roll call of EXISTING Vietnam gun trucks - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

maddawg308 · 05-27-2010, 15:29

Interested in getting a roll call of all the reproduction and tribute gun trucks that have been built in the USA by military vehicle enthusiasts. This would include all the ones patterned after real gun trucks that served in Vietnam, as well as ones that are original creations by their builders.

Please include all those built and under construction, from 1/4-ton to 5-ton.

I'll start the list, from the ones I have seen:

vehicle, repro or tribute, name, owner, location
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M151 repro, Wolfman
M37 repro, Malfunction, New Jersey
M37 repro, Raider's Light Work, Mike Davidsen, Virginia
M35 tribute, Aces and Eights, John Tennis, New York
M35 tribute, Business As Usual, Kansas
M35 repro, Gamblers
M35 tribute, Grim Reaper
M35 tribute, Have Gun Will Travel, Texas
M35 tribute, I Dream of Charlie, England
M35 tribute, Iron Butterfly, Max Levell, England
M35 repro, Psychotic Reaction, Illinois
M35 tribute, Squatter Swatter, Florida?
M35 repro, The Gamblers, Michigan
M35 repro, The Widow Maker, Texas
M54 repro, Ace of Spades, Tennessee
M54 repro, Black Widow, Florida
M54 repro, Proud American, Larry Board, Georgia
M54 repro, Red Baron, Wayne Dobos, England
M54 repro, Satan's Lil' Angel, New Jersey
M54 repro, Uncle Meat, Michigan
M54 repro, The Untouchable, William Parker, New Jersey
M54 repro, Wild Thing, Indiana
M54 original, Eve of Destruction, US Army Transportation Museum, Virginia
M813 tribute, Proud American, Larry Board, Georgia

..

maddawg308 · 05-28-2010, 07:30

Updated it several times with ones I found here and elsewhere. Any others I miss?

Recht71 · 05-28-2010, 13:19

WILDTING is an M-54 its in northern Indiana

TexAndy · 05-28-2010, 14:34

There's a guy in Austin with one.

His truck is named "Have Gun Will Travel"

fuzzytoaster · 05-28-2010, 14:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexAndy

There's a guy in Austin with one.

His truck is named "Have Gun Will Travel"

M35 that is. :up:

maddawg308 · 05-28-2010, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Recht71

WILD THING is an M-54 its in northern Indiana

Corrected it, partially, I listed it as an M54 tribute truck. The original Wild Thing gun truck was a M35-based truck. This was patterned after that truck in paint job on the armor box only. Still a very nice truck, from what I've seen - I won't say the current truck should have been a M35, because that would be wrong. However, the original SHOULD HAVE been a 5-ton.

Just a note: the above list will not include V-100 Commando vehicles since they are not, technically, gun trucks. They are wheeled armor, and they did support the convoys on the highways of Vietnam, but the vehicle is different than they field-built units.

Recht71 · 05-28-2010, 22:06

To get this right the WildThing was first built in 1969 in Pleiku Vietnam it was on a M-35. In late 1970 at Dillard site about 40 miles south of DA LAT on QL 20, the box was mounted on a M-54 and soon after Jan .1971 the box was extended .The minie gun was added ,the twin sixty's and a fifty in the cab. The WILDTHING truck we have is an excat replica!! of the truck 1970 thru 1972 . I worked on the truck in 1971 and covoyed with it. Today we have 5 of us that served with the truck back together . And thats the facts . Can't wait till Aug.
Randall Recht

maddawg308 · 05-28-2010, 22:10

MANY THANKS Randall, for straightening me out. The only pics I have of the in-country Wild Thing are of a M35 based truck, and the "Hard Ride" books I have confirm that, so that's all I had to go on. With your info and experience on the actual rig, I'll update the list to reflect that.

Thanks for your service on these awesome trucks!

papabear · 05-28-2010, 22:14

For those that haven't seen The WildThing....trust me...She's a beautiful GT, and the crew I met at PF are top notch fellers.

maddawg308 · 05-30-2010, 08:38

Found another one in a casual search online - the M35 Squatter Swatter. The more I look, the more gun trucks are out there.....