Posted by John Seidts [96.234.135.182] on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 19:31:33 :
I am offering one of my WC64 KD projects for sale. It is not complete, but is enough of the vehicle to get started. Located in Maryland, here is what you get.
Cab and chassis. All front sheet metal is present. The cab is solid on the cowl, but has rust-through on the lower spots, including the area surrounding the diamond-plate floor pans, and several spots around the seat base. The seat base is there and in good shape, with the latch and bar for tipping the two seats forward. The windshield frame is off an earlier WC so would have to be modified (minor) to be correct for a KD ambulance windshield. There are no gauges. This is a correct KD cab which has the holes for the rear compartment heater hoses. All four correct KD shocks are present on this truck. This truck doesn't come with combat wheels, but has a fair set of rolling M-37 type wheels and tires so it can be moved. It is missing the rear drive shaft, but the ends are present to make a new one except for the female portion on the forward shaft.
The rear body is the hard part to find for these trucks and consists of a lower and upper body which make up the ambulance compartment. The lower part is mostly solid. The void bottoms (which correspond to the Weapons Carrier tool boxes) are intact. All four steel side-opening doors for these voids are present but need new latches and hinges; there is one latch and handle present for you to source and the hinges are simple piano hinges about 1.5 inches long. The worst rust-through was at the front of the body where the typical Weapons Carrier side panel rust through (near the joint seams between the bottoms and side walls) always occurs. The forward voids and side flange will need copying (these are simple l- and z- angle sheet metal pieces that anybody could make on a break). The hinges for the seat bottoms/top void hatches are gone except for the one which is present to help you for sourcing- these are common truck cabinet-type door hinges and should not be difficult to source. I am including the reproduction body-side stake pockets and front body panel which were made by the previous owner. The stake pockets are brand new and bolt on, but they bolt to the side flange which needs some attention. The front panel is made of two pieces and needs some finishing work to make it exact. The bed floor is mostly intact but is rotting out from exposure. You will need at least one bed strip from Mid West Military to repair the floor but the wood is intact enough to pattern the new wood. One other thing about the rear lower body- the entire top of the sides, analogous to the seat areas on the WC51, is made of 3/4 inch plywood. The center void cover, which is right over the wheels, is plywood, and the hinged void hatches are plywood.
As for the upper body, or compartment sides, top and front bulkhead for the ambulance body, I have pattern pieces which will go along with this truck but you would have to make most of what you need. The front bulkhead is in fair shape, with the original wood support and inner masonite panelling intact. The sides are only the sheet metal- this is clad over a wood support framework and then covered by masonite; you will need to examine the ones I have on hand which are intact but this is easily built out of wood. I am planning to reproduce the steel sides; I have contracted with a sheet metal guy to do already but they won't be ready until at least next year. I do not have a complete set of doors. There is one rear center door only. The center rear door is very rough but has enough to be copied or restored and includes the rare regulator (the window winds up and down). There is only one side stanchion which acts as a door hinge and striker plate for the rear doors- you will have to make or find the other one. I'm not going to kid you- the center front door is going to be hard to find or hard to make. The side doors are square sheet metal box cabinet-type doors. You are welcome to make measurements of the other ones I have to make your own.
Now I'm going to talk about the roof of the truck. In a number of ways, it is easier than the WC54 roof because there is only a shallow single radius curve to the top, a sharp curve on the sides, and the rest is flat sheet metal with some sharp channels and drip rails. The hard part is all of this is supported by machine-shaped oak supports, and you will need to make all of these. At a later time, when I am finished using them for patterns, I will ship you a complete set of the wood from this piece. Why can't I give them to you now, you ask? Because the old owner took them apart, did not mark them or make notes about how they went together, and I need to do that using one of my roof pieces to ensure you get a complete set. I have to use my intact, non-disassembled roof to see how these loose pieces fit together. There is a good number of them, so trust me you will thank me for doing this for you later.
The easy part of this is whatever you are missing on this project is mostly standard WC 3/4 parts and pieces. The hard to find pieces you will need for this KD are the upper stretcher racks, the rear ambulance step (similar but not exactly like the M43 step), the cab bow system, and the unique KD spotlight stanchion.
The price on this is $2000. I can load with equipment but you need to make transport arrangements. It is located in Maryland near Baltimore. I have photos coming later as soon as I get everything cleaned out and in one place.
Below are photos of the project. Most parts are shown but there are a few pieces included that are not shown, such as the rear door stanchion, pintle hook, rear bumperettes and a few other small items. Please ask questions if you have them.
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