gloss color synthetic enamel and the detail specifications are covered in U.S. Army Specification No. 3-175A, 5 February 1944. Paint is grade II due to the critical supply of certain ingredients.

The Navy Preventative Maintenance program, NAVEXOS P 65 discusses undercoating on page 30. Basically, it suggests sandblasting/cleaning the running gear and under fender surfaces in localities with very extreme corrosion conditions and spraying the under surfaces with an asphalt emulsion. So, it appears that for the Navy, the undercoating was done at the local level.

There were also lots of overseas Navy jeeps painted one gray (grey) or another.

Here is one with grey, OD and black.




There are a lot of variations... basically at the base or ship commander's whim.

Mine was originally forest green; the first Navy grey repaint was a dark grey with white numbers, a white star on the hood, yellow on the passenger’s side door opening and the cowl. The second repaint was light grey and black numbers.

[Dan S]

Mark,
Thanks for the info.

You said yours was forrest green. I read somewhere in my research that Seebe's jeeps were Forest Green. ????

Dan S.

[Glenn Shorney]

Dan -- Do you have the DOD and hood registration number for your '43?
Thanks, Glenn

[Mark Tombleson]

Mark,
Thanks for the info.

You said yours was forrest green. I read somewhere in my research that Seebe's jeeps were Forest Green. ????

Dan S.

Yes, Dan, I know of a couple of MBs that were used by the Navy that were painted in the field Marine Corps Green. These Seabee jeeps may have been considered tactical vehicles. I wrote a note on the subject probably posted here some time ago.

The forest green paint scheme:

There are two specifications discussed on WWII paint used on Navy and USMC jeeps.

One is the factory contract jeep color, WO-A-3266 Enamel, Lusterless Forest Green, synthetic.
The other is MC #23 green used for field painting everything.

Cliff Tebeau of Washington who was a technical advisor for the MVPA on items Navy for years, claimed to have a government color chart with the two colors on it. These two paint colors are very close, with the forest green a little brighter green, but both looking almost black in shade.

My opinion is the Marine Corps. #23 green is the paint color that ended up in the following specification.

If we go by the article written by Walter Terzano & etal on USMC Vehicle Markings in Military Magazine some years back--this is what he says is used. It should be noted that there were no references giving in the article on were he got his information.

For FS 24052 Semi-Gloss Forest Green------FS 23538 Semi-Gloss Yellow

For FS 34052 Lusterless Forest Green--------FS 33538 Lusterless Yellow

All American Wonder number one and two lists the Ditzler (PPG) number, which they say is the correct color, as 40458 USMC green and 81958 USMC Yellow for the marking paint on pages 94 and 225.

The only difference from WWII up thru the 1950s is not color but if semi gloss or lusterless was used. This was based on the jeeps use. Tactical was lusterless. Administrative was semi gloss. I have heard of jeeps with gloss paint used for administrative uses also.

[Dan S]

Mark,
Tons of good information here.

I hope to go with the gray paint scheme on this jeep. At least that is my plan for now. You have me second guessing that a bit.

I still haven't found any good, accurate info on grey Navy jeeps. Specifically, what color is the frame. I have seen black frames, grey frames, and OD green frames on restored grey Navy jeeps. I am leaning toward going with the OD frame simply because it looks neat.... bad way to make a decision.

What was the Navy's procedure for painting a jeep grey? Was it slapped on with a brush over the factory OD by a grunt. Was a factory OD jeep delivered to the Navy then spay painted grey. Knowing the Navy's procedure and understanding how an OD jeep became grey would help me decide what color to paint the frame.

I wonder how many times an OD green jeep was taken on board a Navy vessel then painted grey while on board. If so, how was most of the painting done on a navy vessel? With a roller, brush, or spray?


Were the grey jeeps with black frames rebuilds? This makes since because the body would have to be off for the frame to be painted black.

What would be the case for a grey jeep having an OD frame. Would it be an OD jeep delivered to the Navy then painted grey by someone who was taking a bit of pride in there work and only painting the sheet metal grey.

My guess is that a Navy jeep that was seen all grey including the frame was actually OD on the bottom of the body and parts of the frame that couldn't bee seen.

What do you all think? What color should I paint the frame if this is going to be a Navy jeep?

Thanks,
Dan S

[karl oliver]

Your question about OD was one I posed several years back. Without a doubt, the 1/4 tons arrived from factory to any location in it's OD dress and ready for the dance! I was unable to determine how it received it's new colors, but like you, I also like the idea of the OD frame until it has been proven otherwise. Luca has a 1/4 ton in navy configuration, if I'm not mistaken. He might could shed some additional light if you were to shoot him a pm.

[lucakiki]

Karl, my Navy Jeep is unabashedly a fake.
I think Mark T. has been bored stiff about my enquires on the issue.
I made it years and years ago, following an article by B. SUNDERLYN.
The information from that article is most likely obsolete/superseded by now, but my sin is done.
I wanted to portray a midnight procurement by the Navy. So I first restored my 44 as a regular US Army jeep using the famous N.B.* formula for Olive Drab. Then I went on it with the non specular blue grey mentioned in the article. Not such a sloppy job, but purposedly I left out the underside of the hood, the inside of tool boxes and glovebox, the inner side of wheels, and the undercarriage in O.D.
Correct? Not sure. Mark T. once told me that no one could safely label it as uncorrect, and that is more than enough for me. The only American gee Member who actually saw my jeep in the flesh, liked it.
I mentioned it before: when the Navy pinched my jeep off the Army, it still had its original and complete toolkit on board...

* N.B. olive drab stands for Nobody's Business formula.

[Dan S]

Luca,
I like the idea of keeping the underside of the hood OD. But that opens up a can of worms. I guess that means that the engine compartment is also OD??? How about inside the tool boxes and the underside of the tool box lids??

Also, is that picture authentic? Is that jeep really on board that ship or is that a computer generated photo?

Thanks,
Dan S

[lucakiki]

Yes Dan, the picture is absolutely authentic. Somebody else had posted it on this site with a link.

No can of worms on the paint issue, unless you ask the terrible question about the correct shade of olive drab.
Now, whatever the shade of the olive drab, I would not paint the inside of toolbox or glovebox. I would not paint the inside of the hood, but would not criticize a different approach. I did not paint inside the engine compartment, but did paint the fenders also inside the engine compartment. My idea is to represent the paint over job, but with some slack allowed. So a slightly neater job than a real quick spray only on the parts that could be reached. A compromise? Yes!
Tell you what: I did exactly the same on one of my trailers. Quick job over an O.D. base.
Apparently, all sort of numbers were painted on unofficially procured Navy jeeps. At least , that is what I was told. Hence, in lack of a documented USN number, I used U.S.N. plus my jeep serial number. In black.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The Navy Preventative Maintenance program, NAVEXOS P 65 discusses undercoating on page 30. Basically, it suggests sandblasting/cleaning the running gear and under fender surfaces in localities with very extreme corrosion conditions and spraying the under surfaces with an asphalt emulsion. So, it appears that for the Navy, the undercoating was done at the local level.

There were also lots of overseas Navy jeeps painted one gray (grey) or another.

Here is a pic showing Admiral Nimitz' jeep referred to earlier. It shows how the under fender surfaces were properly painted black, something I have not yet seen to date on restorations where typically only the chassis is painted black.

Note the registraton still shows a US Army number, clearly denoting its provenance.

Regards,
Hanno



Description:
"Admiral Chester William Nimitz (c), the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, takes a ride around Pearl Harbor with his aides-de-camp in a jeep presented to the fleet by the US Army in honor of their naval victory at Midway Island. The former army jeep is painted battleship gray."

[The Fireman]

Yo Dan S.,

I came to a similiar situation when I restored my 43 GPW USMC ambulance jeep. Since it was a GPW and came from the factory in OD, I painted the entire jeep in OD with the body left on and engine/tranny/transfer pulled. After the paint had dried, I put the original blue drab USA numbers back on the hood. Once this was done the engine et al was reinstalled, I painted the jeep USMC green, leaving the engine compartment OD, etc. Basically what the spray gun could reach was USMC green, what it couldn't was left OD. Then was the green was dry, put the orignal USMC numbers on the jeep as well as the windshield TAC marking, the grill TAC marking was preserved as is with masking tape during this entire process.

I hope this helps some in your decision and good luck,

Frank

If you review Army Motors, you can see the restoration process.

[Chuck Lutz]

Just to add to the photos of Navy jeeps....here is one from the USS LEXINGTON (aka...the "Blue Ghost") circa Nov 1943:

Navy GPW USS Lex Nov 1943 SoPac.jpg (61.57 KiB) Viewed 5118 times

Here is another pic that probably illustrates how the US Navy owes some of it's heritage to the days of Piracy....

Jeep On A PT Boat.jpg (116.56 KiB) Viewed 5123 times

Either that or it's ability to ship cargo...

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The Navy Preventative Maintenance program, NAVEXOS P 65 discusses undercoating on page 30. Basically, it suggests sandblasting/cleaning the running gear and under fender surfaces in localities with very extreme corrosion conditions and spraying the under surfaces with an asphalt emulsion. So, it appears that for the Navy, the undercoating was done at the local level.

There were also lots of overseas Navy jeeps painted one gray (grey) or another.

Another Navy jeep? Yes, it has a "USA" number, but so did Admiral Nimitz' jeep shown above. This picture also shows how the chassis and under fender surfaces are painted a dark colour, OD or black? The outside & inside of body seem to be painted some type of light grey.

Regards,
Hanno