Any one know how to track info on military vehicles

[JumboAMONGus]

i have a 1956 3100 military has a tag on dash matches with the tag on the window pillar and was wondering how to find where it was stationed or what state ? any one know how to find how to read the vin tag

[oldcouple]

I have one of those too, not sure how to tell other than the paint color code written under the hood and what I found after sanding the door. It had some weird yellow stripes on it too, so maybe it was a follow me truck. I know it was at Nellis AFB from the guy I got it from. Built in LA.

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when i bought my truck from the old owner it was sitting for 20 years in a garage threw a few difrent people and was all ready stripped to bare metal on most of it but the inside cab and firewall so there was nothing painted on doors to indicate if it was a us air force or army ? but i do have the original color under the fender to match up for the olive drab and looks diffrent then most i seen on internet pics

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[mr48chev]

You might try a vintage military vehicle site but without any of the "normal" painted on unit numbers that are usually on the bumpers or tailgate it is going to be pretty hard to track it down.

[Kim57]

Here's the brass plate mine had. it was a Department of Navy truck.
Kim

[JumboAMONGus]

i was reading the navy ones were brass cause you be stationed next to ocean salt water ,,the numbers look almost the same on the contract numbers except for the last 5 digits ,,

[B_Hix]

When military vehicles/durable items (or any other equipment for that matter) are turned in for disposal (recycle/resale/disposal) - it is 'coded out' from the property records - basically deleted from existance.

Items like your truck with commercial resale value are 'demilitarized' if need be and then coded for resale at what is called a DRMO (defense reutilization marketing office) auction, or sold through the DLA (defense logistics agency).

When your trucks were coded they kinda got deleted from existance as military property - so tracking them through any property registry will be really hard - only if a record that should have been destroyed and was not will you find it that way. If you can find any type of unit number/bumper number you can at least tell where it was stationed and what type of unit had it.

Most every installation also has a historian - they love mysteries - if you can find a historian on a base close to you I'd suggest giving them a call - odds are they could provide you with some helpful advise in trying to research your vehicle. Give them that USN Registration number, SNS and serial number.

FYI - did you know the after WWII the jeeps were ordered destroyed rather than resold - by the US Govt? Enter big brother - jeeps were not manufactured to DOT standards as 'implements of war' therefore are not authorized for resale.

Why do you find some on the market occasionally? Because they were turned over to private citizens before big brother got involved.

^^ this is why you will never see a military HMMWV on the commercial market

[JumboAMONGus]

yeah mine had 72 on the windshield and on the keys scribe in , and it was repainted over the olive drab forestry green color so it was a forestry truck after being in the army , so im not sure if the 72 is from that

[OrrieG]

I got my first 57 truck in 1968 at a forest service auction. They had "decommissioned" it by sanding down all the identification markings (text, logos, etc.) and repainted it light forest service green. In the 50's and 60's my Dad bought a lot of Korean War vintage Jeeps, that had been recycled thru the forest service or other governmental agencies. Our favorite as a M38A1 with 24 volt sealed electrical system, underwater intake and exhaust and PTO winch. I don't remember any from WWII, I suspect they just left them in place, destroyed them or gave them to our allies if they were overseas at the end of the war.